How to breed Bunocephalus?

[taheton]

Hi I`ve read that bunocephalus can be breed in acuarium at the catelog, but I havent finded a report can someone tell me his or her own experiencie, do anyone know exactly how to make them breed?

[nvcichlids]

The ONLY time mine have bred, I had them in a Lake Tanganyikan tank, which had very high PH and hardness. I have since moved them out of that tank and into a species tank and haven't found any babies since (and that was 2 years ago now they bred)

[taheton]

Hey thanks thats a begining, can you tell me more about it conditions , and about feeding temperature spawn?

[Richard B]

The ONLY time mine have bred, I had them in a Lake Tanganyikan tank, which had very high PH and hardness. I have since moved them out of that tank and into a species tank and haven't found any babies since (and that was 2 years ago now they bred)

This is interesting as one of the times my female Jag released her eggs was when i forgot about her & left her in a Tang set-up where i never saw her for months until she was so gravid, she went constant walkabout....this suggests alkaline pH may have some effect?

[taheton]

I think so, they may breed on pools that form after the rainy season ends

[nvcichlids]

Hey thanks thats a begining, can you tell me more about it conditions , and about feeding temperature spawn?

Feeding in that tank was live brine, black worms and freeze dried mysis along with super brine shrimp flakes and cichlid flakes. The ph was around 8.7, temp of 79, but other than that, I can say I do not know much more about that tank's chemistry.

[taheton]

nice thank s, how big and old they were?

[nvcichlids]

about the size of my middle finger sooo... about 3.5" (without tail) and I purchased them as young wild caughts around 1.5" (without tail)

[Harry94]

My Bunocephalus bred around 4 months ago. This happened after I did 3 40% water changes in 2 weeks with harder water. The temperature had also increaced to 26 oc from 25. It happened in a wooden cave, where the male was guarding some fry. They also were taking regular refuge in my Java ferns prior to this.


Harry

[taheton]

Hi any updates,? the breed in caves? how do eggs look like, how big and old you think they are?

[Harry94]

unfortunately we went away and the fry didnt survive. am hoping for more results with my new ones now though. sorry about that.
Harry

[knifegill]

Oops. I have an amazonicus and accidentally ended up with the common black one. Can they hybridize?

[apistomaster]

Bunocephalus Banjo cats have been a favorite of mine since my earliest days in the hobby 5 decades ago and are still on my list of species I would very much like to breed before I'm gone.
They would not be good money makers but the sense of accomplishment would be more than enough for me.
I would probably try a set up that had fine quartz sand covered by water logged Cattapa leaves and feed most frozen blood worms, live black worms and some earth worm and Spirulina sticks.
I would provide a lot of wood which covers several caves so I would be providing potential breeders with many spawning site options.
Breeding Banjo Cats would be a high point in my fish breeding projects. In the numbers being kept are compared to a fish like wild Discus which are generally considered a challenging fish to breed, nearly all Banjo cat spawns are accidental or incidental as they do not seem to be easy to trigger. The breeding biology of wild Discus, except Heckels, is much better understood and although still a relatively rare event their breeding happens far more often than a Banjo Cat breeding success.
I have collected very large adults and grown out several groups of small juvenile Banjo Cats and I haven't yet spawned fish from any group but I have bred wild Discus many times.
It would be nice to learn there is an approach that would usually work.
Many species are found in or near areas of some tidal influence so perhaps the typical soft, acid water conditions most South American fishes prefer may not be as appropriate as working with more mineral rich water but there are Banjo Cats thriving throughout tropical South America so maybe water is not all that important.
The adults seem to be easy to sex; females grow larger and fatter than males which started out as juveniles of similar age and size. Perhaps there have just been too few people seriously trying to breed them and they may be easier to breed than they appear? Maybe we need a fish breeding equivalent of a Nobel prize to stimulate greater efforts? Not millions of dollars but enough to stimulate more interest. I am running out of time to breed some of the odd or rare species on my wish list so finding a method that is fairly reliable will probably come too late for me.
Like it or not, SE Asian farms are breeding Spotted and Striped Raphael catfish which years ago I would have placed them at about the same degree of challenge as Banjo Cats but they are bred by the appropriate use of hormone injections into the larger breeding size fish. Banjo Cats may become easier to produce using similar techniques but the fish farmers know much more about how to use these drugs than Western world hobbyists.