Bryce's Breeding log.

Hello I've decided to start a breeding log on this forum to keep you guys up to date with what's been going on since people here have helped me with several things to get this successfully started .

Tank: 3 foot tank split into 2 sections each side holding around 60 litres.
Current tank residents: Left side- 8.5cm albino male, 7.5cm albino female, 7.5cm albino female, Approx 30 common fry.
Right side- 9.5cm common male, 8cm common female, 8cm common female.
Diet: a varied diet of zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash, hikari algae wafers, deshelled peas, the odd green bean.
Filtration: 1 biochemical sponge filter in each run by an air pump rated up to 800L aquariums.
Heater: 150w aqua one heater stuck on the middle wall. Keeps one side 26 degrees and the other side around 24.5 degrees.
Maintenance: 20-40% water change daily will cut the water changes to probably every other day in a few weeks just making sure the tanks get fully established first.
Furnishing: 1 decent sized peice of driftwood in each side, 1 round clay cave, and home made ceramic tile caves.

First of all I purchased a 8cm albino male posted from sydney to add to my 7cm albino female. Then when browsing the lfs i found a very nice 7.5-8cm common female which i purchased and added.

About 2 weeks later on the 16th of April the common female laid eggs with the male.
Friday 19th of april eggs hatched (on my birthday)
Friday the 19th of april i went out to purchase a new tank to accommodate my new breeding adventure. I ended up purchasing a 3ft tank split in the middle each side holds about 60 litres. To this tank i added some established filter media from my other tanks and moved dad and his cave to one side of the new tank. Each side of the tank is filtered by a sponge filter connected to a decently sized air pump.
Tuesday the 23rd of april a trio of 1 male common 9.5cm, 1 female common 8cm, and 1 albino female 7.5cm arrived from sydney. So now i have a common trio in 1 side and an albino trio in the other side.
Friday the 26th of april fry start leaving the cave majority are out by the next morning. In the afternoon i go to remove the cave to give my male a break and there is more eggs in the cave this time to my original 7cm albino female which is around 7.5cm now.
Saturday 27th of april 100% common fry as mum is common dad is albino. Fry are feeding on blanched zucchini, peas, Hikari algae wafers and spinach leaves.
Planning to remove the cave 6 or 7 days after these eggs hatch so the female dont spawn again and my poor male can have a well deserved break for a month or 2.

Hoping that my common trio will spawn soon. The male is starting to take interest in a cave at the moment so fingers crossed in the next week or so they'll spawn.

I'll continue to keep you guys updated .

Gonna add some pics of my fish.

My 8.5cm albino male:



My original 7.5cm albino female:



9.5cm common male:


8cm common female from the lfs:



7.5cm albino and 8cm common from sydney:



My original 7.5cm albino female with a fry on her back:


The right side of my tank (the side with the common trio)

Wow, awesome fish! Best of luck with all the fry.

40% water change done in the left side with fry. 20% done in the right side.
Fed fresh zucchini.
Fry are eating and seem to have grown a considerable amount already.
Albino male still fanning away in the left side eggs to hatch any day now .

May 1st. eggs my albino male has been fanning began to hatch late afternoon.
40% water changes have been done daily. Fry are doing well eating lots and growing quickly .
Planning to remove the cave on Wednesday the 8th of may to give my male a well deserved break.

Hi Bryce,

Just an observation from my breeding

I would do no more that 20% changes every day, BIG changes in parameters can easily kill fry.

Best of luck & well done hatching out your clutch

Tuesday 7th of May several of the albino bristlenose fry have escaped the cave and looks like the rest will soon follow. Will remove the cave either Wednesday night or Thursday morning to stop my already gravid females breeding again with my poor exhausted male.

Update on the common trio in the right side of the tank. Trio seem happy and eating away relaxing looks as if one female is getting gravid male isnt spending too much time in a cave at the moment might need to give them some more time.

In other news i have found a seller of L144 fry for $10 each with $20 postage so I'll probably end up buying 5 of them. I received pictures of the parents and they look wonderful. the seller has also said that they are F1 from the original imports so I'm very excited.

Hoping to get my hands on another 2 breeding tanks so i have a tank for my pep's to breed in once they grow a bit more and for these L144's to breed once they grow up.

Wednesday the 8th of May. Al the albino fry have left the cave so I removed the cave to give my male a break. He seems a bit lost at the moment not having any babies to protect but I'm sure he'll be fine in a couple of days. I've counted around 45 albino fry which I'm pretty happy with for my females first spawn. Cant wait to watch them grow up .

nice im waiting on mine to leave the cave

Monday the 13th of May Woke up to find my common male fanning a nice batch of eggs. Not sure which female is the mother at this stage.
The fry in the other tank are doing well eating and growing fast.

nice great to hear

So my albino fry which hatched on the 1st of may seem to be really small and growing really slowly aswell. I found a dead fry today . As a comparison they are the same size as the common fry i have that hatched on the 19th of May. Some of them are really skinny aswell. There is plenty of food and the common fry that are in the same tank with them are growing really fast and looking really healthy. I'm not sure what is wrong with the albino fry. Can anyone help?

For the next batch of albino fry, try tipping them out of the cave & into a breeding net with some drift wood & plenty of cucumber.
Do not let them out until they have doubled in size. This way you can be 100% sure they are eating well.

I have done this with all but 1 of my spawns & that is only because I didnt realise there was one

I have a less than 2% loss rate when this is done... Otherwise I think natural selection takes hold...

Hmm I might give that a try they are so tiny compared to the common fry in the same tank and they are only 2 weeks older. I'm not sure what's going on Some of them look really skinny it looks like they eat al the time but i might try that to be sure. I thought it was best to keep the dad with them that's all.

Yep it is best to keep with dad which is why i leave them in there until the egg sac is 99% gone. This is usually the day that they are completely coloured & no longer transparent.

See how it goes. It may work, it may not.

Good luck

What about putting the whole cave dad + newly hatched fry in a breeding net then remove dad when the fry are about 7 days old?

i've done that before. I used to have my trio of peppermints in with my oscars. if they bred i would pop them into a breeder box until the dad let them out of the cave. then i would remove dad and cave and throw in a bit of driftwood for the babies to munch on. you need a settled male though, if the male is a bit skittish he will boot the eggs

He's fine with the last batch of eggs i moved him cave and all from 1 tank to another and he didnt even move . So I'll give it a try

In other news i picked up some small calico bristlenoses about 3 cm from my LFS today . And 5 3-4cm L144s are arriving on Wednesday from a breeder . So excited.

Today I received 6 Beautiful 3cm L144's From a breeder. They are absolutely stunning. Can't wait for them to grow up and start breeding them.

In other news Fry are all doing well as are the adults .

I also bought all the stuff off ebay this week to make myself some diy fry savers with sponge filters inside them. Just have to wait for all the bits to arrive .

sponge filters for the fry savers: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDM1WDQzNQ==/$(KGrHqN,!lcE9Q2bBDmkBPf8NuRdK!~~60_12.JPG