Loaches Online Forum

Great tank! Lovely fish! Thank you.

mickthefish wrote:your very lucky to have had at least 1 fry survive in that tank bud,
my tank looks like an urban jungle compared to yours.
as you know barbs are the most tenacious of hunters once they've got something in their sights.

I've been wondering if using gravel gives the little fry a place to wedge in and hide till they are bigger and faster. I remember that the pangio oblongas that spawned in NJ were in a tank with gravel. Just my thoughts....

....and I just changed all my tanks to sand!

Mad Duff wrote: I have had a **** head on another forum question whether or not I am actually the first to breed them and he will reserve judgement until I can prove it

Send him to the OT, we'll take care of him

mickthefish wrote:your very lucky to have had at least 1 fry survive in that tank bud,
my tank looks like an urban jungle compared to yours.
as you know barbs are the most tenacious of hunters once they've got something in their sights.

mick

I think that as part of the shock Mick, actually realising that a fry had survived and grown in there. Like with the sid tank I have tried to add plenty of very narrow gaps that are smaller than anything in the tank to start off with and some nice piles of cobbles that the loaches can stick their noses in but not to far, these have obviously come in handy in this case.

newshound wrote: I think you should try to get your Emperors to breed.
it would be worth your efforts if they did.
and we'd all fall over in shock if they did breed!

So would I

loachmom wrote:Great tank! Lovely fish! Thank you.
I've been wondering if using gravel gives the little fry a place to wedge in and hide till they are bigger and faster. I remember that the pangio oblongas that spawned in NJ were in a tank with gravel. Just my thoughts....

....and I just changed all my tanks to sand!

I think it can only have helped, I think the fact that the fry can get into gaps and crevices and into the gravel will help survival to a degree but I think its the amount of crevices etc offered in the first place that helped the most.

Just an update on the little guy/gal

I didn't put him/her back into the 250 gallon tank for fear of loosing it so I acclimatised it to my 80 gallon rostrata/almorhae tank and to say its happy in there is an understatement, it is permanently swimming around with the two biggest rostrata and is always first on to any food put in

You might see a growth spurt now then

Good call putting it with almorhae and rostrata...let's see how it develops from here on out.

Mike

Now THIS is exciting! Thanks for the updates Mad Duff!

hi Mark, i forgot to ask this question after i'd seen your post but did the females have distended stomachs at any time,
i have 2 females but the stomachs are never as heavy as say sid's or almorhae.

look foreward to your reply bud
mick

One of the females was quite fat when I got her Mick and the same one is quite fat again, it was actually the wife that pointed out last night that she is quite plump again as are two of the emperor females.

I have tried for a couple of photo's but they just wont come to the front of the tank

This is one of my female almorhae at the moment and the kubotai and emperor females aren't as plump but not far off:

Thats one little fatty! One of my Y. caudipunctata has the same girth...great photos.

Mike

I have 3 female almorhae that are identical sizes, they do keep filling with eggs and then hold them for around 2 weeks or so and then they will become slender again and over a period of 6 to 8 weeks they will plump up again. There are two males in there already and I am hoping to add a couple of more big males to the group and see what happens.

Hey Mark,

What effect do you think the almond leaves have besides lowering the pH?
Do you think perhaps there is some stimulant that triggers fish to go into breeding mode (like heat or must in mammals?).

Mike

Mike, i use almond leaves when hatching any species of fish, the results so far are i get less eggs fungusing and also i'm sure the fry feed either on the leaf as it breaks down or something on the leaf.
they're also great for the fry to hide under until large enough to venture out.
oak leaves do a similar job but not as effective as the almond leaves.

mick

Mark, i've taken a pic of each of my females i'll post them up asap for you to tell me if they can get larger in the girth.

cheers
mick