I'm no expert on breeding catfish, or anything else for that matter, just another fish fool who likes cute baby fish. My latest success (?) has been the super red BN from Germany. The first unexpected spawn was in a 75 gallon growout tank full of oblongums that I only managed to save 1 red fry from. I moved the red BN into the 30L with a couple brown females and sold the brown breeding male. After 2 spawns of red male/brown female those 2 were also sold off. The next 2 spawns were with the same male, one that had grown larger than the original spawning male. All the fry were brown. So, out goes the larger male and several others, leaving the original breeding male and 2 red females to spawn in the 30. Eventually, there's another clutch of eggs, happy dance, finally some red fry will be forthcoming. Within a couple days the eggs are gone and the male has abandoned the cave. (Actually a large barnacle shell in a cluster of 6-7, for some reason all the BN spawn in that one particular shell.) Sometime later 5 red fry did turn up, I presume a few eggs were kicked out and developed on their own. So I'm thinking: "Surely, he will improve with practice." Most recent spawn was last week, Within a couple days the egg cluster was on the substrate rather than inside the cave, but the male was still tending them, at least until I got too close for a peek. After a day of that I moved the eggs into a net breeder, and they just hatched today. Looks like 40-50 wigglers, they should be fine this time around. They're in the 38 with the L-10a breeding group and a couple dozen juvies growing out. I usually wait until the BN fry are 1" before moving them to other tanks for growout, but all the BN juvies except for the single red from the first spawn have been moved out of the 38 now. Plenty of room and food for this new crop of fry. The other red female looks ready to drop a load soon, so we'll see if the 3rd time is the charm for the red male to be a good daddy.
As for the L-10a, I managed to grow out 37 fry from the first spawns. After that a couple clutches didn't last long enough to hatch. Then the male got back on track tending the eggs, and I moved the tube, eggs, and male into the 10 gallon tank each time a clutch was ready to hatch. Out of an estimated 100+ eggs, most of which I saw either hatching or just about to, I now have 4 fair-size growing fry in the 10 gallon. I'm thinking the mts population has grown too large, and the fry weren't finding enough food. The breeders seem to be taking a break, but the next clutch will be moved into another 10 gallon w/out the snails.
Otherwise, I have 6 L-333's and 6 L-134's in different tanks that I'm hoping will spawn sometime this year. I did have 5 L-204's, but 2 of those disappeared w/out a trace over the last couple years. The remaining 3 don't seem particularly interested in spawning, though I suppose it's still possible. They should at least be sexable now if I get around to researching them a bit.
I also have groups of Synodontis petricola and/or lucipinnis as well as multi's I have seen them apparently spawning, but no fry from any of them.
