It is with great excitement that we announce the first potential spawning and successful fertilization of Centromochlus schultzi. We are probably setting ourselves up for some sort of disappointment but so far so good. The eggs are now approaching 48 hours old and appear to be developing right on schedule with the first development being noticed.
What is interesting is how many eggs were laid. The female measuring between 3.5-4″ laid over 200 eggs! She physically looks emaciated after laying that many eggs. Most Auchenipteridae almost balloon up while incubating eggs and return to a more normal weight and look after laying them. So far this has not happened with my female Centromochlus schultzi. She has laid eggs previously which were either infertile or the water quality was not quite right for the development of the eggs. After laying this clutch of eggs, she also looked emaciated.
You may recall that we also had the first spawning of Liosomadoras oncinus, the Jaguar catfish. Since the first spawning in 2014, we have had one other spawning event that also ended with the eggs being infertile. In the near future, we will start seriously working with this species again.
In the meantime, we have had success with several other species of woodcat including: Centromochlus perugiae, Spinipterus acsi, Tatia intermedia and Tatis strigata. All of these will be available through out website next year. Some species will be limited in number but we are working towards trying to keep tank bred fish regularly in stock.
Centromochlus schultzi is endemic to the Rio Xingu and could be at risk due to a new damn that recently went into operation on the river. All the more reason for us to be super excited to see eggs in our aquaria. Stay tuned for more details in the near future. For now, enjoy our new video of Centromochlus schultzi eggs.
