African Butterfly Fish (pantodon) Breeding

[JohnFM]

I'm trying to get ABF's to breed but have been having no luck with them so far. I have mature animals that are well fed but they just don't want to cooperate.

I'm hoping to study their development compared to that of other fishes, so if anyone out there has got them breeding, or thinks they might be able to, I'd be happy to buy some embryos off you...

Also, any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

John

 

[DarkEntity]

Well i know you sex them via the anal fin shape and that they are egg scatterers

 

[toddnbecka]

I had a pair many years ago. I fed them live waxworms along with flakes, the female was filled with eggs. Unfortunately, I found this out because a Leporinus had eaten away part of her abdomen, and she didn't survive. I read that one female will produce several hundred floating eggs. The fry also float after hatching, and require live food. The difficulty in raising them is finding floating live food small enough for them to eat. Apparently it has to be literally in front of their nose as well. Good Luck!

 

[Gill]

I Have a Group of 8 of these amazing Fish.

How do you Sex them they are all between 3-5 inches long. All eating heartily on Hikari Cichid Gold and Assorted Livebearer Fry.

 

[toddnbecka]

If memory serves, the males have longer anal fin rays than the females. The female's anal fin is shorter and more rounded. They like floating plant cover, makes them somewhat less likely to jump.

 

[Gill]

If memory serves, the males have longer anal fin rays than the females. The female's anal fin is shorter and more rounded. They like floating plant cover, makes them somewhat less likely to jump.

Thanks I have 12 Hyacinth plants and tonnes of flaoting plants that they are living in.

 

[Ballistic]

Heya,

we have a pair that are breeding at the moment, they are in the spawning phase and we currently have 3 wrigglers out of 5 eggs.

We have heard that the female releases 3-6 eggs per coupling and can release up to 250 in a breeding phase.

We are going to try micro worms as a first food for the fry, but have a feeling that they will sink to quickly for them, have thought about bbs, but not sure at the moment.

*Ballistic and Mystic*

 

[LauraFrog]

As far as I know you have to feed the fry rotifers. I read somewhere you can culture those by putting a washed lettuce leaf in a jar and pouring boiling water on it. Then you sit the jar on the windowsill and it will cool, then the water goes cloudy. You put some of the cloudy stuff in the middle of the swarm of fry.

 

[DarkEntity]

I Have a Group of 8 of these amazing Fish.

How do you Sex them they are all between 3-5 inches long. All eating heartily on Hikari Cichid Gold and Assorted Livebearer Fry.

Read my post above...

 

[Mystic Vampyre]

So anyone had any luck at all here?

Ours are still going but still unsure how it will turn out!

Hoping for the best!