Some Important Tips For Hypancistrus Breeding and Fries Raising

[dolphex_tang]

Hi guys...

Recently I noticed there alot of new hobbyists into Hypancistrus Breeding, and alot of questions being asked. Perhaps I shall contribute some tips for the fellow hobbyists here, even I gave up all my collections about 3 months ago...

The below mentioned are based on my past years experiences and advices I got from my fellow seniors here.

1) Is Water Change Important??

I would say YES... The best results obtained is doing WC every 2-3 days once, and I did 50% of the water level. Try to maintain the PH at 6.5 - 6.8and the TDS at 150-200. These 2 factors also plays an important role too... If the TDS is above 250, then the eggs will have difficulties in hatching. As I exprience twice my TDS at 300, the eggs just turned bad or even the fries can't survive. But for fries tank, just do normal 30% WC will do and you can do it 3 days once. Just imagine in the past I have 8 sets of 2x1x1.5 feet tanks... Damn tiring... But I'm happy with the results I got..

2) Is Temperature Fluctuation Important ??

I would say it plays a certain role of breeding process... I used to place my tank set-ups in open area, and during the day the temperature is at averagely 31 degrees and in the night is at 25-27 degrees. This will help to stimulate the hypans in breeding, but it's very bad for fries raising... For Fries raising, I believe the best temperature will be at 29-30 degrees constantly.

3) How Many Pieces To Form A Colony ??

I have tried placing 10 pieces of hypans to form a colony ( 4 males and 6 females ), hoping to get higher chance of them breeding. But I was wrong... In the end, I got a higher chance of males killing the others. Then I tried 2 males 3 females or 1 male 2 females, the results are much better. And I always try to remember which is the breeding pair and will remove the rest when the pair is formed.

If I'm short of tank space, then I will leave 2 males 3 females or 1 male 2 females in one colony. And that still works for me...Of course, you will be able to have some chance to allow 1 male to breed with another female.

How Many Caves Should I Put ??

I will prefer to place more caves in the colony tank... Example for 1 male 2 females, I will place 3-4 caves in there. Based on my past records, I noticed that once the females are ready to breed. They will be taking up a cave, and waiting for the male to go in and trap her. I noticed this behaviour before any trapping takes place and the strange thing is the trapping always happen in the female's cave.

The above case mentioned has been monitored for past 3-4 months, when I'm still doing hypan breeding.

What Should I Do When My Pair Is Trapping For 4 Days & Above ??


Normally, the hypans can trap for averagely 3-4 days. I ever came across the pair trapped for 1 week or more... And the fastest is 2 days and saw the fruitful results.

I will normally start doing my job when the pair is trapping for 2 days. I will do 50% WC, and tries my best not to disturb the pair when filling the tank. If the 3rd day, they are still trapping... Then I will do another 50% WC again. But normally, the female will leave the cave on the 3rd day after the 1st 50% WC done..

When Shall I Harvest The Eggs ??

I tried harvesting the eggs on the 4th day, and they will be still in egg ball. In this way, I had some bad experiences... example like, the eggs turned bad or etc.

I tried harvesting the eggs on the 6th day, and they are aready in wrigglers form. But some of them came out swimming around and will have some difficulties in netting them.

So the best time to harvest the eggs is on the 5th day !!! Some aready in wrigglers form and most of them are still in eggs. But once you harvested them on the 5th day, it's much safer and you will be able to see them transform to wrigglers in the next day.

What Shall I Do When My Hypans Don't Breed ??

Normally, I will change the partners when they don't breed for 3 months. Or you can try keeping all the males and females in separate tanks for about 3 weeks, then form them into different colonies. And it works...


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I hope the above informations are useful to the fellow hobbyists here, and also hope the rest of the seniors will share their experiences with the fellow hobbyists.

Please note that the above mentioned are just based on my past years case studies on hypan breeding. It might work or might not, that depends... Your kind understanding will be much appreciated...

Happy breeding...

[Wind]

Thanks for sharing your experience

[dolphex_tang]

Originally Posted by Wind

Thanks for sharing your experience

Thanks for ur ups... Hope the informations given will be useful to all... But my biggest regrets is I didn't try breeding pseudas. Coz the fries raising part for them is the most difficult part..

[bro*1043]

Good info bro.
So long missing, now only show up?

Hey bro, this is macham 'TYS' - ten-years series that we need during exam man! Bro can I ask which of the caves do you think is more suitable? Coffin cave or normal circular/triangle cave? Any recommendation for the size too? Thanks a lot bro!

[Wind]

Originally Posted by dolphex_tang

Thanks for ur ups... Hope the informations given will be useful to all... But my biggest regrets is I didn't try breeding pseudas. Coz the fries raising part for them is the most difficult part..

My pleasure, I shall not comment much on breeding since am still learning and "admiring" the took forever development process

[dolphex_tang]

Originally Posted by bro*1043

Good info bro.
So long missing, now only show up?

Yup... busy with work, my new hobby, etc... How things with you?

Originally Posted by mudget

Hey bro, this is macham 'TYS' - ten-years series that we need during exam man! Bro can I ask which of the caves do you think is more suitable? Coffin cave or normal circular/triangle cave? Any recommendation for the size too? Thanks a lot bro!

I forgot to mention abt the caves... I will prefer the triangle caves, as most breeding activities takes place in there... I really dun understand why. But I noticed they prefer that then the circular ones, but didn't try the coffin types. Regards to the size, I will use M size for 2.5 - 3.5 inches hypans and L size for 3.5-5 inches. Hope these will help you further...

Originally Posted by Wind

My pleasure, I shall not comment much on breeding since am still learning and "admiring" the took forever development process

Its ok, bro!!! Take ur time and enjoy the process...

[CheckerBox]

THanks for the infor bro. And I can tell from this email, someone's hands are itching again. Would be happy to see you back into this hobby soon.

Cheers!

[bro*1043]

Originally Posted by dolphex_tang

Yup... busy with work, my new hobby, etc... How things with you?

New hobby ?? Going after girls?
Not much new things, still keeping the hypans. Since you give tips on how to breed them maybe I can up my skills abit and try to breed them.

[widjajas]

great write-ups...regarding the WC, do you top up direct from the tap? (using anti-chlorine of coz) or you using aged water?

a lot of ppl may not have the additional space to store a WC tub due to space constraints...haizzz