Peppermints Breeding

G'day All,

got home from work last night and found a heap of baby peppermints all over my catfish tank.

Anyone know how to raise them? what food etc?


eddited by ILLUSN to put in the correct pic :banghead

they're in a 4x18x20tall tank made by Wayne at Xtreme with a removable divider, on the left is a colony of orange spots (3 males 3 females) and whiptails (2 males 3 females) and a school of glowlites.

the right houses the peppermints 7 fish in total not too sure as to the sex ratio.

ph 6.0, GH 80ppm Kh ~0 temp 28C

Filtration: eheim 2217 +36w UV, eheim 2028, DIY Fluid bed filter with 2.5Kg of sand (flowrate set to ~600L/h) PLENTY OF FLOW :) 2 DIY air driven sponge filters.

As you can probably guess the fry have worked out how to get around the divider, heres hopeing all the fish in the other 1/2 of the tank dont find them tasty :roll:

well fry are still out and about after the first night, so i guess the whips and tetras didn't see them as food.

also the boiled zuchinni i put in last night dissapeared, so hopefully they're helping to eat it.

wow illusn - you have fry everywhere!!
congrats, there is a Perth based pleco forum that might give you some good advice, they are very friendly there, good luck :lol:

Yaaaaaaaay Jothy. Well done :P

I just love baby peppermints. They are so cute. Seems like ages since mine had fry.

I feed mine on spirulina, blanched pumpkin, steamed spinach or silverbeet, blanched sweet potato and of course zucchini.

They also enjoy an occasional meal of more meaty foods like frozen baby brine shrimp and beefheart mix.

Thanks Merrilyn, I'm off to the green grocer tonight!

Last night i caught a group of 8 glowlights chasing a peppermint fry till it gave up, you can guess what ahppend when they caught it.

All the glowlites ahve been removed to the 6 foot planted tank where they're being chased by the discus :twisted:

still dont know haow many I have in there, I've been thinking about taking them out, but i REALLY DONT want to strip out the tank to find them all, especially as I've got another cave or 2 with fish faning and guarding the entrance.

waitaki any chance you could email me site? please send it to nigtech@yahoo.com

I feed my Baby Pepps Lettuce leaves for about 1 week and then I use Ziccinni not boiled. If you can put heaps of logs in the tank cause the parents can be a little quick for the babies. I sepperate my fry at 1 week due to parents not going of the boil for more fry. See if the fry are there in the tank i have found that the parents dont want to have more in 2 weeks thats all. You have to be gentle with the fry when moving them as well. Good Luck.

Thanks peppermint man, a few people have told me to move them out, just scared cause i know another pair in the tank is fanning eggs and I would have to strip the entire tank (both sides) to find them all.

they seem to be eating the zuchini will add some lettuce with the spineach tonight.

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waitaki any chance you could email me site? please send it to ..

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sent - you can delete your email address now in case you get some spammers :lol: :lol:

Great pics mate!!!

looking great... my fingers are crossed for the same results you got

any luck/progress with the other pair fanning eggs???

still going gangbusters, saw another female with some slight fin damage tonight, not sure whats going on after lights out, will keep you posted how it goes.

hey illusion,

hope most of your peppermint fry made it, just wondering if you want to sell any off as i really want to add some to my new setup in the next few weeks

cheers
jared

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Originally Posted by ILLUSN

will keep you posted how it goes.

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where's our updates illusn? :lol:

hi guys sorry I've been slack had a few dramas with one of dads tanks. pep fry doing well but theres only around 6 left. once i sort out some new tanks I'll set the trios up propperly and we should be in full swing.

Raw zucchini ( just be sure you don't leave it in the tank for too long as it will do terrible things to your water. Put it in in the morning and replace it in the evening etc. A piece of wood, doesn't really matter how small, but this is part of their natural diet. Algae wafers and microworms if using barebottomed tank. They will rasp along the floor and collect the mircoworms.I have raised in both gravel covered and bare bottomed tanks. Also,. have somewhere where the fish can hide from the light and feel safe. Follow the basics and you can't go wrong.

Glenn

there's plenty of wood in the tank and the zucchini has been going in every few days, gave the tank a good clean last night and the biggest fry are now 19-21mm they look great, aftyer moving a bit of stuff about theres deffinately more than 6 in there, theres also a swarm of 6-8mm fry so i guess mum and dad have been busy despit my near complete neglect.

will have to sperate them a bit through, 8 adult peps is too much for 1/2 a 4x20x20.

I must say Im impressed your pepps bread on a round tunnel cause I have tried to breed in a round tunnel but no eggs so I made a flat bottom cave and all is good for breeding. Very Impressed..