Albino BN sp3 - Age/Size to breed

[Owch]

What size/age do Albino BN's start to breed?

I have a 2' tank with a full grown Mamma and Pappa normal BN pair breeding every 2-3 weeks. In this tank are 2 very young (6-7 month old) albino's that I was growing on. I hadn't seen the male of this young pair for a week or two so today I had a root round. I found him wedged in the smallest crack so I pulled the wood out to see if he was stuck (it is a very small crack) as I got the wood out, the crack exploded in an orange wriggling mass - loads of small BN fry. Now I'm not sure if these are his and hers (the small albino pair) or if hes babysitting some from Big Daddy, if thats possible.

Cheers

Tom

[elexis99]

I originally had 2 males and three females in a 3 foot tank and only one of my males was breeding. The alpha male. It is best to have 1 male and 2 -3 females. I can only get mine to spawn every 4 weeks. They spawned for me in july on the 15 and augaust the 13. The males faught over the eggs however and there was only a few survivors (the eggs were crushed in the squabble) With the august batch the eggs were removed and most were popped or destroyed. They are hard to move. The last few eggs are due to hatch tomo or the day after. I think the best way to breed these guys would be to leave the fry with the father until the day they hatch and then remove them to a seperate tank. Its a lot less stress for all fish/fry involved. I guess i just have to wait till next month and see how that lot goes.
Do you have any tips on getting yours to spawn?? Most people have reported spawns every 4 to 6 weeks. i was also told this is the length of time it takes the females to rejuvinate eggs. What are you doing different?? I wanna try it out!!
~~Shannon.

[MatsP]

Around 2"TL size is about smallest breeding size.

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Mats

[apistomaster]

My experience has been that after a succession of spawns it is the male that needs to take a break as he seems to use considerable reserves during the brood care stage and is dedicated enough to the tasks at hand that eating as a priority slips. Resting and rebuilding reserves is the primary cause of pauses between spawning. I have observed this with all the common BN, reg, LF and albino forms.
One male to a group makes a better safer and more productive breeding setup.
Larry

[Owch]

I agree with Larry, Dad seems to pass up any food for anything up to 3 weeks, so I only let them spawn twice before raising the temp up to 28*C to stop further spawns.

And as such the Mum and Dad albino BN's are going in with the discus on Algae duty until they are big enough to spawn properly.

Tom