Regional tanks… what can go in with Congo tetras

And the interuptus in better light

Love is in the air… errr water, in Africa today…. The interuptus have been chasing around for a week or so, but this morning, it’s also the yellow tails… I have 4, only 1 appears to be male, and not fully colored out yet, but this morning he’s been chasing around with one of the bigger, plainer fish, I assume female… interesting that the male’s eyes are dark / black… can’t see the pupils, but the females have white eyes with dark pupils

I still have my king tiger plecos in this tank, and they are also breeding

Was thinking if there are hormones in the water from one fish breeding, if that could have some effect on similar species???

I didn’t plan on any breeding… figured if it was this crowded… I think the male king tiger is digging a cave into the driftwood… it’s a solid piece, there was a groove here, slowly forming into a cave… not sure if he’s actually eating it or just hollowing it out… the water is a little darker than expected, so he may be just rasping it out???

Breeding hormones will trigger some fish. There are even products sold that do that. It isn't fishlove potion #9, but it is supposed to work. I can't get it in the tiny Canadian market.

It is possible that hormones influenced others to spawn. But I am not sure whose hormaone might have this effect on which other species. I like the explanation below as well.

I have had fish spawning in my tanks for years. It resulted in my devoting half or more of my tanks to working with tge B&W plecos from the Big Bend of the Rio Xingu. It took me a while to learn the greatest secret for having spawning fish in one's tank.

Fish want to spawn. It is one of the few things they do, eat and poop are the other two. So, what is it we must do for this to happen. The answer is in the opoosite of that question. Our job is not do do things which may discourage or prevent the fish from spawning. This is usually faily species specific in terms of what we do. Most of it relates to the two phases of fish reproduction.

Phasw one is the actual act of spawning. If there are no eggs or live young being produced, there will be no offspring. But if we do get babies/eggs, we move into phase two, which is raising them. This means the right conditons and food and their not becoming lunch for something. Most fish eggs and fry are seen as being on the menu by most other fish as well as a host of other predators. It is up to use to insure these threats are not present if we want to have many or even any fry make it to larger sizes and ages.

Many folks who are activiely working on spawning will do so in a species tank. However, sme fish will eat their own eggs or young. In this case we need to be proactive in doing whatever is needed to insure the babies grow up.

here is the one thing I can report. I spotted my first offspring, from swordtails, in my first year of keeping fish. I was absolutely excited and happy to see those tiny euse staring up at me through the gloating plants. it was when I first learned to do the happy fish dance. Today 23 years later I have seen over 1,000 fish born in my tanks. I still do the happy fish dance whenever I spot new eggs or fry.

p.s. While all fish want to spawn, there are some which are almost impossible to have them do so in a tank and without needing to use hormones to help induce spawning. I keep both clown loaches and Altum angels and there is no chance, even in my wildest dreams, that either of these could ever spawn in my tanks.

Just to clarify, I didn’t add anything to induce spawning… but expect as active as the interuptus have been for a week, there must be some natural ones they secrete …

I suppose I could move mated pairs to my extra 10 gallon tanks I’m in the process of setting up as quarantine tanks… or if I got some more tanks, and moved some of my junk out, maybe I could set up a couple more, or possibly a pair up to 30 gallons, as breeding tanks, under the stairwell that I use for storage in my tank work area

I have a love hate relationship with Congos, mostly due to the ratio of males to females. They’re super pretty. Here’s a pic of one of mine. Enjoy the Congos!

An old acquaintance used to spawn and raise Congos for fun and profit - he paid for his fish food using half a dozen tanks, and sold them at 1.5 inches. His trigger was sunshine hitting the water. I watched them spawn in agitated water when the sunlight crossed the room and hit his tanks. He would collect the moss below them, and rotate huge handfuls of java moss in and out of his breeding tanks.

I got 4 total, 2 & 2 … my yellow tails, came in 1 male and 3 females… females are kind of plain so far… at least the Congo females are still colorful… just lack the extended fins…

Hey Magnum Man, if you're ever looking for some more interesting Congo fish, the banded african barb (Barbus fasciolatus) might be a nice fit. They have a much wider distribution than just the Congo, but they are definitely found within the drainage basin and should overlap in range with the tetras. The pictures Seriously Fish has don't do them justice. They can get to be a very rich dark orange, it seems. I haven't kept them, I've just incidentally been doing a lot of my own research on Congo River fish, and they seem like cool little guys. Very striking.

As I get the 10 gallon aquariums set up, I'll be moving the albino Cory's out of the African tank... & have a small shoal of African glass cats coming

Pareutropius buffei​

Another type of fish to consider in the Congo-spirited tank are African characins of the genus Distichodus (Distichodontidae). Although for a long time only D. sexfasciatus and D. lussuoso were about the only types available with any frequency, several smaller and very beautifully colored species have become available in recent years. Very interesting and hardy fish. Congo tetras would be just fine with them, but one should not put small (young Congo tetras) with larger Distichodus. All Distichodus are mainly vegetarian, but some species get large and would eat anything available to them.
Although Alestopetersius and other Alestidae tetras are beautiful, I would not put them in a tank where Congo tetras are already featured prominently.
Good luck!

African glass cats came in looking skinny… but a couple cubes of frozen brine shrimp.. they all ate well… belly’s looking a little better… good to see all 4 eating

Magnum Man said:

I got 4 total, 2 & 2 … my yellow tails, came in 1 male and 3 females… females are kind of plain so far… at least the Congo females are still colorful… just lack the extended fins…

Click to expand...

Yes my females were plain and my males were absolutely gorgeous with flowing fins with black tips and beautiful colors

Liking the cats… though they aren’t bottom fish, half are swimming middle of the tank with all the tetras, other half are at the surface, in / just under the water lettuce… no problem feeding these guys… they came in skinny, but all have fat bellies now… the ones at the top are the bigger 2, and that’s where the frozen brine shrimp cubes end up, so they might be just being “piggy”