New guy w/ new guy question

Just found the site. I look forward to finding more fish to spend all my money on.
So, here is my question. I added a ~3.5 inch female albino BN to a tank with a ~ 3.5 inch male albino BN. Now two days later, the male is hiding in a small artificial log cave about 90% of the time, what are the chances he's sitting on eggs? I got the female for breeding purposes, but I was going to put them in their own tank first. Are they getting a head start on me?

could well be mate...it depends on how gravid your female was when you put her in??
Was she nice and fat??
Also male's hang out most of there time in cave's without moving for day's....
Once they find the perfect cave they are very reluctant to move from it just in case they loose it to another male..

Just keep your eye on him if he's fanning with all his fins then it could be possible plus check your female's belly..

The female was FAT when I put her in. Fat enough, it looked like her scales were fanning out to all sides. The male has been in the tank for a bit over a year. A small (<2 inch) brown BN has been in the tank for about a month. Within an hour of adding the new female, all three were wimming near each other and the small brown and new female were prodding each other quite a bit.

The male has spent very little time in the "cave" ever, until today. He is usually very active and moving around the tank most of the day. I've seen him for about 10 minutes or so, total, in the last 7 hours or so. The cave is an acrylic artificial log with three separate holes in it. Most of the time I can see either his head or tail inside the smallest opening of the cave.

I may be imagining things, but it seems a little funny to me. Thanks for the response. I'll add updates when I find out more.

Best of luck with them

High m f, just grab a torch a take a look inside the log, if you see a bunch of gold/orange coloured eggs -
your on a winner, I hope they get rockin for you.
J

Sounds very much like they are :0)

this sounds like a breeding as taken place i always put the caves facing the front of the tank so i can always keep an eye on things

No luck this time. The male sat in the log for two days, but is now out and about like normal. He and the female are very interested in each other, though, so it shouldn't take long for them to make it happen. Thanks guys.

I've added a small cave made from a terracotta (not ceramic) pot. Hopefully they'll like the new spot, since that old log is way more inconvenient for me. Haha!

just make sure that female always has a nice fat belly and she will give him no choice trust me,,,when she wants it she will get it....

Definitely had a spawn this time. Pictures are bad, but you can see the eggs for sure. It looks like about 30-40 eggs, but he won't move long enough to let me count them. The male and female disappeared for a little while. Next thing you know, the male is fanning eggs and the female is all over the tank eating everything she can get her lips on.

Nice work m f's fishes, I think I'll have to grab my torch and check my cave - JB was going bannanas last night.
Have fun with the baby fishes.
J

poor pic mate but its good enough to see the eggs....

Well done mate..

Luks like your doing things right....

I was kneeling in front of the tank with my two year old standing on my knees while taking this pic. I moved him and took about five others and they turned out worse than this one. I'm going to have to borrow my sister's camera to get good ones. Hoepfully, I'll have pics of some little baby BN's to post soon.

That spawn didn't produce any babies. Neither did the next one. But right now, I have babies inside that log. I just spotted them an hour or so ago. There are brown and albino babies in there. How did I get brown and albino from an albino pair? Anyone know?

Edit: Nevermind. I totally forgot about the little male in the tank. He is about 2.5" and just starting to get his bristles, so I guess I just figured he was too small to breed. The log has four different holes in it, so he must have snuck in theback door.

m f wrote:

That spawn didn't produce any babies. Neither did the next one. But right now, I have babies inside that log. I just spotted them an hour or so ago. There are brown and albino babies in there. How did I get brown and albino from an albino pair? Anyone know?

Edit: Nevermind. I totally forgot about the little male in the tank. He is about 2.5" and just starting to get his bristles, so I guess I just figured he was too small to breed. The log has four different holes in it, so he must have snuck in theback door.

its a possibility that he got in .....

My albino's now and again throw a few browns out....its genetics mate amber on here normally has the answers..

its more likely one of your albino's came from mixed parents brown x albino and thats why your getting some browns ive had this problem in the past.

Another question. The little guys are swimming around inside the log, and look ready to come out. So far they have stayed inside, though. A couple of my juvie angelfish have been sitting near the log openings and staring at the babies.

Does anyone have any tips on getting the babies out of the tank without them getting eaten by the angels? Keep in mind that the bottom of the log is open and sitting just on gravel. If I lift the log, most of the babies will probably stay on the gravel.

may sound a bit rough on the babies but i use a siphon to get them out of the tank. Run the siphon into a net over a bucket and get after them. as long as they no longer have their yoke sack they will be fine. if they have their yoke sack still then you will need to either use a net to get them out or just leave them be and hope for the best. Maybe put a heap or rocks and wood near the entrance to the cave so that they have heaps of places to hide befoe the angels get to them.

m f wrote:

Another question. The little guys are swimming around inside the log, and look ready to come out. So far they have stayed inside, though. A couple of my juvie angelfish have been sitting near the log openings and staring at the babies.

Does anyone have any tips on getting the babies out of the tank without them getting eaten by the angels? Keep in mind that the bottom of the log is open and sitting just on gravel. If I lift the log, most of the babies will probably stay on the gravel.

I would take the angels out for a while and move them to there own tank..thats what i would do...

That would be my first choice. Problem is, this is the angels own tank. It's a 65 gal. tall with a large breeding pair and 8 smaller angels. My other tanks are packed with fish that would tear the angels up. Mostly SA cichlids and a tank of baby Malawis. Would baby BN's do ok in a breeder net? It may be my only option for keeping them alive.

Can you get your hands on one of those cheap fry savers, $4.00 over here, made of plastic with slits in it to allow for water flow, but small enough to not allow escapees, they come with suction cups or some float..Fry go ok in them with an added air stone .

or make your own, go to the http://thefishcave.com.au/diy/diy_frysaver.html
You could billet the Angels at a friends house or the local live fish/pet shop.