Sturisoma Breeding

[TheSwissAquarist]

Would anyone have any Sturisoma breeding advice (eg. species, water parameters etc)?

[Dan_C]

I have breed Sturisoma Panamense.  Breeding was easy once the male and female was mature they breed in my community tank once a month usually around/near a full moon. Tank parameters were around pH=7.2 Temp: 78 deg.F, TDS=180.I do not know KH or GH It was a 65G planted community with a lot of manzanita. They laid eggs on the glass(usually)  just like Farlowella that I also breed in the same tank.  They laid around 15-20 eggs in a clutch. The male guards the eggs.  Raising the Sturisoma and Farlowella fry was difficult and I still haven’t done that with great success. Although not very successful I still learned a lot from failed clutches. The fry don’t move much to search for food it is best to keep them in a confined space to concentrate the food.  A “Dean’s Fishroom” style fry setup would probably be ideal to concentrate the fish and the food.  I have a box of parts but have yet to build my setup. Being in a community tank I pulled the eggs into a Ziss egg tumbler most of the time(the Sturisoma would always lose some to fungus I never had a fungus issue with Farlowella) then put the fry in a Ziss Breeder box then I would slowly lose the fry.  I think feeding is my issue raising the fry.  Most successful reports I have read with Sturisoma and Farlowella they were feeding 3 times a day with a 50 % water change after each feeding. I started getting better results when I put seasoned twigs if driftwood and leaves in the breeder box.  I also add cherry shrimp and a snail or two  to help with the excess food. 

I have been feeding the fry what I feed the adults, variety of foods but mostly Omega One Kelp wafers.  I am now believing the fry may need a little more protein and want to experiment with live baby brine and micro worms.  These should stay alive longer in the breeder box and possibly move to the fish.

I did leave a clutch in the main tank once and I did have one fry live to adult with no intervention.  I do think its possible to colony breed in a Species tank.  I am experimenting with this now with Farlowella.

I hope that gets you started and I hope others chime in so I can learn more too.

[TheSwissAquarist]

Thanks 🙂