Mythbusting Peppermints
#1
Posted 20 February 2010 - 04:28 PM
I figured I would share my experience with these fish cos there seems to be a bit of a myth about them being difficult to breed.
So I'll start with some history...
About a year ago I figured I might give some L#s a go. I figured I would start with something affordable before buying $4000 worth of fish.
Especially seen as for some reason the only fish I have kept that I havent managed to get to breed is bristlenose??!!
I was lucky enough to be given a pair of roughly 2 year old peps, that hadnt bred and had been kept in a cichlid tank their whole life.
So I grabbed my spare 3 ft tank, put it in the free spot I had on the bottom of my 3tier 4ft rack next to the air pump, put $3 worth of sand from soils aint soils in and threw in a couple of pieces of driftwood for them.
For filtration I had a spare small eheim, used an air stone to help circulate water, and threw in a spare heater.
Even the poly on the bottom was a collection of pieces I got from a fridge or something!
The 2 peps were in by themselves and seemed pretty happy hiding under their piece of wood each, but they wouldnt eat any food I put in there, even tho the sand was always covered in their poo.
I figured they preferred eating the wood, so I stopped feeding them.... ever.
Being only 2 fish in a 3 foot tank I also didnt do water changes very often, only when the water started looking pretty dirty, which meant roughly once every 3 months, yes, 3 months between water changes.
After about 8 months, I noticed everyone seemed to have success with D caves, so I bought one and threw it in the middle of the tank.
Now looks like this...
about 6 weeks later my male was living in the cave and there was a big storm coming, so I did a 50% water change, and the next morning he was fanning away.
My first batch had 7 survivors.
6 weeks later, there was another storm, so I repeated the process.
This was the result
This time I figured I would carry on taking care of them the way I always had... ie not taking care of them.
I had about 30 survive. The only change with their care was a fortnightly water change and a slice of zucchini or pumpkin etc once a week, as can be seen in the first pic.
Then with the poor excuse for a storm we had 2 weeks ago I did another water change and got this today.
So there is my experience with taking care of Peppermint catfish.
Dont bother asking me about my water parameters, I have only 1 test kit, an ammonia one from when I was stupid enough to keep marine! and it is now about 2 years out of date. I've never needed one since seeing the light and going back to freshwater.
Sorry about the quality of the photos, they were taken on my phone.
Cheers
Andrew
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#2
Posted 20 February 2010 - 04:53 PM
Seems like you got it all figured out!!
#3
Posted 20 February 2010 - 04:58 PM
I am still experimenting, so I have separated the fry this time.
I am getting worried tho, winter is coming, and if they keep breeding in every storm we get I am going to run out of tanks!
Andrew
#4
Posted 20 February 2010 - 05:45 PM
Heh myth you call it
Are the fry in a sep tank? or same tank?
Glad to finally see some photos
Nick
#5
Posted 20 February 2010 - 06:48 PM
This batch I've put in a separate tank.
#6
Posted 21 February 2010 - 09:09 AM
I'm 22 days since water change and I tested my water and every thing was well and truly fine.
Now I just need you to run me through your storm dance again..
#7
Posted 21 February 2010 - 11:13 AM
cheers
tolga
#8
Posted 21 February 2010 - 12:00 PM
I'm 22 days since water change and I tested my water and every thing was well and truly fine.
Now I just need you to run me through your storm dance again..
The storm dance is a closely guarded secret. Nobody will ever find out!
cheers
tolga
It is just called white sand and comes in 20kg bags.
Just give it a wash.
Will work fine with those fish.
Andrew
#9
Posted 03 April 2010 - 05:04 PM
#10
Posted 08 April 2010 - 08:40 PM
A very interesting topic in regards to mythbusting peppermints as i have bred alot of peppermints with no effort and believe it just comes down to age myself.
Mine are in a 4ft tank, bare bottom with some wood and a heap of D caves, I feed them NLS grow and do a 35% w/c weekly with tap water, I cant stop them from breeding. That being said i grew all my peps up from 3cm juives so i know what age they are at which if you buy a adult pair in some cases they may be old and are at the end of their breeding cycle rather than the begining which will infuriate you to no end and no matter how many techniques you try it just wont help
Patience is the trick by growing them out
Cheers
Craig
#11
Posted 08 April 2010 - 09:21 PM
I had trouble with mine at first, put it down to trying too hard to get them to breed, after talking with Andrew and adopting his methods mine are breeding like crazy.. decent sized regular spawns.
Nick
#12
Posted 08 April 2010 - 09:39 PM
Mine first started to breed at 18 months of age, although infrequently and small batches, as far as the end of their cycle i dont know yet as they are now 4 years old and still breeding every 3-4weeks.
A very wise hobbiest once taught me that fish will breed on their own in many cases when they are ready rather than when you are ready and for some of those he waited 8 years
Like i said , my method is the slack version, tap water changes and nsl grow, temp 26c wood and caves, the fry are not seperated and grow out in the same tank as the breeders
Cheers
Craig
#13
Posted 08 April 2010 - 09:59 PM
It appears we have quite similar approaches.
Cheers for the comments, it is always interesting to see how other people look after same fish
If only all fish were this easy!
Andrew
#14
Posted 09 April 2010 - 09:59 PM
Tony
#15
Posted 17 April 2010 - 10:24 PM
Do you think you would be able to keep peppermints in a tank as small as 2ft?
Because i am interested in keeping peppermints, PM me with some information
thanks, Daniel
#16
Posted 17 April 2010 - 10:47 PM
Can't see why not.
In fact, I think Nick05 uses a 2ft for his...? He can confirm tho.
Andrew
#17
Posted 18 April 2010 - 09:30 AM
And they are currently breeding every 6 weeks or so.
HTH
Nick
#18
Posted 02 May 2010 - 01:15 AM
2 weeks ago I started wondering why my peps hadn't bred since I started this topic.
I realised that the only difference between then and now was that I was placing some zucchini in the tank twice a week to feed the juvies.
So I figured what the hell, I'll try not feeding them at all again.
As of friday morning the male is fanning eggs again!
These fish are bizarre!
And not even a storm dance this time Nick!
Maybe I should stop feeding all my fish!
Cheers
Andrew
#19
Posted 02 May 2010 - 09:16 PM
#20
Posted 08 May 2010 - 12:13 PM
The male pep had kicked out a small bunch of eggs on wednesday as one had turned white, so I pulled them out, removed the white egg, and placed them in an icecream container with a drop of meth blue.
The tails and heads separated from the egg today and the egg skin is starting to separate from the egg sacks.
You can see in the pic the one all by itself on the right was the first to "hatch" and separate from the clump.
Its quite fascinating when you can see it all happening.
If I get time I might do a daily photolog to show growth rate.
Cheers
Andrew
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