Ancistrus fry in community tank

[bekateen]

Congratulations, Embee! Good luck with the fry.

Cheers, Eric

[Embee]

As of this morning, dad still had the cave, didn't seem to be fanning much though. I am hoping for 1 to make it, anymore could actually turn out to be a problem ;)

[pleconut]

You have quite a well planted tank, it could be dads not fanning so much because fry have left now and are hidden away in the plants.

[Embee]

True, very true! I have bottom covered by cryptocoryne wendtii, most of the side "forrested" by vallisneria spiralis tiger, the cave BN dad chose is placed here. I have a few Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia, aponogeton longiplumulosus and Echinodorus bleheri.

I also have a few smaller versions of the bleheri, not sure what those are - leftovers from a previous tank. The bleheri are the only ones that may suffer from BN grassing aggresively, but so far my only issue here is water movement due to the dense planting. It makes it hard to get the fertilization to all the plants, which in turn gives algae challenges. I am working on that by raising my CO2 introduction into the tank - but this is a whole other topic

As you can probably tell I am also quite fond of a well planted tank, as this in turn gives a better environment for the fish, and helps removing some of the waste product (aka fish turd ;) )

[pleconut]

With all the plants catching the fry when the time comes isn't going to be easy. What I read somewhere is a trap method like this works. Use a plastic bottle with lid removed put food in it and wait until fry go in, then remove them. Word of caution though make sure the adults or other fish can't get caught or stuck in the neck of the bottle.

[Embee]

I've heard/read about a fish trap where you cut the top of a soda bottle, and invert it, so that the top forms a funnel with food for the fry, but with my cory's this might prove a problem, since they're small enough to swim inside a trap like that.

I'll cross that bridge later, right now I am enjoying the fry - counting 6ish so far - that is out of the cave. Mum is looking erm vouloptious (sp?) again, and hovering around the cave where dad is stil staying, fanning.

I am handling feeding with wafers, shrimp pills, repashy gel (some of this is animal protein heavy, to my L471) and general flake food. Fry is grassing all over the tank now, but overfeeding a wee bit is ok I guess, I am changing 75L a week, so I am guessing I'll do ok with regards to water quality - and it's actually easier changing water than checking water values ;)
Furthermore, I am using a background filter, so huge filter volume.

[pleconut]

Glad all is well so far, won't take them long until they breed again, mine bred just over three weeks ago, and mine are very active in and around the caves this evening, so i could possibly see them breeding soon. Always good to have more than adequate filtration.

[Embee]

Just a little update - I am feeding with algae wafers, after lights out. Shrimp pellets, flakes and cichlid pellets during daytime.
At the time I've counted 21 individual fry, but most of the times they are still hiding in the cave were dad raised them.

Here's a pic of mum:

Mum!

Mum trying to get into the cave underneath dad:

Let me in!!!

And a full picture of the tank:

How many fry can you count?

I've no idea if I've mixed something wrong, but as you can tell the dad is a bit more dark(black) and mum is a bit more brownish. Fry got three vertical lines in the tail. That is all I can tell at this point.

[pleconut]

Looks like your BNs are getting ready to breed again. Going by the female trying to get in his cave mine bred last week females were doing exactly the same thing.

[Embee]

I am getting nervous already, I mean I've counted 21 fry, but shining a light into the cave I am seeing fry in there still, so I am looking at 30ish fry. I haven't got the space for that, especially not with them going at it every 4th or so week.

Anyone living near the copenhagen area of denmark, let me know if you need a BN or two ;)

I am thinking about putting 4-6 into my 325L mbuna tank - that will solve the "problem" for a few months ;)

I am really happy so many lives though, even if it gives me some challenges.

[pleconut]

If you go to the forum index you will find the wanted and for sale Europe forum's then you can buy exchange give or sell fish. You may find someone who can buy BNs from you. I plan to do the same.

[bekateen]

Take away the cave and you will usually stop (or at least slow down) their spawning. Better yet, put mom and dad in separate tanks until you are ready for more fry.

If you are concerned about space, you'd better hope it's only 30ish fry, and not 50-100 for a first spawn.

[pleconut]

Taking away the cave may discourage them as mentioned with subsequent spawning fry production rates increase.