L666 King Tiger breeding - update after 5 years here, ???

[de221ck]

hello planet catfish, i got a lot of help breeding my king tigers here and wanted to see if anyone knew if i should try something suggested years ago but have one or two concerns. i had started with 3 of king tigers from a fish store at basically fry, after 5 years they finally had babies. i had thought they died and really like the babies because they do not hide at all i have a theory of that is because they were born in tank?

anyway, the tank is 240 gal's and i can tell from the size of the babies they may have had 2-4 liters but nothing large so i assume and was told to setup a smaller tank 55gal with a male and a female instead of having most have the fry dying, i had found one dead before but i usually have no idea or control over what goes on the tank is full of driftwood rocks and tunnels. but does anyone think that after so many years they are too old to breed? the smallest i can find are about 1.5" and i could not make an accurate guess of how many are in the tank maybe 15-20 but it is hard to say, the tank is dedicated to plecos so its full of hide outs....

so since the breeding over so many years seems to not produce many, should i attempt to put a few in a 55 where i have better control over tunnels filtration and possibly remove the fry? i am pretty sure the large tank is making it hard for the babies to survive. i do not find them until they are the size the fish store sold them to me and active and joining the others feeding...

also if anyone knows how many years old a king tiger can still breed at, it's possible they have not bred in a year but i have a guess at where the female hides and could remove..... anyway this was recommended to me years ago and i just wanted to check back in i think it's really cool people are also into plecos and i curious what they cost mine were $40, should had gotten zebras obviously. ;)

[flatfish]

Hi. My breeding king tiger males are at least 10 years old (I have had them for 9 years) and they still breed regularly. They generally have about 30 eggs in a batch but they can have up to 50. I find that if I leave the young in the tank very few survive. I think they have trouble competing with the adults for food. I remove the young when they have almost used up their yolk sacs. I then rear them in the parents tank inside a crude home made Gerd Box (a floating plastic container with a sponge filter for water flow and filtration). When they get a bit bigger they are transferred to a standard 2 foot tank and then finally to a 150 litre grow out. By removing the young most of them survive. Good luck

[de221ck]

Hi. My breeding king tiger males are at least 10 years old (I have had them for 9 years) and they still breed regularly. They generally have about 30 eggs in a batch but they can have up to 50. I find that if I leave the young in the tank very few survive. I think they have trouble competing with the adults for food.

thanks so much, i appreciate you taking the time.
i am going to be setting up a 55 gallon so i have better control over where they are breeding. in my 240 i can't find the eggs and i have very little fry surviving considering the years i have kept them. it's also harder to filter and put current over every tunnel which i read they like.

i am super glad to hear that even after 10 years you can still breed them, mine had been adults for maybe 3-4 years. thats amazing they can have 30 eggs, i guess maybe 3-5 at tops had survived in mine!

do you know how old yours were before being able to breed? it took mine forever! they were ordered from a fish store and were tiny and they hid so much i did not even think they were alive for over a year until their babies, who seem to not be shy at all like them.

thanks again, you really made me worry less about the age thing... this fourm is amazing and i hope to be able to help others on it, i had been on and off it for so many years and always found amazing people like yourself willing to take time.

[de221ck]

i was reading about them building a dam where these fish are wild caught, it was being put off forever due to tribes fighting and lawsuits, ect, but they are expecting to finish it in the next two years. so i hope you keep breeding them in case because from what i read it could make these fish in the same danger like zebras or extinct

not sure if i can post links here, but its been approved and a read an article that was posted a few days ago.

[flatfish]

I have 2 adult males, 6 females, and the odd young one growing out in a 100 cm x 50cm x 50 cm tank (250 litres or about 66 gallons). So a 55 gallon tank should be fine for a small breeding group. I think they are usually able to breed at about 18 months to 2 years old but then I am not an expert. If you can keep an eye on them and remove the fry you should be able to raise a lot more young. Good luck.

[de221ck]

thanks your advice seems to be what i was told here 2 years ago so i been putting this off hoping they would work in the 240 gal without me finding the eggs, i suspect one cave one of my breeding larger king tigers who has a bigger belly seems to hide in all day, so if i remove this cave and find eggs i just thought a Breeding Box that hangs from the tank would work.

if i cannot find the eggs maybe rearranging the tank so it is not full of hiding spots i cannot find and make it more organized to allow me to look inside the hiding spots is also an idea but i am worried they would not like it because i figure they would try to find spots that are too small to see into.

i just thought of rearranging the tank because i seen someone breed them in a larger tanks and the Breeding Box wouldn't require me catching and setting up a new tank at all. but most people recommended what you have, and taking a male and few females into a smaller more controlled environment.

again i can't thank you enough, i hope you the best with your king tigers, do you plan to breed and sell them one day? the prices seem to be 40$-100$ i have no idea what they really cost but my fish store special ordered them for 40$ like 6+ years ago.

[flatfish]

A breeding box that hangs on the side should work as long as it is big enough. If you face the cave entrances to the front of the tank then you can look in them with a torch occasionally and see what's happening . I have bred a few over the last few years and I have grown out females to add to the breeding group and they have bred. In New Zealand they normally sell for $50 to $75 each. Good luck.

[de221ck]

will figure it out thanks! btw, i have two royals in the tank and 1 looks IDENTICAL to the one in your icon profile, i posted a pic of him somewhere 2 years ago here. the other one is a much darker color and does not have the horns both about a foot big and since i feed meatier foods i been contemplating putting them in a pond, i have a chunk of wood that literally weighs over 100 pounds with a lot of holes they would like. the only issue would be getting a strong enough current, i've read little success on it but they would prob like it better even if i could not breed them cause i'm afraid they may be getting stunted, they have plenty of big hiding places now but i think they are growing slower, i had them since 1".

just wanted to compliment you if that is your royal, he looks just like the bright one i have i can literally not tell em apart. thanks dude

there he is a few years ago in my icon just did that