Breeding/Sexing Flag Tailed Porthole Catfish

[ColumbianChocolate]

Over the last couple of years i have bought 4 of these little fellas and they are reaching maturity. I am having trouble sexing them or seeing any subtle differences. I thought maybe the male would have thicker pectoral fins or the female would be chunkier but they are all the same. Either I have all the same sex or they are just harder to sex than corys or hoplos? Has any one had any experience in breeding them? Thanks

[PeterUK]

Have you read the Cat-e-log article ? . . .

Dianema urostriatum

[Mod edit: Use clog-tags... --Mats]

[ColumbianChocolate]

Yes thanks I just wondered if anyone has any personal experiences with these lovely catfish or any luck with breeding them

[MatsP]

I bought a group of 6 (or 8?), and some of those are definitely looking fatter than others.

--
Mats

[Bwhiskered]

Yes thanks I just wondered if anyone has any personal experiences with these lovely catfish or any luck with breeding them

I had the luck of spawning this fish back in the 1980's. The only way I could sex them was when the female filled with eggs. I had bought 4 adult and after a quarantine period they were moved to a 100 gallon community tank that was in the 80 degree temperature range. After several months I noticed the one female had gotten plump and the one male was courting. They were moved to a low 30 gallon that was in the mid 70's. They spawned twice both times I was away for the weekend. The first time I only found 5 fungused eggs under the floating yellow plastic lid. The next time a couple of weeks later there was 75 eggs stuck to the lid with a nest of very few bubbles. The lid was moved to a pail with an air stone and a few drops of methylene blue. All 75 were hatched and raised. I was never able to get another spawning. The high temperature followed by lower may have been the key. I hope this helps your attempts.

[ColumbianChocolate]

Thanks Bwhiskered that very helpful. I have 2 adults and 2 young adults so I will wait until they have all matured and I will start adjusting the temperature and water levels. Its quite hard to find healthy specimans in the fish shops, they are extremely skinny and looks like they do not travel well. Its nice to know that it is possible to breed them, they are such lovely looking catfish

[syno321]

I too had a pair spawn in 2001 but did not manage to raise any young from the fertile eggs. IME imports of this species are almost exclusively males and so distinguishing the sexes is impossible. I've been on the hunt for another pair and I think I found 1 female in a group about 2 months ago. IME the most reliable and most easily seen distinguishing feature is the first few rays of the pectoral fin. In males they are thicker and a slight orange color. Of course in younger specimans it is much more difficult to see. That didn't stop me from purchasing what I hope is a pair and trying them again.

[Jools]

For me this is one of the great catfish unknowns, if someone can breed these guys AND document it then I suspect that article would become a classic.

Jools

[Bwhiskered]

I wrote an article on the spawning for the Hamilton & District Aquarium Society bulletin at the time. This article should still exist somewhere. I will try and locate it.

[Bwhiskered]

One of our clubs ex-editors found it in an old bulletin. I spawned them in 1987 and wrote this article at that time. It shows my memory is off a bit and now days I would probably write a longer and much more detailed article. But here it is.


Dianema urostriata

This striped-tailed cousin of the common Porthole Catfish is a little shy, especially when it comes to spawning. I have only heard of one American hobbyist who has had them spawn. I bought three of these fish two or three years ago from a dealer who had put them at a super low bargain price because they had been in his shop too long. I brought them home and placed them in a ten gallon quarantine tank. A few times I saw some suspicious bubbles under a few floating plant leaves, but nothing to get excited about. After a couple of months I moved my three fish to a one hundred gallon community tank. Here they swam happily for two years.

Then one day I noticed the male dancing around the female and giving her a little tickle with his whicskers now and again. Up until then I wasn't sure of the sexes. It turned out the male was four inches long and the front edge of the pectoral fins had a slightly heavier ray. The females are six inches long and slightly more rounded in the belly. I caught the male and one of the females and placed them in a fifteen gallon tank with a six inch yellow plastic jar lid floating on the surface. A bubblenest was soon built and the male courted the female but nothing else happened. After two weeks he lost interest and so did I. Back into the hundred they went, but not for long. Two weeks later, a female had gotten rather plump and he was chasing her.

This time the pair went into a flat thirty gallon tank of slightly aged tap water. By the next day they had a nest under the jar lid. Nothing happened until I went away that weekend. When I came back I found that they had spawned and eaten all but two eggs. They were taken out but did not hatch.

Two more weeks passed. The male maintained his bubblenest but there was no more spawning until I went away for the weekend. When I returned I could see eggs in the nest. A close look revealed about 75 eggs stuck to the jar lid under the bubbles. The lid was placed in a small pail with an air stone and a few drops of acriflavine. Four days later, fifty fry hatched. I moved them to a fifteen gallon tank where they thrived on baby brine shrimp and powdered flake food. The fry vary in their growth rate but average about an inch a month. So far, the adults have refused to spawn again but I am still trying. If they were too easy, everybody would be spawning them. This is truly a challenging but rewarding fish. Don't let the fact that you haven't heard of anyone spawning a particular fish before stop you from trying. Let it be a challenge. Good Luck.

[Jools]

Really interesting, I think the jar lid was also important. No other water details? I mean, what would your tank water be like in the late 80's?

Jools

[Bwhiskered]

The water was city water that comes from Lake Ontario which is a medium hardness with a ph of 7.4-7.6. The 100 gallon tanks temperature would have been about 80 F and the tank they spawned in would have been in the lower 70's as it was in May and the fish room would have been a bit cooler than usual at that time of year.

About the same time as I spawned them they had been spawned by an American woman just previously that had kept them outside in a tub all summer. As the weather cooled in September she moved them indoors where they spawned. This should indicate that anyone attempting to spawn them should first put them though a warm period followed by a cool one. The woman could have been Sally Boggs as the article may have been in an exchange club bulletin.

Charles Drew

[hoplo]

We have a group of flags and i have noticed that the males are developing just like the hoplo pectorale, they have a thick part just behind the pectoral fin as well as thicker pectoral bones and look orange.

When Andy has done revamping the fish house im going to set a tank up for them to spawn, im i right in thinking they will spawn just like a hoplo?