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8th Spawning 6/9/07
Mother: Cali
How strange, Cali has spawned again. And only 5 days after her first spawning. Anyway, the only visible egg I can see form Calis 2nd spawning is one attached to the wall behind a group ludwiga. Anyway the 5 fry that I do have saved in a breeder box in the main tank are all doing great. I have 4, 10 day old fry that are from Big Mamas last spawning. There is one that is growing very fast and is most likely around 10 ml already. The smallest week old is around 6 ml. While the two in the middle are about 8-9 ml. I know this is all confusing so here is a list of all the members of the panda herd.

Main Tank Adults:
-Big Mama
-Cali
-Debbie
(females)
-Wasabi(breeder male)
-Warren(breeder mael)
-Young male
That makes for a total of 6 adults.

Breeder box:
5 Fry total

4 from Big Mama
1 from Cali

Calis 3 day old fry is doing fine with the older fry and is growing fast also.

9th Spawning 6/13/07
Mother: Big Mama

Thats right, she is spawning! She is laying her eggs in the micro sword, and java moss.

The 5 fry are doing wonderfully So cute!!!
Big Mama older, 2 week old fry are getting big, they are between 9-11 ml.

I have been watching one of Calis eggs develop on the side of the tank wall. It is 3 days old so I can see an embryo and it will most likely hatch tomorrow. It is a wonder no one has eaten it yet.

It will probably be another 2 weeks before I can add the 5 little guys that are in the breeder box now to the main tank.

G'day Ryan , this is a great Log . I'm thinking of getting some of these little fellas myself .
So I'll being following the antics of these amazing guys with interest.

Congrats on the success

Garry

Thank you Garry, glad to see someone is showing interest in my log. It will probably be more interesting once I can get pics. I just need to get a camera first lol.

You would love these little guys. They are crazy, if you are really into them you will be able to tell each one apart by distinct characteristics and personalities like I have. That is only if you pay alot of attention to them though They are a great addition to any tank (ecspecially your new huge planted tank) and will keep you entertained for hours with there need for attention!


This morning I found 3 eggs on the wall from Big Mamas spawning last night. I wiped them with my finger, and being sticky little things they stuck on and I wiped them into the micro sword. To give the fry a little chance of survival in the "wild".

One of Big Mamas older kids(one of the 4 that are in the breeder box) is gone I dont know if he escaped some how becasue he was so small. But he will be missed. His larger siblings are doing great and getting fat. I also noticed them trying to school for the first time !cute!

Calis only baby in the breeder box is doing well, and finally looking like a little panda fry instead of a tadpole

Very excited to be releasing these guys into the tank in a few weeks

(thanks again Garry for showing interest)

Aw, PP named the third female after me.

I'm truly touched by this.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Cali, what can I say it was the least I could do after you got me into the crazy world of pandas!

Update

The remaining fry are 3 from Big Mamas spawn close to a month ago. I have no idea what happened to Calis little fry .

The remaining are doing great, they have full panda stripes and are getting peppery dots all over thier bodies. They are somewhere in the 12-13mm range of length. I would release them into the wild but I still worry over the big mouths of the gouramis and bolivian ram.

One of the fry is kinda a dud He has a slight curvature in his spine and his face is a little flat.... He is ALOT smaller than his two siblings and is very pitiful. However I have raised him this far and dont have any plans to get rid of him. He is special

Thanks for dropping in!

I am very happy to announce that the baby padnas have eaten their first bloodworm meal

I chopped them up into tiny peices and they went wild over them, just like their parents.

Even the little Dud went crazy.

Just thought I would add this

Man, this stuff is fascinating... I am looking forward to the day when I have enough knwoledge and experience to do this stuff. I am glad they re-spawned... Hopefully this batch will do better! Congrats again Ryan! Keep us informed! (not to be a dufus, but these are panda corys, yea?)

Scott,

Thanks for dropping by my little world of panda cories. Yep, this batch is doing great, they are definately going to be able to join their parents in a matter of weeks.

Lol, I have only been in th hobby but a few years, and wasnt expecting this.

10th Spawning 6/23/07
Mother: Debbie

Yep, it has been an exciting day for the pandas. The frys first bloodworms, and and now a spawning. But there is a little sadness in it all though. A few months ago when my tank had an outbreak of Chilodonella from an otto that was introduced with out QT. That was my bad . The pandas were affected greatly and we lost 6 total from the original 12 members of the herd (including the little fry that I had raised for 9 weeks!) but the little unamed male hasnt done too well since then and hasnt eaten much since the whole catastrophe. Anyway, he may be on his last fin here so I will probably loose him in the next few days . He is just soo weak. He never schools and rarely eats. So I am gonna make his last few days comfy . Right now he is sitting peacefully in the micro sword jungle.

Thanks all who have been interested lately!

Ryan , sorry to hear about your male going downhill Always tough when you become attached as we always do !

Trust he will pass peacefully or better yet recover

Oh well thats the trials of fishkeeping , we do our best but sometimes things happen .
Don't worry there will be plenty more good things to delight you in the future .

BTW you need to get a camera , I'd love to see some shots .

Great to hear about the fry eating grown up food , well done .

Garry

Well Ryan, I suppose that some of the greatest finds and experiences come completely by surprise or accident! Cories, gotcha ;-)

Garry-

Thanks for your reply. I really do need a camera. I would loveo to post pics as it would make this log sooo much more interesting. I have a camera, but if you look at some of my other pics its not that good.But I will hopefully be getting a really nice Canon(sp) camera in the future.

Scott, thanks for your reply too. Yep cories

11th Spawning 6/24/07
Mother: Cali

Yup, it has been a fun two nights for the boys! Cali has begun yet another spawning. I am suprised I havent seen little pandas that have survived out in the wild.

Ok, so the fry had yet another dinner of bloodworms.
So I should be seeing a little growth spurt here soon.

Ok Garry since you have been begging (lol jk) I got some bad pics.

This is "The Wild"....lol or where th pandas live...and produce clones. My 55 gallon community planted tank.

The pic makes it look cloudy...its not it is actually very clear. There are some bubbles on the left that make it look a little clousy though. And it isnt all that green, or blurry. I have TERRIBLE camera.

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Here is a pic of Wasabi (small breeding male) and Cali (large breeding female) after a go at the "T" position.

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I also tried to get a pic of an egg attached to the tank wall. It showed up on the screen of the camera but, not on the PC

I also tried to get a pic of the fry, in the breeder box, but the looked like blurry peices of debris


That is all now I hope you enjoy

Ryan , Fantastic to see the little fellas we've been reading about . Well done . You will get better at taking pics in time . I was horrible at the start but am getting better now .

Look forward to more shots and entries .

Garry

Garry, I dont know if it is so much me or the camera

Anyway, some observations of the spawning.
-Once while depostiting an egg Cali came across an old one and sniffed it with her whiskers, with it being new it was still sticky and it stuck to her whiskers!
-She mainly laid them in the java ferns. I see four under one leaf.

Thats all. Below are more pics.

Here is Cali, resting after spawning, she is sitting in the micro sword.

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Here is one of the other females, Big Mama, the mother of the fry in the breeder box, sitting among the crypts.

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I really like that tank Punk! It has evolved so much from the first pic that I saw of it. some time ago.

You named one of the females Cali........

Looks great Ryan!

Thanks Patty, yea it has grown in some, and I added more plants, I think I need more though.

Thanks for the comliment Scott.

Ryan , more plants are always good But it looks like you have enough so its not need just want

Big Mama looks very content amd happy in your care and is obviously having a good time

Well done and keep the baby count coming .

Garry

12th Spawning 6/26/07
Mother: Debbie

Update:

I cant belive how fertile these girls have been lately. Must be something good here in the water. Or all those bloodworms they eat for dinner every night. This is Debbies second spawning this week!

Unfortunately I came in the house after a swim today to find the little guy who had been weak dead. It was sad. But there are lots of eggs to choose from!

Baby Update:

Big Mamas 3, 28 day olds are just amazing! The twins as I call them (the two that ae very large and look ALMOST exactly alike) will soon(and I mean soon) be ready to go into the man tank. I may put them in after I get rid of the algae in the tank (now that I figured out what is causing soo much) so they be introduced into an algae free world lol(dont think they will care all that much but oh well). Dud, as I have been calling him, isnt doing as well as his monstrous, over powering siblings. They are now maybe almost triple his size (and lardliness) dont know if he will make it to the main tank . Time for names! The babies must have names like the adults, it wiill be a write of passage for them to get into the main tank. They are easier to tell apart because one is a teeny tiny bit larger and has darker stripes while the other is ateeny tiny bit smaller and has lighter stripes. Any suggestions?

I want to thank all who have been active in this log.
- There is much more to come!!

Danny,Jessie and Little Man?

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

Ryan , sounds like the 3 Stooges to me Larry , Curley & Moe..

Garry

Hehe thanks Garry and shadow for the great names!

I suppose I should wait for them to be old enough to be sexed before I name them. So they can can be named appropriately.

I will keep Dud as Dud. As I feel he wont make it to adulthood .

The two large fry look like miniature parents. They have complete black stripes. I was conimplating releasing them into the wild but decided to wait a few more weeks.

Thanks all.

I picked Danny and jessie because they can be male or female names

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

Looks like your panda crew is quickly growing punk
Also its nice to see how much the plants in your tank grew in. I hope the spawining continues.

-Vincent

Well the big moment arrived yesterday. The day the fry were released . They are doing wonderfully. No one seems to be bothering them ,and they are staying together. I was suprised to see them swimming in mid water at one point. They mostly stay among the microsword feeding on whatever goodies they can find in there. Unfortunately Dud did not make it to this point .

I see a new egg is the java moss, not sure whos it is as I was gone so I wont count a spawning.

Thanks Bud and Shadow for the replies, yup they are very prolific.

Members of the Panda Herd are now:

Big Mama
Wasabi
Debbie
Warren
Cali
Fry 1
Fry 2

Once the fry get big enough to sex I will name them.

Ryan , Fantastic for the two fry , sorry about Dud though
Hope they settle into the herd and give you many hours of fun .
Great chatting tonight btw had to take a phone call by the time I got back everyone had gone
Enjoy
Garry

Ok so a big update:

Both fry are doing well. Although occasionally being chased by the baby flag fish there have been no other scares. The two of them are mainly staying in the java ferns close to where the adult group stays. I see them every now and then come out together. Which is good that they have stayed together this whole time. They look EXACTLY like adult pandas only teensie tiny compared to the adults. I'd say they measure in at 15 mm or so. While there mom is a whopping 2 inches. So the fry have a ways to go. They eat at feeding time. Lol I sometimes see them carrying around a whole brineshrimp in thier mouths. They have tried to school with the adults but get too scared most times.

The adults are doing well. They seem very happy with each other. They are a small family growing.

13th Spawning 7/7/07
Mother: Cali

14th Spawning 7/7/07
Mother: Debbie

Lol seems like it was a lucky day!

I have saved 4 eggs from the spawning frenzy last night. I wil start the baby raising all over again. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do.

Awww they spawned on my birthday

Mabye,if you get any survivors...Name one Shadow or Julie



Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

I love the name Shadow for a Panda cory, great name. Julie is a great name, just not to fishy. Thanks for the reply Shadow.

Hey Ryan , more eggs , more babies fantastic . Gotta be happy with that .

Glad to hear the fry are doing well , if you call one Shadow maybe you should call the other one Dancer.
( sorry old rock and roll song, couldn't resist )

Keep up the good work .

Garry

Ryan, great stuff man, congrats on the new fry again! It looks like your breeding program is a big success. Are you planning to sell the youngin's?

Scott,

No, I want to get my panda herd numbers up first, then once I get as many as I want and that will be comfy in my tank then I will most likely stop saving eggs. Maybe when I get older and have the equipment to raise large quatities of fry to sell then yes I will be selling them , but right now the fry I am raising are just for me.

Lol Garry


Eggs are at day two of development, see the little grey embryos not yet looking like tiny fish yet, but around the end of day three (tomorrow) they usually show some visible signs of living creatures (eyes, dark patches).


Big Mama continues to fill with eggs so we should be seeing a large nuber of eggs soon. In which I will be keeping around 6 eggs. The reason I keep so many eggs from her is that she was my first panda (emotional ties), she survived the problems I had with my first batch of pandas (mucus sheddings,finrot, and some got stuck in a tank ornament and died). But that was back at the begining of my panda days. I have been keeping them for about 8 months now so I like to think I am more experienced. But anways she was also the first to breed, she was the mother of the 9 week old fry I raised that died with alot of the panda herd in the Chilodonella outbreak, and she is a little cute hammy girl!

Anyways, pandas will always be my favorite fish and I am always happy to share my experiences with them with all of you

I will have to take a pic of the rescaped tank to show you all.

ahh ok Ryan, well so far, a job well done, thanks for shedding some light on that!

Your welcome Scott.

Well, all is going well, the embryos are looking excellent. They have darkened and are begining the twirling thing they do.

Here is a pic of the 3 girls hanging out.
Such hotties.



From left to right: Debbie, Cali, and Big Mama.
-getting away from the men for a while (and kids)

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Ryan , you have a hens club , senastional .
Well done mate . They are such cuties .
I gotta get some of these guys . Very rare where I am .

Good luck with the new batch.
Garry

Lol, if you werent so far away and if I wasnt so broke I would send you my next batch.

Yes I do see the females getting away from it all and hiding in the denser parts of the tank away from the roudy boys. Ecspecially Big Mama she is one for the spa days in the anubias.

I like that picture, and its nice if you can tell them apart so easily, I have so much hardscape that i may not see the same one for a week because they just have so many places to hide if they want to.
the picture really shows the social behavior that pandas have.

-Vincent

Bud thanks for the reply,

I have to agree, I used to have so many larger rocks and a carpet of micro sword I could hardly see them. So I rearranged my scape to make my pandas more viewable. It has changed alot since that photo I took a while back in this log. They dont seem to mind me taking out some stuff, and I am glad I did so I can see them sooo much better now. They still have thier hiding spots though.
Yep, they enjoy each others company dont they, if you dont mind Bud, posting a pic of your pandas in here since mine arent too good, ecspecially your fry, as mine look basically the exact same as yours did. That would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

i haven't had anymore fry but they are still spawning. Again wit hall the hardscape I can't find the eggs before they are eaten by the loaches. I also had some bronze cory eggs but they fungused. I'll take some pictures of my pandas soon and i'll post them on here.

-Vincent

You'd better hold on to your hat, because mine are about to join you ... they've just had a BIG water change/gravel vac, and I've a ton of live Bloodworm and live Daphnia waiting to carpet bomb them with.

Give them about an hour to settle in after the water change (completed about 10 mins ago, it's 7:30 pm ish here in the UK as I type this, and don't forget we're on British Summer Time at the moment, GMT +1, not that you'd know it with the torrential rain we've been having of late) and then the live food goes in. Watch the mayhem ensue about 3 hours after that I think.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks for the reply Cali, mine have also had a small water chagne which has led to this post:

15th Spawning: 7/14/07
Mother: Debbie

16th Spawning: 7/14/07
Mother: Cali

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The eggs hatched, and the fry only made it a few hours .
I am pretty sure it that it was becasue I was lazy and waited till halfway through their development so im sure it was the change in water chemistry. My fault
With the new eggs I collect tomorrow morning from the current spawning party that is happening as I type I will immediately put in the QT

I collected another 4 eggs from the front glass this morning. I just left the eggs in the main tank in the breeder box like I did the 2 fry that are out in the wild. So these ones should do just fine.


The fry are now feeding with the parents at feeding time.
The baby flag fish continues to bother the fry. And nip the fins of the adults. Gonna have to think of something to do with the little stinker if the pestering gets worse.

When I get back (going to NYC) I will tell about the new fry I will ahve (hopefully) adn how everyone else did being fishy-sat. I will also get a pic of the tank now. (looks great)

Bye! I will be back Friday!

Ryan-

Ok, you have sold me! I found a used 55g tank and stand and as I make plans to set this one up, corys are on the list of species... I love the pandas, too cute! I will be hitting you up with tons of questions I am sure, before I get up and running!

Ryan , Have a great trip mate . I'm sure you will have fun .!!!!
Look forward to the next lot of photos of the new fry.

Garry

Hello all!


Well, I had an amazing trip all over the east coast. But am glad to be back home to see the panda herd!


Well I arrived home to see the 4 new babies hatched and the look great! Growing already. I found 3 more eggs on the wall that looked new (no embryos) and another egg on the magnet wall cleaner that was pretty developed and hatched soon after I put it in the breeder box with its older siblings, cousins, who knows whos fry that one is.

So the 5 FRY in there are a mix between Calis, Debbies, and possibly Big Mamas. The three eggs, are unknown, but there had to be at least 2 spawnings while I was gone so I am thinking it is Cali and Debbies since they are the ones who spawn at the same time. But who knows?

Big Mamas two older fry are looking amazing! they are about 3/4 of an inch now and have lost there fry spots. Now getting the tannish color of the adults. They also school with there parents and the other older ones.

The 5 adults are all doing well too. Not much new with them other than obviously wanting to expand there family .

That is all for now I will adding more pics soon.

Ryan , welcome home , glad you enjoyed your trip and that everyone in the tank were well when you got home .
Hope the new fry do well .

Garry

Ryan, welcome home... I am glad to hear that the babies are alive and well, cannot wait for another update and some more pics! I think I have decided that Julii leopards are going to be my cory of choice when I build my 55g.

Sorry about the long absense. I have been everywhere!

Anyway,

I have been raising four babies, not sure whose they are, and they are gorwing very fast. I put many MTS in with them to help clean up old food and produce infusoria for the fry. The current babies are around 6 mm long and doing great. One little guy was having problems with his swim blader and he had a giant bubble but he is back to normal.

The teenagers, as I am calling them now are doing great, lost their peppered spots, and are now a tannish color like the adults.

I have a few pics of the tank. As usual they are terrible, but a good camera will come my way before the end of the year lol.



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Big Mama under the large driftwood peice, this is a main hang out spot for the herd.

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Side pic of the tank

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Farther away shot of the main hang out spot

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Cali, during feeding time