This time ABNs definitely have spawned:)

[bekateen]

Hi Teresa, There's probably nothing to do. He's busy guarding eggs. He will probably just tail-swat her until she leaves him alone, in my estimation. But it's something keep an eye on, I suppose.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

Thanks will do that he's been swatting or chasing her off she's a bit persistent. Last night he was trying to trap her .

[bekateen]

Well, were you actually able to see the new eggs? Is he really guarding eggs or is he just not interested in her?

[pleconut]

Definately, seen eggs in the cave early this morning from older female, was very plump now skinny. But things got quite out of hand second female was really starting to get very persistent in her attempts to get in his cave. Must be all the pheromones, it would be her first spawning, he clearly wasn't interested in her was getting quite stressed. So I removed her. She has some scratches and torn fins but she should recover. Male is still fanning will leave him in peace now.

[NCE12940]

I've seen something similar with a clueless / inexperienced male. Ended up with more than one female spawning and/or kicking eggs out. Ended up with more than one batch of eggs in the cave and eggs all over the tank.

[pleconut]

Can definitely say my male has not been the best so far, kicked last two spawns out. I was warned what you said can happen, so I removed the other female, as far as eggs go I had to get her out to have a better chance of eggs succeeding. Failing this I have the egg tumbler to hand.

[NCE12940]

I was spoiled with my first male who did everything perfectly from the get-go. Josey is a dork though. He gets one more chance (with only one female in the tank with him). I've informed him if he messes up again he's going to the LFS

[pleconut]

Mine's not been good, starting to think I have a dud dad, I have more confidence in the egg tumbler than him to be honest.

[NCE12940]

I took some eggs that had been kicked out, put them in a net in front of a powerhead, and they all hatched. Not a huge batch of eggs, 20 or so, but . . . . In all fairness to dumb Josey, the prime offender in the kick eggs out, Jane Doe, is a huge moose and probably 3 times as big as Josey

[pleconut]

Checked a while ago he's still fanning away. While he is doing what he is supposed to probably best to leave him as he is. Because of the track record keeping an eye out for kicked eggs.

[NCE12940]

That's probably the best thing to do. Maybe he's finally caught on and it'll be plain sailing from here on.

[pleconut]

He is still going strong fanning away. Id even set a fry tank up but wass advised by a friend to leave fry with parents. So there I am with a spare tank. A lonely rejected female BN, that the fanning male didnt want to know, so I went and got a male currently they are checking out the caves. lol

[bekateen]

Good luck Teresa with these eggs. After the death of my male last month, I sold my mom earlier this month at my club auction (at almost 5" SL, she was a steal for only $7 USD). And yesterday I sold 30 juveniles from last summer (> 2" long now, with males showing obvious bristles) to my LFS. I have (I think) less than 30 young left from that breeding frenzy last year; once those are sold off, that will be the end of a chapter for me regarding Albino BNs. But yours, hopefully is just beginning.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

Thanks Eric. Male is still fanning and hasnt kicked or lost any eggs from the csve being day 4 now, he is doing much better than before as by now they were kicked out previously.

[pleconut]

Dad messed up-again!
On monday morning I checked the cave eggs were still in there. Went out came back egg shells around in the tank, no signs of fry anywhere in the tank. Day 4 as in the last spawning. Now setting a bigger tank and adding another adult female ABN. Also have my other BNs that are showing some interest hopefully he will be a better dad.

[bekateen]

Sorry Teresa. Maybe next time. Don't give up.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

Definitely not possibly on this male if he keeps screwing up. He's one of my favorite fish but useless as a dad. The other female will give him practice.

[bekateen]

... useless as a dad.

I've met a few of those... And moms too.

Wait, are we talking about fish?

[pleconut]

Very tempted to buy another male along with the female found source selling adults but had problems before with two males.

[Jobro]

I don't want to be a party pooper, but you might drown in BN-fry if they start to get the hang of it and you increase their numbers further. What are you goiing to do with a few hundred fry every month? This has to be considered when keeping BNs.

[YSR50]

If you keep getting larger tanks, you'll be able to buy multiple males. ;) Don't think the tank size is the problem. Either just a lousy dad, or too many distractions.

The most productive BN's I ever had were kept in an Eclipse System 6-Gallon Aquarium. The tank started out as a shrimp tank with 3 BN fry. I never took care of the tank so slowly the shrimp died off, leaving what turned out to be a breeding trio of BN. As they grew larger I pulled one female and the pair that was left still continued to breed about every 4 weeks.

[pleconut]

Have thought about this. Although the high rates of fry population is a very valid point it is something I've set time, resources, ect into the plans. Definitely won't be a permanent arrangement.

[bekateen]

I will second YSR50's comment. Last year when my ABNs were breeding like crazy, I had one dad and one mom in a standard 10 gallon tank, and they produced hundreds of fry (which I'm still selling off).

[pleconut]

Received my additional females. Allowing them to settle in another QT tank and away from male thats likely to chase and stress them. At the weekend setting up a bigger tank for the group and at first for any fry that are produced.