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Right, it's 1:38 a.m., as I'm writing this, Sunday (11th July) has just become Monday, and I've just finished the latest round of water changes and gravel vacs. And I received two surprises.

Surprise Number One : The nursery aquarium with my now grown-up baby Pandas. I was just about to take one of those nylon dish cleaning pads to the sides to remove the algae, when what should I see before me, but eight eggs clinging to the glass? My "baby Pandas" have DEFINITELY grown up. So, I took the little plastic blade holder from my long-handled algae scraper, and gently eased the eggs free, so that I could transport them to a container of their own. Which is now sitting in the nursery aquarium, with some fresh clean water (temperature matched & conditoned of course), and to which has been added a judicious dose of fungicide to help things along. So, watch this space, I could have eight more Panda babies to look after!

Surprise Number Two : I then turned my attention to the main community aquarium. This time, I decided that the bogwood arch needed to be temporarily moved, so that I could gravel vac a part of the aquarium that hadn't seen much attention recently. And boy did the gravel vac shift some poo ... but that wasn't the surprise. Just as I was about to put the bogwood arch back in place, what should I find wriggling about the gravel but a baby Panda Cory? So, Mata Hari and chums have been adding to the population of the community aquarium against all the odds. When you think what the little guy must have faced - snails that would have happily munched upon any Cory eggs they could find, big Lemon Tetras that will well and truly gobble him up if they find him - the odds against him surviving were prodigious to put it mildly, but there he was!

Trouble was, I wanted to rescue him and put him in the nursery aquarium out of harm's way. But have you ever tried to rescue a 4mm baby Panda from an aquarium full of adults, Otocinclus and assorted Characins? Especially as he did his utmost to remain invisible, and against the gravel only became visible to my eyes when he moved? So, sadly, he's still taking his chances in there. But it shows what a protective haven my forests of Java Moss must be, if he's made it this far. And he's even got visible barbels, as tiny as he is, when he finally sits still long enough to let me see them. Fingers crossed, little guy, and if I see you out there in weeks to come, making it nine Pandas I have in the community aquarium, then you'll get my medal of honour ...

UPDATE :

I wasn't able to post this on Monday - medical appointment in Liverpool kept me away from the library (sigh) and the McDonald's internet caf doesn't allow people to upload files from floppy disc. Never mind. It's now 21:45 onMonday evening, and I've just checked the Panda eggs. They're sort of translucent in appearance, with the beginnings of little dark areas. I'm eagerly awaiting my first ever sighting of 'eyed up' eggs, so that I can break out the camera and photograph them. And, if they are 'eyed up' in another 24 hours' time, it means I'm going to be a grandad

Meanwhile, the Pandas in the main community aquarium are getting frisky again. No sign of the baby Panda I saw during the cleanout, I hope he's taken the sensible option and hidden himself among the Java Moss out of reach of the Lemon Tetras.

On the basis of recent developments, I'm again going to revise my statement last year about Pandas being egg-eaters. Perhaps Mata Hari and company just took time learning the whys and wherefores of breeding, and after a year's experience of rapid-fire spawning, they've learned that the eggs they keep encountering are their own. Mata Hari's offspring, on the other hand, haven't shown the slightest inclination toward egg-eating, because if they had, I wouldn't have found eight eggs on the glass in neat clusters - remember, Pandas lay single eggs at a time, occasionally two, so a cluster of four eggs means that they've laid later eggs alongside the earlier ones, and haven't tried to eat the earlier ones. It's now possible that the egg-eating incident I witnessed last year was accidental, and that the devoured egg I photographed was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, while Mata Hari was cleaning another egg deposition site. Even with all of these new factors in place, I would still advise aquarists embarking upon Panda spawning not to take chances, and provide a nice forest of Java Moss to give the females as many different potential egg-laying sites as possible, thus minimising the chance of encountering earlier eggs and eating them. Having originally stated that Pandas may be in the same class as Corydoras sychri as egg-eaters, I'm now wondering if I didn't unduly malign them, but even so, caution is still the best policy. After all, egg-eating is a recognised phenomenon among all manner of 'gang spawning' fishes, from Characins upwards, and I've cited the reasons for this in previous posts. If Pandas are gang spawners, as is likely in the wild, then egg-eating may be present to at least some degree as an instinct, and given that Corydoras have been around in South American waters in their present form for 50 million years, that's a long time during which an instinct can become fixed. It is notable, however, that most other Corydoras do not display this tendency, and that Corydoras sychri is considered an exception. Other species cited as avid egg-eaters in the Lambourne book are Corydoras atropersonatus and Corydoras garbei - anyone on the board with these species should watch them like a hawk, a task made all the more difficult in the case of Corydoras garbei, as it is also notoriously shy and tends not to like being watched while it spawns ... even so, consider the jury to be out in the case of Corydoras panda, and take precautions to minimise losses just in case your breeders have an egg-eating propensity. This is likely to be more of a problem with new parents, more experienced ones may prove to be well-behaved in this respect. One problem that the aquarist will NOT have with Corydoras panda is shyness during spawning - not if my Pandas are representative of the species as a whole - they will happily allow the aquarist to sit and watch, take photographs and even set up equipment for a video shoot around them as they spawn. Indeed, if the aquarist follows my guidelines, gives Corydoras panda a stimulating and naturalistic environment with frequent water changes and frequent live food banquets, the biggest problem likely to be encountered is finding spare breeding aquaria to house the parents as they launch into spawning frenzies once per week!

Until I get around to writing a full-blown article on the subject, here's a brief run-down of the steps to be taken for those wishing to spawn their Pandas:

[1] Breeding aquarium should be well furnished. LOTS of Java Moss forests attached to pieces of bogwood, and tangles of Java Fern rhizomes are, in my experience, ideal. Nylon spawning mops can be substituted if Java Moss is not available, but I've not tried these, because Java Moss in my aquaria grows like stink!

[2] Temperature should be around 22C or 23C in the breeding aquarium. Well-conditioned parents are likely to be stimulated into spawning by a water change, ideally one that causes a fall in temperature to around 20C. However, I've discovered that a temperature drop is not absolutely necessary, and that Pandas will, if surroundings are to their liking, spawn at temperatures in the range 20C to 25C.

[3] Pandas seem to like decent water currents. Ensure that any filtration system used in the breeding aquarium provides a reasonable current. If using the usual arrangement of a box filter with the lid removed (to prevent fry becoming trapped), additional airstones to provide currents for the adults are welcomed. Spawning parents will probably provide extra amusement by surfing the bubbles in the run-up to spawning!

[4] Live food conditions Pandas beautifully. If you can, obtain live Daphnia, Brine Shrimp and Bloodworm together in batches, and feed all three mixed together so that the adults can pick and choose their favourite of the moment. Rinse all live food under a modest fresh water current in a fine meshed net before feeding, and under NO circumstances tip Brine Shrimp in straight out of the bag, as salt will kill your Pandas! Intersperse live feedings with feedings of high quality flake, frozen foods if you have them (Pandas adore Bloodworm, by the way, whether frozen or live) and remember, that just as with we humans, variety is the spice of life.

[5] Use an antifungal agent to protect the eggs. Tetra now market one called FungiStop which I've used with considerable success, which should now be a LOT easier to obtain than Methylene Blue - here in the UK, Methylene Blue is now practically impossible to get hold of except in proprietary aquarium medication products, due to a somewhat heavy-handed interpretation of health & safety legislation, although you'd have to drink a LOT of Methylene Blue to harm yourself, surely? Anyway, FungiStop is (according to the blurb on the package) specifically formulated for egg protection, and any decent dealer should stock it as a matter of course.

[6] Spawning usually takes place (conveniently) in the evening. Sometimes, if the parents are especially well conditioned, they will spawn within an hour of a water change, so if they've been eating lots of live food for three days, chances are you can almost persuade them to 'spawn to order' with a water change.

[7] Fry are fairly delicate. Temperatures over 26C will wipe them out. Water changes should be performed 'trickle style' for the first 3 weeks. My local tap water is naturally rather soft and slightly acidic, so it's ideal for Pandas, which are reputed NOT to like hard water as fry.

[8] Interspersing infusoria feeds with liquid fry food works wonders with respect to fry growth. Fry start out as 3 to 4 mm wrigglers. They can reach 10mm in less than 5 weeks if fed well, and at that size can take Daphnia with ease. Expect fry to achieve full adult colouration in 12 weeks. Before then, they develop the characteristic Panda eye patches, but the body is covered in lots of black pepper dots. These vanish by 12 weeks old.

[9] Fry should be considered fairly delicate with respect to water changes until they reach the 'pepper dot' stage, by which time they can withstand normal gravel vac type routines.

[10] At 6 months old, Pandas are ready to be distributed among other aquarists. If the recipients are newcomers to Panda keeping, provide a 'care sheet' based upon my copious notes on this board.

And finally, enjoy!



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

wow that was sweet, it's like all i wanted to know about breeding pandas (the fish of course, not bears)

you should seriously write a book about it. i know who i'm gonna go to with all of my panda Qs.

very sweet dude!

Interesting read Cal.

Hope all goes well with the eight eggs. Good luck.