Basics | ||||||||||
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Overview | The first spawn was on Monday 16th of February 2015. The breeding group consisted of 1 male and 2 females. The smallest male was at least 44mm SL and the smallest female was at least 64mm SL. The youngest adult was approximately 11 months old. The individuals were obtained from From Petco and from a LFS in Modesto CA. | |||||||||
Feeding |
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Water Parameters (at time of spawning) | ||||||||||
pH | 6.50 to 6.70 | |||||||||
Conductivity | 600µs to 700µs | |||||||||
Temperature | 25.0°C to 26.5°C | |||||||||
Current | Gentle(air) | |||||||||
Other Water Params | Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 20 Tapwater treated with SeaChem Neutral Regulator and Discus Buffer to set pH. Also Novaqua plus was added to water at last water change. | |||||||||
Aquarium | ||||||||||
Dimensions | The aquarium dimensions were 508mm x 254mm x 305mm (20" x 10" x 12") all Length x Width x Height. | |||||||||
Furniture | Fine gravel substrate (almost sandy). Driftwood, Java ferns, Java moss. A 1"diam, 5"long bamboo pipe which served as a spawning cave. | |||||||||
Filtration | Filtered with a double sponge filter suction-cupped to side glass and aeration with a 3-4" airstone, both powered by one Tetra Whisper 40 air pump. | |||||||||
Lighting | Fluorescent light on a 13L:11D timer. | |||||||||
Heating | Submersible 100W heater set to 78F | |||||||||
Breeding | ||||||||||
Behaviour | February 2015 notes: Male and two females had been previously maintained in separate tanks. I've owned the females for about one year; the male I bought 3 weeks before now and he had just come out of quarantine. I combined all three fish into one aquarium and a day later they spawned. I awoke to find 30-40 eggs expelled from the bamboo cave, laying on the gravel. The male was still guarding his cave, which had about 20-25 more eggs inside. The females were swimming around the tank, ignoring the male, his cave, and the rejected eggs. I tried to put the rejected eggs back in the cave, but the male kept kicking them back out over and over again. I put a hanging spawning net basket on the side of the tank; I placed a flat smooth 2" diameter rock into the net to weigh the net down in the middle. I then placed the discarded eggs into the net basket. I positioned a 3-4" airstone directly under the net to agitate the net and the eggs. After 2 days, I placed the airstone directly into the basket because 2 eggs had fungused and I was concerned the eggs weren't getting enough water circulation. By day 4, about 1/4 of the eggs in the male's cave had seemed to have fungused (see arrow in photo), along with two more eggs in the basket. June 2015 UPDATE: After five months of observation, my pair of albino BNs have been spawning every 18 days ± 1 day, like clockwork, on schedule each cycle! I suspect that's controlled by the timing of the female's ovaries and her ability to produce eggs. Each new spawn has more eggs than the last. The most recent spawn produced over 200 fry in a single clutch. Now I've separated the parents to slow them down. | |||||||||
Eggs | There were 60 orange eggs laid which were 2.5mm in diameter. | |||||||||
Time to hatch | 5 days Number: 40 Free swimming: 4 days | |||||||||
Segregation | Fry were left with parents. | |||||||||
Fry sizes | 7 days: 6mm 14 days: 13mm 21 days: 15mm | |||||||||
7 days | ||||||||||
Juvenile sizes | 1 month: 17mm 3 months: 40mm 6 months: 57mm | |||||||||
1 month | ||||||||||
3 months | ||||||||||
6 months | ||||||||||
Fry and juvenile feeding | The fry were left in the tank with their parents and have been eating their parents' food from the moment they were free swimming. I don't know exactly what they're eating, but these are the food sources in the tank: Two pieces of driftwood, algae growing on the glass and wood. The tank also receives algae pellets and NLS Thera A+ small pellets daily. Occasionally I add live Tubifex worms to the tank, which hide in the fine gravel substrate. I also give them fresh, uncooked sweet potato slices weekly. A video of the same father nurturing 3 week old juvies and a newer clutch of 3-4 day old fry can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/83mNMaPdgr4. |