suspicious BN activity

[andywoolloo]

ok i put them in a aquarium net breeder, on the side of the tank by the input from the filter. ? So that flow is moving thru the net breeder? I put in the cluster of eggs and the stray ones from around it.

[andywoolloo]

sole survivor BN fry of first batch enjoying romaine lettuce

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/ ... I_0502.flv

same little peanut trying to eat the driftwood

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/ ... I_0513.flv

[andywoolloo]

so it has been 4 days , well 4 days tonight and the eggs are still in the net breeder, some look fungused maybe. Do I seperate and remove those ones? No one is wriggling around that I can tell.

[andywoolloo]

6-10 wrigglers in breeding net box this morning, one survivor from first spawn on November is now an inch long, eating and pooing like mad, and male on another clutch of eggs in a cave.

they are very prolific. Will they ever take a rest do you think? I love them all but....wow! They just keep going. It's a breeding frenzy. Much activity in the tank. So very cute!

My problem is I cannot imagine bringing any babies of current sale size to any fish stores by me. They wouldn't feed them right or keep them right. I dreamed of many many BN babies covering all walls of the tank last night.

now since the wrigglers are in the breeding net and have egg sacs attached I do not feed them right? they are crawling all over the net and I think they may escape. Also the big BN adults have been crawling all over the outside checking them out. Also there is a MTS that got in there, so that's ok right? cause I can't really keep them out.

[MatsP]

MTS should be all right. And the wriggles wouldn't need feeding until the yolk-sac is gone.

--
Mats

[andywoolloo]

thanks yes I had read that on this site re MTS and the egg yolk.
I have three stages of BN in the tank at the moment, it's just ...prolific? is that the word?
I have the original survivor from first batch, he is about an inch long now or a little over, then i have 8 from the second batch swimming around they are about 1/2 inch with no more egg yolk, and I have egge wriggling in a cave.

holy toledo.

[andywoolloo]

Well, I had a question re this BN spawning.

Mine have continually seemed to be doing it since they started. And they get better at it with each go.

When do I start to be concerned? Such as my tank cannot handle it?

40 gal breeder
PH 7.
temp 80-82
A 0
NI 0
NA 5 ppm
50% water change twice a week ( usually once a week but with the babies I wasn't sure)
Rena XP3


inhabitants 4 adult BN 2 male 2 female
babies: 1 from first try he/she is about 1 1/2 inches
8-10 from second attempt approx 1 inch (when I put the eggs that were on the sand in a clump into a net breeder)
mound of orange eggs in one cave on the ceiling
other cave has male upside down fanning fanning so I can only imagine there is more

#1 I am concerned for my males, should they be breeding like this? Should I seperate them for their safety and health?? Like a break?

#2 Is it correct that they (the adults) will know when to stop cause they can tell the bioload is too much? I have read that somewhere.

#3 Will I know when I have to do something (such as remove some youngsters to another tank or to a fish store) when my water readings go off? as in I test for A or NI?

I wish they would invent a liquid birth control for BN that I could add to the tank. I love the species only tank I love watching the whole thing but I am imagining a point where I will have to seperate or catch babies and brign to store, and I think that will suck. I mean, they won't feed them like I do in the store.

[Birger]

#1 I am concerned for my males, should they be breeding like this? Should I seperate them for their safety and health?? Like a break?

They can cope...maybe one day though the two males will have it out as to who is really the boss.

#2 Is it correct that they (the adults) will know when to stop cause they can tell the bioload is too much? I have read that somewhere.

What would happen is they would go into survivor mode and have to use their energy for hopefully staying alive, when conditions are more to their liking they will continue again.

#3 Will I know when I have to do something (such as remove some youngsters to another tank or to a fish store) when my water readings go off? as in I test for A or NI?

You do not want to wait until something goes off...you may start losing fish then. What you may start noticing is a difference in growth rates...some will grow and some it will seem are not growing. If you had a large brood (100 or more)you might have to split them up to get even growth.

I wish they would invent a liquid birth control for BN that I could add to the tank

It's not liquid but it is called a divider.

Birger

[andywoolloo]

ty Birger

So when will I not be ok, I am thinking right now I am ok with 4 adults and 1 older baby and 8-10 younger babies.

What am I looking at for a 40 gal breeder as far as capacity of BN's? Other than to watch their growth rate , I can do that.

I understand that if they ever have a big hatching, I have been lucky so far I guess, that I would have to remove and divide into other tanks to grow them out.

Do people just let them keep doing what they do and just remove babies every once in awhile to the store?

[andywoolloo]

They can cope...maybe one day though the two males will have it out as to who is really the boss.

So you mean harm each other or kill each other? The only reason I haven't seperated them yet is because then I can see the one male having continual broods and never eating or being ok. I thought two would alleviate the constant need to breed, but that is so not so. They either both breed in seperate caves or one is having eggs in a cave and the other is tormenting him all around the cave. Not all the time but sometimes.

[Birger]

So you mean harm each other or kill each other?

Nothing quite so drastic with these, one will become subdominant... quite often the females will only want to breed with the choicest or dominant male.

[andywoolloo]

will the subdominate one be depressed and get ill or lose his bristles? Or do fish not feel like that?

[MatsP]

will the subdominate one be depressed and get ill or lose his bristles? Or do fish not feel like that?

What they feel, we can only speculate on. But it is part of nature - and if you remove the dominant fish, the less dominant will take over.

--
Mats

[Carp37]

Looks like you're going through what I went through last year Andy- I've sold over 200 bristlenose and still have about 100! Mine produce much fewer young now (they used to produce 50-100 young at a time, which got me scambling for tanks)- I'm not sure if it's because the male's got less fastidious at keeping out apple snails (although I culled a good 20 or so snails from the tank this month) or because they used to be a trio with two females, but I gave one of the females to a colleague who'd lost his pair.

I've now got bristlenose in 6 of my 9 tanks...

As for capacity of young fish in a 40-gallon tank, play it by ear- my tanks are 10-18 UK gallons and get 50% of the water changed every 4 or so days, and have 20-30 juveniles in them- they're saleable over here at about an inch and a third to an inch and a half or so (total length). The filters sometimes need cleaning every other day though, and on occasion I've had to do daily 60% water changes when they've got really crowded.

[andywoolloo]

thank you everyone, I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed with the continual spawning.
I will work it out. It's also a litle nerve wracking to clean the tank substrate, black sand , dark brown babies...nerve wracking. But they are smart and fast. I haven't had a problem yet.