Stop Ancistrus from hiding behind filter (have caves)
Posted: 27 Nov 2012, 20:40
Hi i have a question to you more experienced catfish keepers on how to keep my albino ancistrus male from hiding behind the filter all the time. I have an approximately 100 gallon tank that i keep fry in or am, sold my old fish and redid the tank for fry. I want some ancistrus in it to get some fry off. Right now there are 2 adult albino in the tank male+female that have spawned once but nothing came from it, i have a 7 month old male that ill be adding as well and ill keep 6-8 of the 72 fry i currently have that i got when they were 1 month old and hope to get at least 4 females of that, hopefully more and add those in as well.
Now when i redid the tank i added a new substrate in form of sand instead of gravel and built 2 caves that are burried with a small opening so they can access it, and a few pots scattered around the tank for even more hiding places for them to spawn. The albino male keeps hiding behind the filter and i would like him to stop since the female can't spawn behind that, the eggs will just be sucked up. Is there a good way to get him to stop hiding there and move to another safe place like the ones i built and put in for him? It's not that i don't want him hiding i don't care about that i just want him in a place where the female can come and spawn so i can get some fry in the future.
Right now im trying to scare him into thinking the filter is a dangerous area by chasing him away with my hands and such but he just keeps returning after a few hours and keeps sitting there, the female is the opposite she can't even slow down it seems she hasn't even checked the whole tank out yet always seems to find new places and is eager to explore, she always comes flying to the front glass when i arrive to look into the tank like most other fish when they think food is coming very amusing to watch her.
The tank is just a few days old but for about 6 month that i have had him he never left the filter in the other tank more then to eat for a few minutes when i dropped waffers into the tank.
I don't expect the pair to spawn this year since the tank is quite crowded with 150 fish in it, just 2 adult fish though rest are just fry that will be leaving by the end of December and late January.
Now when i redid the tank i added a new substrate in form of sand instead of gravel and built 2 caves that are burried with a small opening so they can access it, and a few pots scattered around the tank for even more hiding places for them to spawn. The albino male keeps hiding behind the filter and i would like him to stop since the female can't spawn behind that, the eggs will just be sucked up. Is there a good way to get him to stop hiding there and move to another safe place like the ones i built and put in for him? It's not that i don't want him hiding i don't care about that i just want him in a place where the female can come and spawn so i can get some fry in the future.
Right now im trying to scare him into thinking the filter is a dangerous area by chasing him away with my hands and such but he just keeps returning after a few hours and keeps sitting there, the female is the opposite she can't even slow down it seems she hasn't even checked the whole tank out yet always seems to find new places and is eager to explore, she always comes flying to the front glass when i arrive to look into the tank like most other fish when they think food is coming very amusing to watch her.
The tank is just a few days old but for about 6 month that i have had him he never left the filter in the other tank more then to eat for a few minutes when i dropped waffers into the tank.
I don't expect the pair to spawn this year since the tank is quite crowded with 150 fish in it, just 2 adult fish though rest are just fry that will be leaving by the end of December and late January.