BN Breeding ...

[mcloughlin2]

Hi,

First of all i currently have 1 large male BN @ 10-12cm, 1 male @ 6-7cm, 1 female @ 6cm, and 2 female albino's @ 6cm or so ...

They are in a 2x12x12 tank, with a 700L/ph filter, nice strong airstone ..
The temperature is 24 Degrees, pH 7.0 or there abouts, a nice bit of driftwood and a hollow log, some broken clay pots and a old ornament which the big male has bred in 3 times before ...

My question is, when i look at my female BN they look to small to breed!

The female common @ 6cm is most likely about 10 months of age at LEAST! The albinos i have had for at least 3 months so i would guess that they would be over 6 months of age ... The common male @ 10-12cm is 4-5yrs and the smaller male is upto 10 months of age ...

I feed them cuccumber, shelled peas and lettuce (All boiled to make it sink) with a cube of frozen bloodworms every 4 days ... I change the water twice a week of about 10% ...

So i was wondering whether i can expect these to breed in the very near future? (Near future = in the next month or so) They were all moved into this tank 5 days ago ....

BTW - From what i understand albino BN are the same varient as commons so there would be no crossbreeding if i breed a albino with a common right? I really don't mind that i won't get albino's in the first generation. I'm happy to grow up some of the babies and breed them to get more albino's ...

Thanks in advance,

Sam ...

[Cheyne_Jones]

Most of my common BN start breeding at about 8cm ish....

I wouldnt be expecting them to breed in the next month or so if you just moved them into a new tank, i find they need a fair bit of time to settle in, sort out territories and get down to it. Thats just my experience.

I would reccommend getting a smaller male if possible (same size as your females), because i find they are more keen to breed with fish of the same size (if does get a little rough, fins get ripped etc).

To get them started to breed i usually let the water detiorate for about 2-3 weeks (no water change), then do a large cold change of about 50% twice in a week. That simulates the start of the wet season for them.

Once the babies hatch and are free swimming out of the log or whatever, get them out of that tank asap because with your high water flow they will get tired and get sucked into the filter very quickly.

Let us know how u go with them