tons of babies what do i do now ?

well ive got 2 bn boys morris who lives in a 96litre community tank and boris who lives in a 200 litre amazon comm tank ..i decided to get a girlie to go in each tank and as my fiend was selling 2 juvi girls i snapped them up ..

unfortunatly the 200 litre came down with whitespot so both girls were added in the 96 litre with morris on the 19th sept. he seemed to take to them straight away..and after getting jiggy straight away he disapeared in and out of the sides of the spawning cave ..

24th sept i shone a torch into cave as morris hadnt come out ..wow tons of orange eggs..

4th oct and tons of baby bn fry swimming about near filter and top of tank ..

there seem to be loads some by filters (as have 2) some at top of tank ,some under bogwood/rocks/coconut caves/tank decs air stone ..

ive weighted down some lettuce/cucumber/courgette as well as tying some to filter top and sides of tank and they seem to be doing ok ..also feed bloodworm/flake/algae tabs/catfish pellets to adults in this tank

nothing in tank seems bothering with them and plenty of places to hide so leaving them be ..

but what i need to no is ..should i be feeding anything else and what ?

is there anything else i need to do ?

how quick do they grow before being able to be rehomed ?

also lots seem to be hiding going in and out the filters/vents/pipes/gaps/even holes where wire is ....
will these be safe or should i get them out ?
(impossible in few places unless decide to come out themselves)
but its effecting filter flow ..have built in juwel filter and fluvel 4 plus

cheers all sorry so long message xx kaz x

they should be ok just on zuchini for a while. but make sure you dont leave it in there more than a day or it goes bad all through the tank. they also love agae wafers so get them onto those when you can (much easier).
If none have got sucked into the filter then it sounds like your filter isnt a problem. I had to replace mine with a fry safe one.
And it really varries on how long it takes for them to get to movable size. It depends where your moving them. If your moving them to a community tank with cichlids then you will need to grow them to at least an inch long for them to survive. but frequent water changes actually make them grow quicker ive noticed.
Hope this helped

thanks x i am also using the algae wafers but they seem to prefer the cue and courgettes more but will keep persevering ..

about 50 % of the fry pref to be at top of tank while rest are at bottom ..are they just looking for best algae ?

this tank doesnt seem to make as much algae as my others ,tried more plants ,keeping light on longer ..gonna grow some algae rocks in windows so can keep adding them ..

also tank incl
1 (m) bn
2 (f) bn
1 dwarf gourami
1 blackwidow tetra
2 otoclinctus
4 c-trili corys
1 (m) guppy
3 black neons
2 neon tetras
4 glowlight tetras.

unsure if babies are swallow proof yet ..any fish to be aware of ?


cheers kaz x

ooo cool! sounds like you have a good selection. Im pretty sure that those other fish should be fine. none of them are overly agressive. and as for the staying at the top of the tank: (someone correct me if im wrong) but ive heard that this is helps them digest food as they are always facing up. mine tend to go on the glass right after they have eaten. Lots of plants and wood for your fry to hide in is a good idea but it sounds like you have them pretty happy. =)

thanks again its my 1st lot so worried and theyre soo cute cant help watching them ..

strange until i got my 1st male bn i hadnt seen the attraction in them ..now in my top 2 fav fish of all time corys being 1 ..still my 1st bn boris is fav he has quite a few bristles and is so comical often uses his cucumber as a belly ring ..the 2nd male morris was a rescue hes the daddy and he came from such awful conditions im so glad hes seems happy enough to breed and care for his babies a newage man i recon ...

woah borris must be a very "bristlenose" name because my biggest adult male is called borris too! ha!

lol everyone loves a boris xx

i have a boris ,a morris ,a doris and a big mo

just spotted some bright red ones aww soo cute ..any ideas if can get them in the uk and where from /cost ?

High k.bod, out of your list of fish the only concerning fish would be the black widow- my angels are at the size of a widow and I have noticed them chasing fry for a quick snack. As for your bright red B/N there used to be a member here
"bikerman66660" who breeds them in the UK( I'm pretty sure), if you PM Curby he should be able to put you in contact with him( I think Curby knows him)
J

thanks x

i will keep an eye on the blackwidow she's nearly 2 years old i think came with a rescued bn ,a c-trili cory and some very poorly guppies ..to be honest shes so skittish shes spends most of the day swimming away from things ..doesnt help my dwarf gourami doesnt like her and wont let her near his side of tank ..but ye she is full grown so will key eyes peeled ...

red bns sooo cute hopefully will be able to source some..hands full with all my tanks at present so no panic if i dont ..

more news morris is sitting some more eggs batch 2 ..
now thats fast working hes been holed up in a coconut cave for past 4 days..

even more Wonderful news i moved the other girlie doris to boris's tank and low and behold boris is now sitting on eggs for past 5 days..

More news hey, want some different news- get ready to work non'stop now your fishes have worked out how to spawn, they will be very hard to slow down now
( I just remove the caves when you start getting a countless amount of fish)
Have fun.
J

I end up feeding a load of my fry to my cichlids because no-one wants these things, I can't even give them away most of the time.

aww how awful nobody wants them ...wont any lfs take them in ?

good news for mine my local lfs say they will take as many as i have and as often as i get them as soon as theyre 1 inch big ..lfs say they will pay me £1.50 each as well as gonna give me some stuff from shop incl fish ...and some whiptail fry to try grow on for them so not bad deal i reckon ..

my 1st batch are 2cm and doing great ..maybe more there than i realised and some unusual colourations ..unsure as mine are common browns but have mostly brown fry but few different ..clearish poss albino and even clear ones with black tails ..

batch 2 and batch 3 have started appearing now again few diff colours..

im wondering how quickly they grow ? ie to reach 1 inch
and is 1 inch ok to let them go at ?

i do have a grow on tank to keep them longer if need be ,but theyre too fast to catch in community well planted tanks at moment and as theyre doing so well im leaving them in here for time being ..

any extra advice on raising these appreciated ..thanks ..

oh and did i mention my super red bns will be coming soon

That's great news about you getting your red bristlies.
I usually let my fish go to the shops @ 3-4cm(close to an inch) which usually takes about 6-7-8 months to grow that big, but the bigger the better- you can ask for more moneys.
And the easiest way to catch them out of your main tank is simply sucker punch the little fellas- put your zuchinni straight in to a net and wait for them climb on in, no running no chasing it will be like they want to get out of the tank.
J

thanks pretty chuffed about the reds ...will post some pics as soon as i get them ..

1 inch approx 6-8 months not a major prob i had thought it maybe takes less but im in no rush to part with them and can always make room somehow..

luckally ive another tank coming 2moro ..a aqua horizon 60 pre-owned so dont see any probs ..

good idea with the courgette and net ..thanks xx

my reds come from steve tommorrow thanks for the info k bod and good luck with your young

no probs xxx keep me updated on how their doing ...and pics lots of pics lol xx

k.bod wrote:

no probs xxx keep me updated on how their doing ...and pics lots of pics lol xx

here here pics pics pics.............

here you go guys a quick pic of the reds i got today from steve pics dont do them justice put them im a 4 footer on their own to grow on before i put them with the other reds i have
[img][/img]

wow stunning and sooooo cute ..
now i definatly wont sleep till mine arrive ..

told hubby i had to get them asap as they hibernate for the winter lol xx shhh he will never no different i wont tell if you dont lol..

im sure theyre gonna be very happy in the 4ft tank spoilt already lol ...
how old and big are your others then ? any pics for size comparrison plzzzz..

forgot to ask .. what it the proper L number for these fish if they have one ..cheers

Nahice, pretty special looking little fish deano, they look like they'd be about 5cm'ish- hows that guess.
I don't think they have an L no yet - do they- they are a hybrid just like a common Sp3- aren't they?
So why can't we get them in OZ , if they are not caught out of a river and they are privately bred in captivity
our importing rules just suck( I do also realize the purpose of those strict rules)
J

hi k bod sorry not got any pics of the others ill get some for you when i fish them back out the growing on vat. but they are around the 2 1/2 inch mark now and ive only had them about 10 week they were just a little bigger than the new ones when i got them. no l number for these that i know of

Sunning

From the above view they have eye's like zebra plecs???

seems i may have a problem ..
1stly all morris's 1st and 2nd bn spawn in 96litre are doing great infact tons luckally my lfs will take them ..
then boris's 1st spawn in the 200 litre in only seeing a few but then theres so many hiding places i cant get at im unsure how many there is as its full of wood and plants..

prob is im doing water changes to help the fry which at present are in tanks with parents and community however seems its having a effect on them as both dads are again fanning eggs in each tank..

bit worried on the filters being able to take this next lots or the effect on other fish in tank..i mean im now awaiting batch 4 and 5 they breed soo quick..

thought about moving dad n cave n eggs to another grow on tank for now but how do i acclimatise him and eggs to new tank and get him from one tank to another while hes stuck upside down in the cave .what if he leaves them cause ive disturbed him....also boris is too deep inside giant tree root to get at and its too tall and big to move into another tank..

didnt want to have to move the first lots of babies yet as theyre doing soo well and i keep adding algae rocks to tank so seem to be doing fine ..

any ideas ?

kaz xx

I told ya to get ready to do some heavy duty work once they start breeding.
The only way I have found to slow down the breeding is to remove the caves and open up the land scape in the tank ,so it looks like there is nowhere to breed to the fishes- saying that Mark @ aggies have had his breed in the shop behind heaters and filters- so if they really want to spawn they will.
J