Newbie to breeding Bristle nose

[dragonsmatt]

Hi everyone I just joined this forum tonight and this is my first post.
I have only been keeping fish for about 4 months, I have a 1ft tank and a 2 ft tank. Im looking for a 4 ft to have as my show tank and have the smaller ones for my breeding tanks! I really want to breed BN catfish but have never bred any tropical fish before!! Any peices of vital advice would be fantastic. If succesful I intend to post pics of the whole procces to help other newbies.
Cheers
Matt

[mr_walker]

G'Day Matt.

Welcome to the forum. I'm a newbie at this too, and just had my first BN spawn. I highly recommend getting a breeding cave, like one of the ones in this post (http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/showpost.php?p=8638&postcount=2). I had a 5cm male and female common BN given to me at the start of the year, and they didn't even look like thinking about breeding until I put the cave in.

I also recommend feeding them well to get them conditioned up. Zucchini, pumpkin, algae wafers etc. My 3 go nuts for zucchini. Plenty of fresh veg is a good thing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7lDNmyegc).

A reasonably large water change at a couple of degrees below tank temperature can trigger them to spawn too.

Good luck with your breeding!

Cheers,

Walker

[dragonsmatt]

Thanks mate, I have 3 BN atm 2 about 3 cm and 1 bout 2 1/2 cm.
I have noticed my biggest one seems to have some very small bristles starting to form on his head. (I think that means he's male) I feed them zuchinni as a treat about once a week as I was told they love it, but I rarely seen them on it??? Nearly all of my other fish love it though (clown loachs and my Kuhli Loaches especially) I want to get some drift wood as Im told its a real boost for the BN but not sure what type or where to get a good peice?
Also My mother wanted to know can/will the albino and common BN breed together or only in there own colour groups?

[cichlidboy]

its ahrd to distinguish females and males before they reach about 4cm or 5
best thing to do is to start off with a batch of six or so and let them pair off.
other than that, the other fish in the tank are a real threat to the BN eggs as they too are nocturnal and are scavengers. meaning they're msot probably going to grab at least a few of the eggs.
breeding caves are a good help in breeding BN but PVC pipes will do just the same job.
put a nice big pile of them in the tank and dim the lights.
feed the female and males up nice and fat so they both have more chances of fertilisation.
you should buy drift wood from a reputable LFS. something with a few large holes but nothing they can get "stuck in".
Yeah they wedge themselves in places that they can't get out of.
other than that, good luck.

[cichlidboy]

oh and albinos should be able to breed with normal BN. the fry should come out either albino or normal. not sure about the mixing with other variants of BN

[dragonsmatt]

thanks very much guys
Everyone still feel free to give me advice if you like!!!!

Actually off the subject of BN, My mother gave me a female molly full adult who has had babies several times before. She was pregnant when I got her but I never noticed her have any babies???? She was In my main tank so the babies could of been eaten without me knowing I suppose but I have put her and the male sail fin male in my 1 ft tank for at least 2 months mow and still nothing??? She was really big when I put her in the 1ft tank and she had alot of red and clear crap comin out of her for 2 days but no babies and now she is not as fat??? I have lots of hiding places and lots of java weed and I check the tank at least twice a day so I would of known if she had babies! Am I doing anything wrong? as she was having babies every 28-30 days for my mother without fail!!!

[cichlidboy]

was it with the same sailfin male?

[cichlidboy]

off the subject- how awesome are school holidays

[dragonsmatt]

no mate its a different male... My Sail fin is a full adult though!!!