How Many B/n Catfish Will Fit In A 150lt

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

I already have 4 b/n
1 is definitly male
2 i think are male
1 i think is female

i would like to add more girls but i am not sure on how many could live happily in a 150lt (40gallon i think) tank

there are 5 corys in there at the moment but i am planning in putting them in their new tank when it has finished cycling.

any help would be great, i dont want to go buy some new b/n only to find i will have to return them.

cheers

 

[smithrc]

with 3 males I'd say your at the top end already.

males are quite territorial - if your looking to be breeding them - more males dan cause problems with dominance issues - resulting in no spawning or spawns that are lost to the rival males etc... I'd try to get 2 females and 1 male in there and see how things go...

 

[Colin_T]

I would go the opposite direction to smithrc. Male bristlenose guard the eggs and it is the female that swims around and lays eggs for the males to look after. If you have 3 males and a female the female can lay batch after batch for each of the males and they can be good little daddies and take care of them until they hatch.
A 150litre tank is fine for 4 of them.
Make sure they have plenty of vegetable matter in their diet. Driftwood is also beneficial for them. They can eat it if they don't have enough veggies or algae.

 

[smithrc]

I would go the opposite direction to smithrc. Male bristlenose guard the eggs and it is the female that swims around and lays eggs for the males to look after. If you have 3 males and a female the female can lay batch after batch for each of the males and they can be good little daddies and take care of them until they hatch.
A 150litre tank is fine for 4 of them.
Make sure they have plenty of vegetable matter in their diet. Driftwood is also beneficial for them. They can eat it if they don't have enough veggies or algae.

sorry to disagree - you will end up with one dominant male and 2 that will want to take over as dominant...

If we go with a worst case scenario, results may vary. (temperaments of fish do differ)

The females will only be ready to spawn every 4-6 weeks - so if the males do sort it out for a spawn - the alpha male will then be tied up looking after the eggs - meanwhile the other males have nothing better to do than work out their plan for world domination...
Leaving the alpha open to be challenged while he's sitting on the eggs.
(worst case here) He will either...
1. leave the cave to defend his role and not return
2. leave the cave to defend his role and in the mean time another male enters the cave and eats the eggs
3. stays to defend the eggs... gets trapped and killed by the other male....

I had a spawning trio (1m 2f) of starlights that stopped breeding when a younger male came of age and started doing exactly the above (not the killing part)
I separated the pairs (sold them) and they are both now happily breeding in their new homes.

we've also had the same sorts of issues with our zebras. we ended up with 2 spawning females and 2 males that would fight over who was going to do the deed... in the end the alpha male was spawning with moth females - until the beta male challenged him again and they have not spawned since (I've now separated them as well and hope they will start again soon...)


oh and they they wont eat the bogwood.... they will graze on its surface for the algae and biofilm that forms but they don't eat the wood itself.

 

[cmfoggy]

Thanks for replying smithrc and Colin_T

The biggest one is male for sure.

The two that im not sure of may or maynot be male, one is about 2 1/2 inches and the one is just a little bigger. they have bristles along their lips but i cant see any growing up their faces yet, but the largest b/n is always chasing the other 3 away even though the smallest one is female (she is about 2 inches and no bristles at all).

Would it be because the 3 new ones were introduced into the tank about 1 month ago and the biggest one has had run of the tank by himself for about 2+ years

cheers thanks again for your help and taking the time to answer

 

[Colin_T]

quote name='cmfoggy' date='Feb 7 2008, 05:04 AM' post='1902503']
Would it be because the 3 new ones were introduced into the tank about 1 month ago and the biggest one has had run of the tank by himself for about 2+ years
[/quote]
Most likely yes. All algae eating fish are territorial to some degree. They like to guard their patch of garden so they don't starve. Having said that bristlenose are pretty peaceful and they should settle down in a short time. Make sure each fish has at least 1 hidy hole to call its own.

 

[cmfoggy]

yeah thanks Colin_T

there 6 caves/hidy holes for them to hide in, i hope that is enough.

cheers