caserole

If they are in general good condition they will spawn. If you feed them well for at least a week or two they will produce more eggs then if they were in just good condition. Them = The females.

WOW Cool What are the conditions and parameters in your tank, water changes etc.

Thanks mate, No fry loss yet and the first 2 days can be a bit of a hurdle, so it's good there past that. There really loving the micro-worms wriggling amongst them all day. thanks

I think that tank isn't big enough anyway Billaney. The problem is surface area for Oxygenation. As I'm sure you know they build bubble nests under items at the surface ( the lid of a small poly box works a treat as the edges hold the bubbles). The eggs like corys need good oxygenation too. When taking into the account adult hoplo's are meaty fallows, the eggs need good aeration and something like 1/3 to 1/2 of the surface area will be covered for the purpose of holding the bubble nest it would leave inadequate open surface area. They may well spawn in that size tank but it would be likely most if not all the eggs would die. The fry are gross feeders and pollution can be a problem too once the fry reach 1.5 - 2cm. A tank 75 - 90cm long is recommend because - the above reasons. Good luck finding a male, they are really interesting to breed.

I think you will be fine with a b/n in there. As Epiplatys dageti is a true plant/mop spawner rather then a switch spawner like Aphyosemion's and Fundulopanchax, not to mention the babys are top level fish it would be very unlikely that you would loose many if any fry or eggs. The more fine leaved stemmed plants( floating Indian fern works a treat aswell ) you have in the tank will in crease the egg and fry survival too.

P.s It looks like I WILL be up your way in April so I'll come around and check out your new scares.

Well a day or two after the last post I noticed 2 died eggs. This in it self is no big deal, what was - was they died because the fry had hatched. So I when through them quickly and put 14 eggs back in water and the next day they had hatched. The next day more of the eggs had died the same way so thought bugger it !! and placed all the eggs back in water. As a result quit a lot of the eggs fungused but I did end up with 50+ fry on top of the 14 with around 70 eggs back on peat. Tonight I have placed the breeders into a breeding tank that I can break down and reset quickly and the breeders are in even better condition then before so it'll be interesting what I find tomorrow afternoon, hopefully heaps of eggs .

Whats the foot print of that tanks Billaney?

What is your tank like - size and set up, is there lots of plants etc or is it bare bottom??

Great on the spawning Alan, they should be hatching today or tomorrow. And good to see your ok too, Stupid pil... :evil: P.s say Hi to Rose from me.

Late last year I was asked to send a very large chocolate cat fish aka talking cat fish from Wellington to Dunner's. They are as spiny as it gets. I used the paper trick that Phil mentioned and the fish arrived safe and sound, yes the inner bag was punchered - imposable to stop really but the 3 layers of wet paper protected the outer bags nicely.

The dominate male will have the brightest nose and just look down on the females there belly's will swell with roe = use the fattest female.

Congrat's Spidersweb on the spawning. Alan's right with the warning, my adult male is always missing large bits of his caudel fin after a spawning if he doesn't get back on his side of the tank PRONTO.

There were 2 species that were around... http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/summary/Sp ... p?id=11298 and http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=2630 I did see some large celebes a couple of years a go and was going to get some but forgot how to sex them :oops: :oops: , by the time I remembered they had sold out . They often come into the country with bent beaks as they don't seem to understand there are walls to an aquarium and after banging into it a few times there beak bends or brakes off. Never really had any luck with spawning Dermogenys pusilla unless they were feed mozzy riglers. As Alan said they JUMP BIG TIME, thats how I lost mine too.

Yeah no silly questions. Although if you put in why's, when's and whatfor's you may get a better answer then "yes" :lol: :lol: I found 2 females that had very very close colouration to my pure strain which means less work getting them 100% pure again. It was so successful I have well over 200 fry swimming around with only a hand full of variation on the original strain. Now comes the tank consuming work of back breeding.

Yeah they do require a big tank for spawning. 3' should do it. A heap of spawning moss or mops at one end of the tank filled with rain water should get fry. Think the eggs and nymph are light sensitive requiring tank to be blacked out for 4-5 days before free swim stage.

:lol: . I had a strain of guppies stop breeding as they were to close genetically, they weren't infertile just to closely related. New blood fixed the problem pretty quick.

Yes.

This is what my males look like... http://www.aquaryus.com/poissons-aquari ... nduro.html

looks ok, doesn't do them justice. BUT seeing them in person WOW SO 8) 8) Well done.

Yes, I was thinking they looked very nice when I was round the other day.

There not that hard so should be a go'er. It is best to use water that is very soft and clear with a slitely acidic to neutral ph @ around 24 - 26C. For ease of growing the fry a tank 600x300x300h = 50lt or 2' tank. In the tank should be a sponge filter and lots of spawning mops, do not feed the adults in the spawning tank. If placed in the tank in the late afternoon they should spawn the next morning or the following. Tiger barbs are egg eaters so the water should be as shallow as you feel comfortable with - say 1/2 full ( lots of spawning mops will help hide the eggs ). Because of this you may like to make sure you will be home for the event so you can whip the adults out of the tank as soon as there done. Good luck

Thanks Billaney and Luke* :lol: Alan, got to know whats around There in my kitchen so theres light glare thats hsrd to get around so this is the best I can do.

Doesn't time fly. Some months ago I put the word out for some SJO's and was lucky enough to pick a pair up as there were only a hand full of pairs out there from the 100's I breed. Anyway they were in a 600x600x300h tank but not doing much and I was to busy to breed them. On the weekend I rehomed them in a 600x300x300h tank with the intentions of fattening the female for spawning as they are over 10 months old. I finished cleaning out there old tank after work today and thought I'd comb the gravel and see if hey had been laying... This is what I found Incase you cant quit see them all the answer is 235 eggs.

Well I sexed them though shape, as it is to hard for me to tell from the vents if the fish have not spawned before. From where the gills end to the beginning of the anal fin, male have a sharper angel than that of the female.