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Worst Fish Keeper In Perth? (possibly Australia?)


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#1 westcoastpara

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 01:52 PM

Tank size: 18x12x10
Substrate: gravel
Filtration: Sponge
Inhabitants: 1xM@11-12cm, 3xF@8-9cm
Tank Deco: 2x caves, 2x driftwood

Ammonia, nitrite 0, nitrate about 10-20 before a (weekly) water change, temp 26 degrees. pH 7.6

The tank has been running for 6 months, since October last year. They have spawned twice, once the day i got them, and again the day they were moved into this tank. The first lot of eggs got picked off as they were in my display tank at the time, the second spawn died when my toddler turned the powerpoint off and the water went cold. Since then i havent been able to get them to spawn again. Diet is a mix of vegies and algae wafers, and theyre fed every second day. Ive tried rearranging the tank, big water changed with cold AND warm water and changing the flow of water around the tank from the filter. The tank is in the cabinet of my display tank, so theyre almost always in relative darkness. Any other ideas of what i can do help them spawn?

This is the first and only fish ive had that ive tried to breed, i thought i would start with something easy!! Ha!

Not having a whole lot of experience with catfish, the behaviour of the male seems interesting to me. Im wondering if possibly he's not interested in breeding anymore. He is very anti-social in behaviour, he will not tolerate any of the girls near him, or near the cave he hangs out in. He chases everyone away from any of the food i drop in the tank, hes happy with others eating, just not the piece of vege or wafer he wants. If he wants to chew on a section of driftwood, then he pushes whoever is there away so he can have his choice of driftwood. I realise that males are always going to be a dominant force in a fish tank, but is this normal behaviour?

Any other info you need to help me out please ask, i would really like to see these guys breed again.

#2 werdna

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 01:57 PM

Bristlenose should be kept in a 1:1 ratio. Cant hurt to add another male.

Other than that, I think you need to stop trying, the more you mess with things, the less they will spawn. Stop trying to rearrange things and leave them alone.

And you arent the worst fishkeeper in the world, it took me 10 years to spawn BN. smile.gif

#3 westcoastpara

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 02:08 PM

hmmm interesting, i did have another male in there when the first two spawns happened, you could be on the money there. He never bred though. Why would that affect them breeding though?

I did forget to mention that i havent really changed anything in the tank for a couple of months now, the rearranging happened when i was siphoning out all the dead fry carcasses! I have read on here a few times that sometimes the best thing you can do is leave them alone, so i suppose that something ive tried too.

#4 Cawdor

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 02:52 PM

I have found that with BN, best to not fuss about them and just leave em. And give the single male some competition - increasing the overall number and having several males means there's competition and they will start breeding pretty quickly. Water parameters are not that important with BN, I've had spawns in all sorts of water. Give them a nice piece of wood, a couple of caves and then just leave them alone. With the temps getting colder now they should also start spawning more easily - you can try to induce spawning by doing a big waterchange (~80%).

But the first steps should just be to get your fish number right, set the tank up with wood and caves and just leave them alone.

Werdna: congrats on finally spawning them smile.gif

#5 werdna

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 05:09 PM

Ha, cheers smile.gif
I have about 2000 now!

#6 fishking123

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 05:15 PM

QUOTE (werdna @ Apr 5 2012, 01:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Bristlenose should be kept in a 1:1 ratio. Cant hurt to add another male.

Other than that, I think you need to stop trying, the more you mess with things, the less they will spawn. Stop trying to rearrange things and leave them alone.

And you arent the worst fishkeeper in the world, it took me 10 years to spawn BN. smile.gif


why 1:1?? i have 1:4..(3m and 12f)
and for my calico i have 1:3(3m and 9f)


Edited by fishking123, 05 April 2012 - 05:17 PM.


#7 Bowdy

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 06:29 PM

King the males do all the work and if a few females are gravid and the male is busy then she will reobsorbe the eggs. If there are the same number male female there is always a male to spawn with.
Also males can get lazy.

#8 fishking123

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 06:39 PM

i take the eggs out after2 days so he is free most of the time and all my babys are good as gold

#9 Fox

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 06:44 PM

My 2 tanks I use for breeding are 3x14x14.
I have a few tunnels in the tank and also some driftwood for the fry to eat.
I couldnt tell you how many of each sex I have, But I do have more males to females.
Males will & do get lazy. They will also get aggressive.
I have found the long fins are more agro than others and more so the albino LF's.

Mine get a 50% water change once a week.
pH - 7.5
GH - 300
Temp - 24-28 (Depending on the day)
Brown Gravel
HEAPS of plants - Floating & planted (Keeps the nitrates down)
2 sponge filters in each tank

I have been told over the years that BN's wont breed with fry in the same tank... BULL****!!

PPL that have been to my house have seen the amount of fry in the same tanks as their parents.
All my fish get the same food.
Sera Flora Flakes
NLS Cichlid Formula 1mm

I have no light on the tanks as I have a skylight in the fish room that is directly above those tanks.

If you would like any more info, Feel free to ask away.

Edited by Aquatic Dreams, 05 April 2012 - 11:11 PM.
swearing. Poncho


#10 fishking123

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 07:06 PM

umm you may want to fix up the BULL**** part.

thanks
Brad

ps you bristelnose will still breed but they will slow down with fry in there tank IMO.

#11 Fox

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 07:19 PM

QUOTE (fishking123 @ Apr 5 2012, 07:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
ps you bristelnose will still breed but they will slow down with fry in there tank IMO.

You may want to fix the "bristelnose" wink.gif jks

Mine have never slowed, I get a batch every 2/3 weeks.
Over the weekend I will post pics of all the fry & tanks if I get the time.

#12 garlic shrimp

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 07:43 PM

mate,not long ago at all i had 2 males and 1 female all around 10 cm and didn't do anything special but my weekly water changes and wamo,every 2 to 3 weeks they spawned,cheers,
Con.

#13 Evil_Boof

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 08:21 PM

i have constant BN breeding, just chuck a few good quality bns in a tank together with a few caves, as long as its good conditions, they`ll breed all the time

#14 sandgroper

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 10:36 PM

I wouldn't say you were the worst, i saw a guy (novice fishkeeper) selling top quality cichlids with dead ones in the bag. laugh.gif

#15 Sarahhhhh

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 10:44 PM

My BN's started breeding when they were about 6cm in a cave in my driftwood! They're breeding about every 2 weeks atm smile.gif

Good luck!

#16 werdna

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 10:52 PM

QUOTE (sandgroper @ Apr 5 2012, 10:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I wouldn't say you were the worst, i saw a guy (novice fishkeeper) selling top quality cichlids with dead ones in the bag. laugh.gif

So did I... at the last meeting tongue.gif

#17 westcoastpara

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 11:58 PM

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll be adding another male to the setup based on what everyone has said here. Ill add one and see how they go for a month or so. I'll be putting up a wtb ad shortly, but if anyone has a spare male they want to get rid of let me know via pm, I'd be happy to pick up Friday night

#18 bigjohnnofish

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Posted 06 April 2012 - 01:47 AM

better idea sell your male to someone else and get 3 new males about 6 , 7 , 8cm and you'll have fry coming out your butt in no time... young boys in to do the job... and space their sizes so it prevents 2 similar sized males belting the crap outa each other... bigger male will usually take his preference of cave and so forth down the line... till small male settles with whats left...

#19 westcoastpara

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Posted 06 April 2012 - 08:12 AM

I like that idea johnno, thanks for the tip

#20 Fox

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Posted 07 April 2012 - 08:06 PM

QUOTE (Aquatic Dreams @ Apr 5 2012, 07:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Over the weekend I will post pics of all the fry & tanks if I get the time.

Some pics & vids from the 2 grow out tanks and one of the breeding tanks
Not very good as they were taken from my phone, but you get the idea.














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