new guy here howzit everyone

new here still figuring the site out. been keeping fish since 1995, bred all the market flooded fish you can think of, jewels, livebearers, angels , gouramis, malawis, catfishes, killifishes, goldfishes, tetras, danios, barbs just to name a few. and them also duboisis, frontozas, and other cichlids. but these days im taking it easy. i am from alberton in jhb and just keep a few tanks now.

 

Hi and welcome to TASA

whew... that was a lot of breeding!!!

So what to you keep now?

 

Sjoe!

 

Hi, and welcome.

 

You have a wealth of knowledge so you are most welcome !!!

 

hi @MariaS thanks i just keep corys and rams and black angels at moment. will build fish room finnish soon then bring all my racks and tanks home from storage and get breeding again. gonna try some different stuff though. maybe cardinal tetras and some pleco types and fancy goldfish .

 

thanks @eros111 and @Pezulu and @Super Sywurm please to meet you guys.

 

Welcome tankman, any advise on breeding gouramis?, been trying to breed golden "sunset" for about 8 months now, no luck, even introduced a young female, no luck

 

Hi @BBFish that sunset is about the easiest to breed, where are u based maybe i can come show you?

 

oh i see east london. well forget about what youtube and all them say. i kept all my breeders males and females together in a 4 ft. sunset, dwarf, honey dwarf, orange and blue three spot etc. they wont breed unless water is 15cm deep or there is movement in tank og any sort. yes not even a tiny bubble . so i used to prepare a 2 or 3 ft tank, just tank, clean water from their own tank ( the main tank) fill the breeding tank to 15cm height. no more. and do not put air or filter at all. water needs to be still. then put a couple of short 50mm pvc pipes in and maybe a clay pot for female to hide if need be. and some or any plastic plants that float on top. can be a cheap fish tank plant or 2 cause they float if not planted properly. thats just so the male can build bubble nest in between them. you dont have to put female in a day before the male as everyone say. if female is fat shes got eggs and u take her and her male and dump them in. oh heater shud be the only thing in tank. then wait. but watch for bubble nest. thats the sign. if u see bubble nest then its time to look out. some say you then check female to see if she lost her fatness shes dripped her eggs and can be removed but not always the case so what worked for me is just to watch under strong light at top of water every now and then till insee babys then i remove her. and thatd always worked for me every time. they do tend to take a while so expect a week them being in there. lots of people listen to overseas folks and ince bubble nest is made they remobe female thinking job is done. not always the case. once u see babys then its safe to catch mum and dad out. dont worry they dont eat the fry that quick. you wil then leave the water 15cm for about 2 weeks so that the babys special lungs can develop. they have special lungs i cant pronounce it now labaranyth or something that enables all bettas to breath above water. once that 2/3 weeks past then u can slowly top up tank bit by bit. but use water from parents tank thats warm as these fish are sensitive and might peg if water is 2° colder ir as in tap water way colder. then u can add a sponge filter with low bubbles. oh tank must not have any gravel. i used to feed very tiny amount of egg yolk, put a small piece like quarter a chappie im a coke botlle with about 50ml water and shake good then pour through a sieve into a cup and suck up about 25ml into injection and spray into tank gently all over not on one spot. one in morn and one at 5pm thats it. egg yolk is a bit dirty and can mes the water quick so use caution. remember these babys when born is tiny. like way smaller than guppy fry. its like taking a hair from your eye brow and cuttint that in half. so after bubble nest is built u have to lookout carefully not to miss them. any questions more pls ask. but i can tell you gourami is the easiest fish to breed. appart from guppies and jewels because those who say they breed mollies and guppies and jewels dont actually breed anything cause them fish breed by themselves with no human interferance. good luck. oh and please dont use anything smaller than 2 foot. 3 ft is idea. cause two foot the babys outgrow quick and when you move them even at 3 weeks old to a bigger tank expect some losses. you want 3 ft to house them till they as close as possible to 1cm. before moving. i have seen in a 2 ft the fast growers eat the slow growers im such small space so 3 foot with some plants if possible. plastic or floating grass to avoid as much canabilsm

 

Well.. that sounds very exciting and we look forward to seeing it all happen

I love the corries and the rams are very beautiful too and so are nice angels..

 

thanks @MariaS ja those fish will always be my favourite. and what do you keep?

 

I have a bit of a variety as i dont dedicate myself to breeding anything specific at the moment

I have Geophagus, electric blue acaras, clown loaches, flagtail, Datnoids, Asian arowana and stingrays

 

hmm fancy stuff there @MariaS . must be a big tank there for them arowana and stingrays?

 

Their grow out tank has been 2.4m by 70 by 70.
There is a small video om them on my thread "Polkadot black diamond' if you would like to see

End of the year they will be upgraded to 3m by 1m wide or 1.2m wide.. havent made up my mind if to go 1m or 1.2..

 

Hi @tankman thanks so much for the advice, much appreciated. I curently have 1 male and 2 females in a 2ft tank no gravel, pvc pipes, heater and some floating hornwort. The females chase each other and the male will sometimes join in, besides that nothing else is happening no bubble nest or any signs of the females fatting up. I feed them freeze dried bloodworm and tubifex worms and the occational flakes. I'll drain some water up to the 15cm mark tonight. Lets see then. Thanks anyway for your help.

 

remove one female, leave the fattest one