I HAVE DONE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG WOW

I have................. omg so excited here, got my weather loach to spawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! notoriously difficult to do (according to the net) and I have done everything wrong (according to the net) I kept their tank heated over the winter to 18c and once the ice was over I removed the heater, the koi left last week and these two have had a 5ft tank to themselves. Today I intended to move them and as I was cleaning out meatball & noodle I whitnessed them spawning. I have now moved them to another tank in the hope that some of the eggs hatch.

another rare spawning for me *punches the air and dances round the kitchen*

Managed to capture just one half decent picture of the male wrapping the female.

Outstanding!!!!!!!

Fantastic! Well done Star XD
Testimony to how well you look after your guys

Oh its the highlight of my fishkeeping, such a rare thing to happen I am so lucky to have seen it. If I hadnt they would have been moved tank and the 400 emptied today and the eggs washed away without me knowing.

really crappy pic, but I have some eggs on one of the ornaments burried in the moss, most are in the gravel so I cant see them, they are still white just how they were yesterday. Trouble is I am used to brown cichlid eggs so I am not sure if these are fertile or not.

Cool! I hope you can keep us updated with how things progress. I didn't even know it was possible to spawn weather loaches in tanks.

Any plans for the fry? What will be their first food etc?

Sam

Sam, neither did I lol, everything I have read on the net says that they are really difficult to breed in tanks and that they are mainly commercially bred. I only found 1 account of someone in the states claiming they had bred weather loach in their tank with guppies, but how they explained how they spawned was totally different to how my male wrapped himself around the female, so I am dubious about their accound.

As for feeding I am at a loss to be honest, I am not prepared at all for this as I was due to close down the tank. If I hadnt been cleaning out the tank next to theirs I wouldnt have seen them spawn and they wound have been moved and the tank emptied never knowing. I have a little infusia, I think I will have to ask hubby to go to the LFS for some liquifry, but I have already asked if anyone has any banana worm or other cultures growing at the moment if they could send me some IF the eggs hatch.

Its scary, if they do hatch I might be the first person to breed weather loach in a tank !!!!

Well bugger me, congratulations O-o

not an easy feat.

Any idea of how long till the eggs hatch?

I have some fluffy eggs but still some on the gravel look ok. I had hassle all day yesterday with the ruddy filter (using an internal) it kept lifting, then the nozzel kept coming off disrupting the flow, pissed at that.

Keeping fingers crossed the none fluffy are fertile, they should start hatching tomorrow if they are!

Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll hatch

3 days for eggs to hatch.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/loaches1/p/weatherloach.htm

All but 1 of the eggs I can see have gone white and fluffy , I am not going to attempt to move them because they are all far enough apart, I have 1 I can see that has no fluff but I can see any "development" within the egg, should be hatching tomorrow if there are any others in the gravel, but I am starting to loose hope

Still exciting..

Even if nothing comes of this batch, you never know, now that they've done it once they might go on to breed properly for you.

congrats on the first batch, an good look in the future.

Trouble is I really cant keep them, I am in desperate need of the tank the eggs are in and the parents are in another tank now in the kids room, hubby is not best pleased with a 3rd tank in the kids room, but the kids are happy lol

I have put some of my fish up for sale on AC as I am so desperate for space some just have to go

i no wat ya meen, im down to 6 tanks now an will be loosin afew more.

Any news on these Star?

The eggs I could see went fluffy not sure if there are any more in the gravel as its large gravel. I did get excited yesterday when I saw a planaria worm thinking it was a baby loach for a second lol, I am going to leave the tank as it is until next weekend, even if some have hatched I will have no chance of spotting tiny wrigglers in the bottom of a 400l tank ! by next week I should spot something if any have hatched.

have ya spoted any yet

Na nothing

sorry t hear that but at least they are tryin now

Tis a shame But hopefully now they've done it once they'll keep spawning for you.

Hi Star,

I had a thought about this spawning. If this is something you might pursue (I think you should). It would probably be worth using a bare bottomed tank with marbles all over the bottom and have high flow but a fine mesh over the filter inlet.

Does this seem like a possible method to successfully spawn these guys?

Sam