Satanoperca cf. leucosticta spawn

[Mattzilla]

My Leucos spawned tonight for the first time (WOOOT)

It almost didn't happen really but by chance it did. I have had 8 adult leucos all sharing a 4x18x18 and 2 of them have paired up and over the last few days showed signs of wanting to spawn. i thought they still had a few days before spawning but just in case i gave their tank a clean today and removed a huge piece of planted driftwood so i could put a divider in for the pair to have some privacy. Well that sounds easier than it was!

i knew which one the female was because her tube was down a fair bit so i had her sorted. next job was trying to find the exact male she was paired with because a few males where bidding for her attention. This meant 3 males had tubes slightly down. I picked the one i thought it was.... but i was wrong!

after a couple of hours and to my surprise the female started laying but the male wasn't interested. i looked on the other side of the divider and one particular male's tube was way down so i did the quick switch-aroony and swapped the males. The whole time the female was still laying. luckily the new male went straight to work so fingers crossed it is a successful spawn.

Here is the female spawning by herself:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4793124556_be9202c080_b.jpg

and then with the right male:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4793163002_95331745ac_b.jpg

Here are some of the other adult leucos... just random shots

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4793129208_0e0c24f527_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4792493101_08e2e94020_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4792426985_278e8192bb_b.jpg

I took a quick video of them spawning... just waiting for YouTube to clear it. i'll post it then.

fingers crossed they get it right!

Cheers
Matt

[William Palumbo]

Cool looking fish Matt...and one wicked camera! Man, I would love to take pics like that! Not familiar with the scientific name. What are they called generically, for idiots like me...lol All the best with the spawn...Bill

[DiscusKev]

Thats one heck of a scientific name :D That is a pretty specimen, nice camera too!

All the best,

[Mattzilla]

they are also known as "Green Horse Face", "devils fish" or "Jurupari"

[Darrell Ward]

Nice fish. I used to have a huge female that laid eggs regularly like clockwork. I donated her to the local science center in hopes she would pair up with another fish there. They unfortunately put her in an 10' x 8' tall tank, and she was eaten by an even larger shovel nose cat.

[illumnae]

Congrats on the spawn!

I got a bunch of juveniles recently and they're growing fine. They were nice and green and sparkly when I got them, but now they're showing nice reds in their fins and face. Really cute fish!

[vera]

Cool shots !
was that pot meant for Leucos or some other fish?
best of luck with spawn
TC

[Mattzilla]

it's an old cave i made yeeears ago. Africans used to breed in it, bristlenose have lived in it and lots of my geos have spawned on it!

i usually give my geos a terra cotta pot base but i can't find the ones i usually use that i gave them that little one and some flat rocks.

[Mattzilla]

Here is the quick video of them spawning. My apologies for the low quality i was only using my little point-and-shoot camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aXNlJN6b6Y


thanks

[Disgirl]

That is very interesting and it sure looks like they knew what they were doing and did it well! I predict lots of babies soon! Good luck with them and let us see the babies when they are free swimming. I guess the parents will care for them for awhile? Thanks for the video!
Barb:)

[Mattzilla]

here are some updated vids i took today. I've managed to snatch about 3/4 of the fry but these last few are proving very difficult to net. the parents have figured me out and even with a running surprise attack i only manage to get 1 or 2 at best each time.

they are excellent parents both sharing the role when mouth brooding and very protective of their fry

cheers

matt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkmAcLAT8OQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clGkEWcAOHs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJE1wwwTGwQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-ZPMPQ-Ao

[Yogesh]

Great looking fish, thanks for sharing.

[Ryan]

Nice fish. Are they in soft water? I'm always curious as to how people are keeping them. Supposedly the Satanoperca are really sensitive to HITH when kept in hard water, but I keep a lot of my Geos in fairly hard water and they're doing great and spawning.