I think they spawned...I think they spawned

I copied my message from my other forum...cause it says it all...


Today is a very special day for me as I think my L. robertsi pair spawned. I was going around today observing my tanks and saw the male hovering over the ceramic cave in the middle of the tank. I sat down to watch what was going on and saw the female exit the cave and the male swim in. He stayed for a while then the female went back in for a while. She exited and then the male went back in. This went on for a while with times of both of them occupying the cave.

Of course, I ran to get my camera. After filming for a while I had to leave for the morning. When I returned, the male was hovering outside the cave and swimming around scooping up sand and spitting it at the sides of tank surrounding the cave, building up the hills that were already there. The female was "bobbing" up and down in the hole. I suspected she might be "fanning" the eggs (if there were some). Filming again and as I finished I noticed a small yellow circular thing resting at the edge of the hole to the cave. There could be no mistaking it, it was an egg. So, they have spawned and have eggs. Now what?

I do not have any other cave spawning species so I am a little at a loss as to what to expect next. I also am uncertain how to proceed with my regular maintenance things...water changes (I assume the same), vacumming (I assume just steer clear of the cave), anything else I should know? I was also in the process of setting up a 125G tank for my Western African group so I will probably need to put that hold for a little till I see how things transpire with this spawn. If you have suggestions or anything to share...Please feel free to chime in.

My video is not as clear as I would like as my water tends to be a little darker (due to all the wood, a catapa leaf, and some alder cones that discolor it) but it still shows some of the beautiful colors of the female, the copper is incredible.

I hope you enjoy the video and keep your fingers crossed for all of us...what an exciting day though!!!! Yippee!!!

ive always had issues with substrate spawners myself. it seems that once the fry hit a certain age they just gonna scatter to the wind and end up as meals for any tankmates. to start id isolate the pair and maybe prep a breeding container so that if and when you do spot the tiny buggers you can quickly isolate them where you will end up with a better chance at rearing the young. i personally never like to mess with the first couple of spawns as i like to let the parents figure out things themselves and once they get it down i start tearing in and stealing babies. just my two cents GL in your spawn.

Fingers crossed!

Anthraxx...I don't have other tankmates that are lower realm swimmers...I have some red-eyed tetras that swim in the upper part of the tank.  I reread some of my articles on these fish today and from what those articles said it appears Mom and Dad do a pretty good job of protecting the babies once they are free swimming.  

As for whether to pull fry or leave them be this time...I'm just not sure what to do there.  I was thinking maybe I would try pulling "some" and leaving "some" if I get the chance to do that and hope for the best.  Some of the literature indicated that up to and over a 100 eggs could be deposited so if they make it from eggs through larvae through to free swimming I might be able to nab some for making sure of keeping some.  I'll just have to see how it goes and if I even get to that point with them.  Mom is still fanning the eggs tonight (again readings said 65-80 hours to larvae).

And Chad...THANK YOU!!!

If info points to them being able to parent, I am all for watching them and letting them do that... If they cant or wont, and you want fry then you should consider separating. I have several successful pairs and a colony (all diff species) and they do all the work.  :O) Good luck either way!!

That's awesome, Donna.  Congrats!

My Tang cave spawners do an excellent job of raising the fry when they are tiny.  After a few days they let them start coming out of the cave, but keep them nearby. I feed bbs and first bites.  I also keep up with regular water changes without any problems and  cover my filter intake when there is a new spawn.

Thanks Betty...I have fresh bbs hatched daily, decapsulated bbs, dried cyclopeeze powder, and NLS grow.  I'm hoping those will do the trick.

Aww, that's too bad, but it might take them a time or two to get it right. Hope it goes better for them the next time. (Look around that cave area very carefully -- just in case. There have been times when I thought my leleupi fry were gone, only to discover they were out of the cave, but hidden from my view.)

Hi Cichlid-Gal,

Congrats; that is an excellent achievement!  FYI everyone this is what Cichlid-Forum.com says about the species:

Robertsi are a beautiful fish found in a limited portion of the rivers in western Ghana. The natural habitat is very rocky and has little aquatic vegetation. This fish is rarely found in the hobby, and has only been breed a handful of times in captivity. They are both a substrate spawning fish and a mouth brooder. Males form territories of about one square meter and females roam from one territory to another. During spawning, the male and the female will both care for the fry until they are ready to spawn again. The fish will kill each other if kept in too small of an aquarium or without enough rock to offer hiding places.

Thanks Betty and Roy.  And yes, hopefully next time.  

And Roy...thanks for the research on my guys.  As I said, they are special fish to me.  I am hopeful that some day I will have some of these guys to share with people that are interested in caring for this species.  They are a fascinating pair to observe.  

Given the loss of this spawn I will be proceeding with the plans I had for them which was to move them to a 125G tank and to add in some target fish.  The 90G has dithers (the tetras and a danio) but I had not been able to add in any target fish as they were just too small in my mind and I was waiting for them to grow up.  They are there now (around 2") and with the move to the 125G it will be a good time to try them in the tank.  I will be adding some Pelvicachromis pulchers to the 125G tank.  Ted Judy's article in the recent TFH magazine speaks directly to the idea of target fish and and adding them was one of the recommendations  mentioned to me at his recent talk at the GSAS.  With the Limbochromis robertsi being the only fish in the lower section of the tank it creates a situation where they have no competition which is not really a natural environment.   I don't know if it is a contributing factor to their behaviors or not.  We shall see as the 125G should be online within the next week.  Again...wish me luck.