Apache's Catfish Community Thread.

In that case, I'm a grumpy ole woman as well.

How do you manage to get through that breeding fish is not getting a male and female and hoping for baby fish.

The adult fish must be conditioned to get them in breeding condition, then placed into a breeding tank separate from all other fish.
The parents must be removed as soon as eggs are laid (or in the case where one parent cares for the eggs, remove the other parent, then the caring parent as soon as the eggs hatch).
The fry need to be raised in a nursery tank not a breeding net as they need room to grow.
The fry must be fed very regularly and the tank cleaned daily to remove uneaten food.
The fry need larger grow out tanks as they get bigger.
And last but not least, there must be a market for the juvenile fish.



Extreme One did all this when his agassizi apistos bred. Going back through his thread, he looked after the fry for about 11 weeks before they were big enough to take to a shop for store credit.

Thanks guys. 

I'm not an expert, as you all know, but I did research carefully before undertaking my little breeding project.

There are several important things to consider.

1. Can you ensure the eggs will be safe from predation?
2. Can you ensure the parents can be rehomed as soon as the eggs are laid? A great many parent fish will eat eggs or fry.
3. Can you provide the correct food and conditions to raise freshly hatched eggs from fry to juvenile fish?
4. What will you do with the surviving juveniles?
5. Why are you doing this? Is it for profit?

FWIW I spent more money on food and equipment than I made by swapping the juveniles for store-credit.

I spent more money on food and equipment than I made by swapping the juveniles for store-credit.

Something that Apache fails to understand. Another point of irritation is that despite claims of having no money to buy the basics needed to run a fishless cycle and monitor water quality, he appears to have no problems finding the money to buy fish. Seems to me he's 'playing' at fish keeping, treating fish as toys.

Oooh, panda cory eggs. Cute. Does the colour change mean that they are fertile and going to hatch?
My peppered cory have laid eggs, but have usually eaten them before anything else happens. I did find one tiny fry a while back, but haven't seen it since.

only 3 eggs left...

Fiona and Sue, i have taken into account of what you have said and i know that my planning is not at your standard but this is my first aquarium. This tank has been my independence and my pride and joy. I hope to have pictures up soon.

Sorry if I have offended you

Apache, we fully appreciate your enthusiasm for the hobby and you will continue to have support here. But I feel I should come in here and attempt to "clear the air"

As hobbyists we have a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure the health and welfare of the animals we choose to buy and keep in our "artificial environments." By association, we have a responsibility to provide help and advice to others with this as our top priority. I have no doubt you will struggle to find any others who care about fish as much as the likes of our @Sue and @fcmf and any of us who post here on a regular basis.

It is refreshing to see someone so young take an interest in the hobby and for the most part you seem to appreciate the welfare of the fish. But - if I may - you seem to be "jumping in at the deep end" a bit with going from Zero to Breeding in one step. I know I would not have the confidence on my own to attempt such a venture straight out of the gate. Hence I would take heed of the advice these lovely people have offered you and either work hard to follow the advice, or accept that maybe a different direction for your first tank would be wise and return to a breeding project later.

One other thing I am acutely aware of is the overwhelming instinct to follow the advice and instruction of a trusted parent. My own dad kept an abundance of fish over the years and while he did things mostly right, he does not have the information available to us now (as all old-school fishkeepers have. It's nothing personal, but things have moved on and we understand so much more nowadays about what these fish go through to satisfy our whim).

So please don't take these comments to heart. You have the freedom to do whatever you decide is right for you and the direction of your project. We cannot stop you but we will advise against any potential maltreatment of living animals. What you will have to appreciate is that if you continue to seek advice here and consequently decide you don't like the advice or go against it, you will inevitably get less members willing to contribute in the future.

I hope this has helped provide you with an insight into how the members may feel. On behalf of the mod team I would like to repeat that you will always have support here, provided you demonstrate that you hold the ethics of the membership.

Number one priority is the fishes welfare. Everything else comes later.

#Thinkfish

P.S. I personally look forward to your pics 

Thanks @Paddyc I feel much better 

The pics from a smartphone aren't that clear. The eggs are in the tube in the last pic at the back.   

Oh drat thepics are too large 

Apache, please feel free to join Colin and myself in the fuzzy blur photo club. 

Looking forward to seeing the pics.

  maybe I'll post in the gallery as a separate thread

I use Picasa to 'store' all my photos and just past the url between the [ img ]url[ /img ] tags (without the spaces!).

Here's a neat trick, boys'n'girls. If the photo is too big for the screen (or your aesthetic yearning) the you can re-size it like:

[ img width=400 ]url[ /img ] and thet makes it 400pixels wide - a good width for the forum - and adjusts the height to suit.

Do you have off-site picture storage, or do you keep all your piccies on your computer?

Quote from: ColinB on June 16, 2016, 10:45:47 AM

Do you have off-site picture storage, or do you keep all your piccies on your computer?

i have them on my phone

Ah. I don't think that's going to work direct from your phone. Can you download/bluetooth them to a computer?