My EX White tipped/regular bns

[Pamelajo]

A few of the members here have some of my little ones. Just wondering how they are all doing?

[Namor]

I first noticed a difference in size with my pair a couple of months ago.

They have been hiding out for a week or so, but the last time I saw the larger one, a reddish/orange glow was apparent.:Smile:

-Here's hoping.:yes:

[Katalyst]

Minutes ago I just watched the male you gave me fanning away on a pile of eggs! He's the funniest critter and is having a hissy fit about anyone remotely swimming near his cave. Also he has outgrown his bamboo hidey hole and is HUGE! Which was much appreciated by the pair of whiptails now occupying it!

[Pamelajo]

Fingers crossed for both of you.

[Gramma]

The 3 white tipped BN and the 2 albino BN are growing and doing great. They are still fun to watch. So far I have kept them all for myself, but I know eventually, I will have to donate a couple to the kids tanks, unless I get another tank of course. My daughter had given me BN a long time ago, not as nice as yours though & I have been trying to give it back to her for a couple of months and cannot seem to catch it what with all the plants and driftwood in the tank. One day I WILL catch him and give him back to her.

[Pamelajo]

You could try putting an algae wafer in and having the net behind it, already in the tank and then just scoop when he comes to eat.

[Gramma]

I had tried that before, but he is not a very sociable creature and is very shy and seems to come out only when he wants to. He has more patience than I do. He is now about 4 1/2 inches long and can move very fast. The problem is my driftwood is large and attached to some kind of slate, so picking it up and moving it out of the way is next to impossible unless I move most of the plants too, which I will do again one of these days.

[Pamelajo]

Not very easy at all.

[CACAdmin]

The BNs I got from you are doing really well Pam. The largest male is forever guarding eggs and thus wee ones keep appearing. However, I don't think he's choosy when it comes to females... just whomever he can lure into his cave :wink: so offspring are both white-tips and black-eye golds... but all so very cute. It's really neat to find these tiny BN's suddenly appear on the glass of the 70g. I have no idea how many wee ones I have because there are a zillion hiding places in that tank.

Some of the others (males and females) are spead around other tanks including adults in the leaf fish tank. However, if they choose to mate in there, it's doubtful if any fry will survive as the leaf fish will consider them dinner. They don't however bother the adult BN's at all (much too large to be conidered to be on the menu.) The BN's do seem to love that tank though... no competitition for food as leaf fish only eat live food and it's densely planted with lots of wood.

[Melody]

Do Longfin Albino Whitetip BN's count? :smile:


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Pam-LFAlbinoBN2.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Pam-LFAlbinoBN.jpg

[Pamelajo]

Mainly interested in the white tips as the new owners have to carry on this line. But anything counts. They look great!

[CACAdmin]

Melody, that longfinned albino is sooooo cute. That second pic is a perfect pose.

[CACAdmin]

Pam, despite the male white-tip's willingness to share his cave with any female, there are lots of little white-tips swimming around (and one of your females seems to like to invite herself as she'll come and sit on top of his cave looking rather coy). :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

Well, I managed to get a pic of a one of the wee White-tipped BN's I got in the last batch from you Pam (rather fuzzy pic but best I could do :frown: ... little ones rarely stay still... they eat non-stop...lol)

[Pamelajo]

Thanks Jay. Grown a lot. Once they are adults they do not eat as often.

[James]

The 3 you sent me are doing fine. The 2 in the planted tank I don't see much but see them enough to notice the growth. The other one is around all the time and since there is no plants in that tank, I drop in a leaf of spinach just about everyday which he eats most of.

Just wish you had a few more.

[Pamelajo]

Maybe someday Jay or Namor will have some for you or maybe you will end up with a pair. I got lots of albinos but you prefer those.

[Melody]

You sure make pretty fishies Pam :yes: . Will you be doing the longfin browns?

I have one White Tip from Mr. Mykiss - the hussy female who kept hitting on my L144 male:laugh: . She's done well since moving to the 90 but man is she FAT! There's lots of algae I guess. I chucked their hybrids in there two and I've only seen one since. If you end up with all males Jay, you can always use her to outcross since you're practically next door.

I can even notice your wider 'white tip' margin on the albinos Pam, which surprised me. It's a very nice line.:notworthy:

[CACAdmin]

Thanks Jay. Grown a lot. Once they are adults they do not eat as often.
I don't mind how much they eat... they help to keep things nicely cleaned up. I do think it's cute when I feed the Instant BBS in the fry tank. They know right away and scurry around finding every little molecule when it finally decends to the gravel below (those are the ones missed by the fry)... they get almost as excited as the fry.:laugh:

[Pamelajo]

Thanks Mel.
I had a brown long fin and she/he (can't rememer)would not breed with anything I had. I believe Kat took it home with her, because I think she had a similar situation at her house with a brown. Not sure she ever had any luck.

[Melody]

That's interesting, it's usually longfin males that have the issues (speaking in general fish terms). :Think:

[Pamelajo]

If I remember right it was a male, I was hoping Kat would pop in to help me remember before I said for sure.
What is it with the long fins? The albino lf are finally cooperating on a regular bases since I added and extra female. Seems to have spurred on the first one to mate more often and the second is a good breeder.

[Melody]

Something I've noticed is the Longfins are different. Some have just the long tails - those shouldn't have trouble breeding. The ones with the long finnage in general, like this one, may have issues.

http://petra-aqua.com/gfx/foto/50.jpg
{Photo: Petra-Aqua.com}

Sometimes we can work around that by using a very young male - they can get a hit in before their finnage reaches it's full length.

[Pamelajo]

So they could be similar to a sword male with only the young being useful.

[Melody]

:Dunno: Sounds good on paper anyway...lol...er... on screen that is.

[Gramma]

Sorry to change the topic, but wanted to let you know that my daughter did manage to catch the big BN and move it into her tank. She is much quicker than I. So now I am going to move Pam's 3 White Tip BN into that tank. I will keep her albinos in the other tank. They are so cute when they are young. Too bad they don't stay that way.

[CACAdmin]

I think they are always cute... it's just that babies are so much cuter.

[CACAdmin]

Well, Pam, the last lot of White-tipped BN's I got from you are growing like bad weeds... but still as active as ever... and still retaining their white-tips. They are in the tank with the fry (such good janitors they are) so shalll try to get some pics for you. The older ones are spread around the tanks. One female is in the grow-out tank with juvies and loves to hang on the underside of the leaves of the amazon sword.

[Pamelajo]

They are great in grow out tanks as janitors! I added a couple to my fry tank just for that reason. Looking forward to the pics.

[CACAdmin]

Pam, you're a Gramma! :wink: Your baby white tips are having babies (well, I guess your white tips aren't babies any more but I didn't think the ones in the fry tank were old enough but they proved me wrong...lol.) On the glass this morning I discovered a little one (not sure if it's an albino or a black eyed gold as all I could see was it's belly and mouth as it was on the front of the tank). There isn't even a proper cave in there for them but obviously that didn't stop them. :laugh:

[Pamelajo]

I feel old!! Thanks for letting me know.

[CACAdmin]

:laugh: :nah: You can't feel old. Everyone knows that all 'fish-Grammas' stay young forever. Being a fish-Gramma is like finding the fountain of youth. :yes: :Fibbing:

[Pamelajo]

You were doing great at convincing me:yes: til I say that your nose was growing.:confused:

[Melody]

You have to work on that charm, Jay...lol. I can see I'll be doing some shopping at your house soon though.

Is it just me, or do BN's grow great for awhile and then pretty much stop for like.... 8 years? :rolleyes: :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

You were doing great at convincing me:yes: til I say that your nose was growing.:confused:

What can I say? My heart was in the right place, but my darn nose betrayed me. :twitcy:

You have to work on that charm, Jay...lol. I can see I'll be doing some shopping at your house soon though.

What? My charm needs work? :frown: That's probably why I'm a bachelor.:laugh:

If Pam won't send you an adult BN, maybe with a little arm twisting, I might be able to be convinced to share some from Pam's line. It might cost you though... you just mind find yourself slaving over a cauldron of Bottom Bites in the making. :wink:

[Melody]

DEAL! I just made a fresh batch today in fact. :yes: I have a female so I can have at least one male, and more if I keep them in pairs. Apparently they can hassle a single female too much if there's more than one male. There's lotsa bottom space and caves so more than one male in the tank should be ok otherwise.

The female Whitetip was added as an adult and she's been just fine in the 90G, yet every baby I add is never seen again. Even older juvies disappear. It's full of algae so it's not a food issue (like that could ever be an issue around here anyway....lol). There's no aggressive fish... very strange.

Now I just need to find a Rubberlip Pleco and some Cherry Shrimp and I'll be all set. ::D:

[CACAdmin]

Now I just have to catch one for you. They can be tricky (especially the adults... they're fast)

[Pamelajo]

Glady Jay has a spare male for you!!

[Melody]

I still want yours Pam and do you know why? Because I can't have it, that's why. :laugh:

[Pamelajo]

Spoiled BRATTESS!!!!!!

[Melody]

:eek: Moi?!

No, but I really want to be spoiled - does that count? :laugh:

[Melody]

Now I have an ex of Pam's too! What a big fella he is. He reminds me more of my first brown BN's in size. I haven't had a good look at his colouring yet. I'll have to get a shot of him when he forgives me for stealing him from Jay and tours the tank. :yes: Thanks Jay!

His girlfriend will be glad to see him! She's one of Mr. Mykiss' White Tip BN's and she certainly loves to spawn. I'm hoping if the babies are born in the tank, they'll be ok.

[CACAdmin]

Trades are great! I hope he'll forgive me for trading him for a huge batch of Bottom Bites (I suppose he won't mind seeing as he's now living at the house of the Bottom Bite Chef. :wink: )

[Melody]

LOL He'll be full of algae indefinitly by the looks of things and I'm sure the pretty girl will make him feel right at home. He won't be happy when I take her away to outcross her for genetics research, but she'll be back and absence makes the heart grow fonder. ::D: He'll definitly be well worth the trade - that 90G with the landing strip lighting is hard work!

[Namor]

:thumbup:

And I thought the BN's you sent me were small.

The two you sent me were in fact a pair.

Observing the 72g. tonight, I thought a mosquito landed in front of me and the glass.

Nope, it was a teeny BN, and was of course gone by the time I grabbed the camera.

[Namor]

Now I'm pumped.

I shut the lights off for a while, and went back with camera in hand.

Flicking the lights back on, i saw at least 4 little ones. AND at least one that appears to be an Albino.:Smile:

[CACAdmin]

Congrats on the fry, Namor. Good luck with getting some pics.

[Gobies et al]

Congratulations! :thumbup:

It is so exciting to find unexpected little ones!

[Namor]

Thanks guys.:Smile:

It was a little tough getting a half decent shot of something that is dwarfed by a piece of gravel, but managed a couple.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/bnfry1.jpg

On top of one of Jay's caves.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/bnfry5.jpg

A little closer.-
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/bnfry4.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj177/Namor_Sask/bnfry3.jpg

Is it common to see albino's with their fry?

[Pamelajo]

Aww baby bns are the cutest.

Layton do you mean a batch of white tipped fry with albino in the same batch? If so I had an albino pair female pure albino(siblings paired off and only threw albinos) male had regular genes. They threw the white tipped, batch after batch and never saw an albino, maybe now it is coming out in the next generation, if these are the ones I sent.

[Melody]

The albino gene is double recessive. If both are carrying an albino recessive from the same BN species, they will throw a percentage of albinos.

Pam you have produced the most interesting and diverse basic browns that I have ever heard about...lol...throwing albinos is normal enough with recessives, but Ancistrus sp. 'L144', marbles, calicos... sheesh! :laugh:

[Namor]

do you mean a batch of white tipped fry with albino in the same batch?

Thanks for the info Pam and Melody. It is the same batch, yesterday I found another albino, but it was about half the size of the one pictured, and the brown ones are a little larger.
Is the hatching process spread out over a few days?

I'm hoping to have success in raising as many as possible. Would keeping the albinos separate from the others insure their offspring would also be albino?

I can see the fascination with regards to genetics.:yes:

[CACAdmin]

Pam, I spotted another couple of baby albinos in the tank again. ::D: Getting a pic... well, that could be challenging. But the pair in that tank are both regular white-tips so I guess they both are carrying the albino gene... and it's resurfacing. Cool.

Can't answer your question Namor about keeping the albinos separate. My guess is that you would get a higher percentage of abinos... that's speculation on my part. I'll leave a more definitive answer to the pros.

[Namor]

Thanks Jay, I may not get the chance to separate any, it's been 3 days since spotting any little ones, and hope they are in deep hiding. I have a turkey baster at the ready for the next batch.

[CACAdmin]

Well it seems that all babys these days are albinos. Here's a little'un I spotted on the glass the other night (that's a Limia Triden Fry in the background (about 1/2 inch) for perspective.

The second pic is a juvie ABN on a barnacle (from the same parents).

[Melody]

Is there still browns in there? The tail looks extended in the second pic too - maybe 'longfin' gene is coming through. There appears to be two different types of longfins, which isn't unusual for catfish. One has a longer tail and sometimes a higher dorsal and the other has all finnage elongated.

[CACAdmin]

I'll have to take a closer look at the tail when that juvie pops out in the evening sometime this week. They hide really well in the 70g. All offspring in the tank are from white tips I got from Pam or Pat. Many don't make it past the baby stage but that could be because I leave them to fend for themselves in a large tank. No brown or white tip or black eyed gold fry have shown up in an eternity... all albinos... most interesting.

[Pamelajo]

Definitely interesting.