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knifegill wrote:Have yours ever appeared to be in spawning condition? Any triggers or dietary additions you've made to get them spunky?

Not yet, and I realy dont know at wat length the become sexual mature, do you know when they reach sexual maturity ?

I don't know. I'd assume in their first year, being a small species. But that's just a guess.

I'm frankly stymied there isn't more interest worldwide in doradids. As far as I can tell, they are the most perfect family of fish. Spiky, greedy, really unexplored and rich with potential for the hobby. And most of them are long-lived, right? How can you lose?!

I'll have the 30 gallon tank prepared for them soon. I just got rid of my marbled crayfish to make space for the doras and in the next week or two will work at getting a bank built into the tank for them to spawn in.

why get rid of the marbled crays, that is a supply of food for the dorids

Why get rid of the marbled crays? That is a supply of food for the doradids.

Because I already have too many aquatic projects all over my house.

I just got my first A. Nauticus' a couple of weeks ago. They're neat little guys - I'd love to get a spawn out of them, but my understanding is that A. Nauticus has never been successfully bred in captivity. All four of mine are apparently male anyway (spotted bellies), but when I bought them, the owner of the pet store told me that his suppliers get them from people who catch them in the wild, and that there aren't any breeders. What I've read since then suggests to me that their spawning behavior is not understood well enough to facilitate it in an aquarium. I still want to try to breed them, though. I've read that they build some kind of nest in the substrate, but another source said they build bubble nests in floating plants and detritus.

Does anyone have the sense that female A. Nauticus are harder to find than males? It seems like I would've probably gotten a female or two if it were a 50 - 50 shot.

- found a female. She's way smaller than my others. Is she juvenile, or are females just smaller?

Hard to say so far. My two males grew very quickly and the three new ones (two females, one male) seem to be catching up rather well. I'd suspect she's just young.

UPDATE:

Moved some fish around and now the group of 5 is in a 30 gallon tank with a sponge filter, water lettuce and 12 hours a day of light at an increased temperature and reduced hardness/TDS from their origin tank. I fed them earthworms and sinking Omega One food. And they have caves. I plan on adding a lot of sand soon, so they'll probably spend a day in a 20 gallon tank while that settles. I'll add my river bank when I add the sand. They all look plump, so I've got unrealistically high hopes!

@Knifegil,
How big are your Amblydoras ?

Update,
My group of 4 will soon be expanded to 6.
Sometimes they react like crazy when feeding, Stagyar Zil Doggo and Knifegil how is the feeding behaviour with your cats ?

Mine are pushing 4" TL and are active feeders. They each have their own personality, though, and some are more outgoing than others.

That's true Knifegil, each one has their one personality.
I see 2 ones moere than the other 2.

I swear I saw courtship just now. I went down to feed them and when I walked in the room, one was nudging another's belly and both were wiggling in a sort of circle. I seriously doubt they are already anywhere near ready to spawn, but I did just give them all the triggers so I guess it could be happening.

Keep me updated about the spawning behaviour.

I've actually had a bit of trouble feeding mine Phyllonemus.

The tank lights are on a timer. When they go off each night, the cats come out of hiding and start to swim around. That's when I feed them. But when I approach the tank they get nervous and hold still until I walk away. Then they start swimming again, one at a time, and whichever one recovers first eats all the food by itself, or close to it. I spread the pellets around, but the next morning there's always one with a ridiculously distended belly. I can't tell if it's the same one each time. I've also noticed that, when they encounter a food item, they like to grab it as fast as they can and then swim off to a hiding place to work on it.

Knifegill, vis-a-vis the funny behavior you noticed - I once saw my cats follow each other around in a kind of conga line of three or four fish. It was pretty cool. But at the time I had only males, so it couldn't have been spawning behvior. I was surprised by it since I'd been told that A. Nauticus isn't a social fish. Considering the conga line and the fact that mine usually sleep on top of one another, it seems pretty clear that that isn't the case. Did you note the genders of the two fish? The behavior you saw might've been simple socializing, but it sounds different from what I saw. If they're of different genders - you might have something there.

Yes, they seem very social. I haven't seen them much lately with how busy I am with work. Doing a water change today.

Well, mine have plumped up lately! I don't know if I tricked them into pre-spawning or not. But they are definitely happy.