PlanetCatfish.com

Hi everyone,

I jus managed to spawn my nigriventris again. I often have a problem with fungus on the egss so i thought i'd try make a DIY egg tumbler using an UGF tube. I am just not sure how much the eggs should be churning. I have given a link to a short movie clip I made showing the churning. It's a side on movie and I can't flip it just use your imagination. Hehe. Is it too much or too little? Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks

SynoSteff

http://users.iafrica.com/e/en/enervate/ ... umbler.WMV

Good job on the spawning,I have been attempting the same without the success.

Generally if I am tumbling eggs, just enough for some gentle movement with the eggs turning, but not to violent,takes a little adjustment.

It would be interesting if you can you give us a general rundown on what you have done to get them to spawn, would be very much appreciated.

Birger

Hey,

yup it would be really cool to know more details :))).

Regards.

From an earlier thread......

SynoSteff wrote:I condition them using a food I mix using trout starter pellets as a base. I'm still trying to perfect it cause the nigriventris dont like it quite as much as my other synos. Neither do my angelicus. My decorus and hybrid multipunctatus LOVE it

I then cheat a little and use hormone injections for the final stage of egg developement. Then I hand strip. The batch of 23 was from my very first attempt ever. Was quite proud of myself

I know it's kinda cheating once I get them to breed regularily I'm going to work on a more natural system and try get them to spawn on their own. That's my ultimate goal. I feel really bad injectin the little guys

What are the general feelings of people with regard to hormone injections?

Thanks Dave.

So it was an injection :] that's not good :( I thought it was natural spawning :/.

Regards.

Sorry to dissapoint you

I know it's not so good but I'm working on doing it naturally soon. I'm getting them to condition nicely and regularily already. Half the battle.

What you think of my tumbling speed? Too vigorous

A few hormone injections might kick start breeding them naturally, especially as they get older. I've seen this happen before but time will tell.

Wouldn't be too hard on yourself using hormones, it's not as easy as most people think. I use an anti fungal sera product called mycopur for hatching. It's been really excellent.

Aquaholic: Thanks for the kind words and info

You used that product on catfish eggs? cause i've heard that meth blue etc kills syno eggs, which is why I haven't been using it. I'd be keen to try

I personally also think hormone injecting fish to breed them is way better than catching from the wild.

Anyways,

Thanks again

Mycopur is not methylene blue. It's very effective against fungal infections on fish and can be used to hatch eggs at one third dosage rate. I've had excellent results and rate this better than a UV although I do use UV for some eggs.

I have also tried various tumblers, from a circular one which rotates (like a paddle wheel) to a conical one with a raised hump in the centre. Eggs move around slowly with gentle off centre water input to one where eggs stay still and water moves through. (corner buble filter works too). I also keep a lot of easy to breed african mouthbrooder cichlid species and include their hatching eggs/wrigglers amoungst catfish eggs which writhe to 'tumble' the real egs I want to hatch. With time & practice you can see the eggs develop and will know soon when your starting to lose them. This will soon let you know what is the best tumbling speed and will vary with fragility/stage of egg development.

I also suspect you may get more than 23 fry is you reduce your resolving time and strip sooner after second injection. Do you use a catheter & microscope to check egg ripeness periodically? Email me if you want more details.

Thanks so much for the info. There is no e-mail link under your post so I just pm'd you.

Thanks again