Hoplo's Spawning

[Mad Duff]

My Hoplo's decide to spawn last weekend, I moved them into their own 22 gallon tank a couple of days beforehand. The male was happy building the bubble nest for a day or so and then they went into full spawning mode and started laying eggs, unfortunately I was out when they started so I only managed these few pictures:

The male:

The female:

Pair during spawning:

Male tending nest:

The nest was wrecked the next day, but I did find a couple of eggs that were fertile so hope fully they will do better next time because this was only the first time they have ever spawned.

 

[RadaR]

Oh wow! I love hoplos, got 2 myself. How big are yours? Look massive.
Water was your water like?

 

[furryrabbit]

wowee lovely fishies! are they synodontis?

 

[Mad Duff]

Hi RadaR, they are about 4" to 4 1/2", the tank they spawned in has a ph of around 7 to 7.2

Hi furryrabbit, they are Hoplosternum Thoracatum catfish and are closely related to the Corydoras family, they have recently been reclassified as Megalechis Thoracata.

 

[RadaR]

Oh right. Mine are 2.5" haha.
7 to 7.2, cool thanks.
Hope everything goes according to plan.

 

[Barracuda518]

Those catfish look awesome. They have the same body shape as porthole catfish, but the coloration is a lot different. Nice fish