i ve read alot of articals about breeding these guys but in all actuality how hard is it? i have 10 multi juvinals 5 from one source 5 from another. where do i go from here?
breeding synodontis multipunctatus & petricola
- Thread starter wantsome48091
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I know someone in my aquarium club breeds them but i'm not sure how. I believe you need a carrier cichlid( a cichlid that will carry the eggs untill hatched) but i think i have also heard that if there is no cichlid availiable they might spawn in caves(not too sure about this though).
If you are really serious about this then head over to the planetcatfish.com boards. I'm sure someone there knows.
If you are really serious about this then head over to the planetcatfish.com boards. I'm sure someone there knows.
I have some petricola that spawn, although I don't really do much to help them. The key is to have the eggs whisked away after they're laid. In my case, I have a Whisper 5 filter that collects the fry; I find them pretty regularly, growing out in the filter well.
From people who've bred them with higher success rates, it seems that you need some sort of nesting area, like a pile of marbles, that has an air-bubble driven suction mechanism (like on a UGF) to pull the eggs/fry down thru the marbles and up into a fry net, where they grow out.
I've never hassled with all that. I just clean my Whisper every now and again, usually finding 3-6 petricola fry.
Sorry I can't point you to a link for breeding, but I don't really know of any...
Jim
From people who've bred them with higher success rates, it seems that you need some sort of nesting area, like a pile of marbles, that has an air-bubble driven suction mechanism (like on a UGF) to pull the eggs/fry down thru the marbles and up into a fry net, where they grow out.
I've never hassled with all that. I just clean my Whisper every now and again, usually finding 3-6 petricola fry.
Sorry I can't point you to a link for breeding, but I don't really know of any...
Jim
Be prepared to wait, because S. multi's take a couple years to mature, about 3 from hatching. When they are mature, you will need suitable host cichlids to spawn them. When the cichlids spawn, so do the multi's, and the female cichlid picks up the eggs along with her own. The multi eggs hatch much faster than the cichlid eggs, and the fry eat the cichlid eggs, then each other, unless you strip the eggs from the female and use an egg tumbler to incubate/hatch them. Or leave them with the cichlid, and eventually she will release one or two baby catfish. Sooner or later the cichlids will stop spawning, when they realize they aren't producing any fry of their own, so several pairs are necessary if you want to seriously produce multi's.
S. petricola's will spawn without host cichlids, just provide a shallow dish or jar of marbles with a breeding cave on top of it, and have one or more pairs in spawning condition. You can set up something similar to an UG filter lift tube on top of the spawning cave to suction the eggs out as they are laid, emptying into a net breeder, or just have a couple of jars of marbles ready, and change them daily, picking the eggs out. Petricola's will also spawn with cichlids the same way as the multi's. Hatching the eggs and raising the fry is the more difficult part, as they will eat each other if you don't feed them often enough.
S. petricola's will spawn without host cichlids, just provide a shallow dish or jar of marbles with a breeding cave on top of it, and have one or more pairs in spawning condition. You can set up something similar to an UG filter lift tube on top of the spawning cave to suction the eggs out as they are laid, emptying into a net breeder, or just have a couple of jars of marbles ready, and change them daily, picking the eggs out. Petricola's will also spawn with cichlids the same way as the multi's. Hatching the eggs and raising the fry is the more difficult part, as they will eat each other if you don't feed them often enough.
Not unless there is only one sex of each (male multi's/female petricola,) given suitable mates they'll breed with their own species.