Banjos nostalgia and breeding... any advice?

[Templeflower]

Hi all,

Many moons ago when I was in college I had a 29 gallon in my dorm. That was probably my favorite tank of all time- it included a breeding pair of common kribensis, and a rogue banjo catfish- pretty sure he was a bunocephalus of some flavor, but I bought him at a LFS simply labeled as "banjo catfish".

I loved that catfish, and while I admit to being a bit of a catfish junkie, he was something special. All my friends thought he was horribly ugly, but I loved him. He would bury under the sand, with just his eyes stick out. When the proud pair of kribs would escort their latest brood of fry around the tank (and they were ALWAYS breeding)he would pop out, gulp down a few fry and bury himself again. Fabulous.

So fast forward to the current day, when I see some bunocephalus listed at an online fish store and think, "Gosh I'd love to keep those again!" and maybe this time, I can get some fry from my banjos.

So can any knowledgeable keepers help me with a breeding setup? What do I look at for stocking numbers, are breeding these guys very challenging? How is fry care? Admittedly I don't have a convenient pair of kribs and babies to get these guys up to breeding condition now, but I can handle normal feeding.

All advice is appreciated, and feel free to share in the Banjo love- these guys can sometimes get outshone by the fancier cats, but gosh they're fun!