Alan Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Peppermint Bristlenose can be the most frustrating of fish, believe me. I originally bought 10 fish after checking out 4 breeders for colour, shape, size, quality of offspring, fecundity and anything else I could think of, eight year ago. Two years later I still had 10 "females" in a 5x2x2 with all the goodies. Purchase a proven male (2 spawns) at great expense and suddenly I have 4 males and 7 females in the same 5x2x2... And a large, fat, 4 year old female suddenly gets the biggest face full of bristles on any of my fish!!!!! Patients, trial and error, and even then you can't be sure!! Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 I will be moving these guys/girls in a few weeks and I will take some updated pics and see what we all think now that they are a little older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Ok here they are. What sexes do you think these are? Peppermint 1 Peppermint 2 Peppermint 3 Peppermint 4 Peppermint 5 Peppermint 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 I think there are three boys (pic 3,5,6) and three girls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWs Fish Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 I reckon all girls except 3 and 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 3 and 5 are definitely males. the rest all girls IMO. Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Well got to be happy with that if there is 2 boys and 4 girls. Now just need them to start breeding. They have had one spawn but that is all so far. Do you think tank size makes any difference? Too small and wont breed, too big and can't find each other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoges Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Got to agree that 3 & 5 are your spunky males and the rest are pretty girls As for spawning, I definitely agree that if the tank is too big they won't spawn, I've read somewhere that they prefer smaller tanks with less area to defend and that has worked well with me. I have 2 peppermint trios (1M 2F), both are in seperate standard 2 ft tanks and over the past summer I've had 7 spawns (5 from one tank and 2 from the other - the fish in the more active tank are older). I keep the tanks pretty simple, no substrate, some pots and the odd plant when I have some spares (and some weights). One thing I have found useful, is to minimise the amount of light on the tank during spawning months. I've had larger and more successful spawns when I have made the effort to only have the tank light on for shorter days during summer (there is some natural light in the room so its not completely dark, just not really light either). Oh and make sure you have good water circulation Anyways best of luck! The kittens are sooo cute when they're a few weeks old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hi Ben, I agree with Hoges that if the tank is too big they won't spawn. I had my 5 females and 1 male in a 3ft tank for over a year to no avail, as soon as they hit a 2ft tank, within a month(3 weeks ago) I had my first succesful spawn and I am now onto my second spawn(last night. I hope this one is succesful too.). Good luck witth it all Ben. Let us know how you go. Cheers, Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I have the 6 of them in a 2 footer with 5 caves. Hoping having 5 will make two shack up. The tank has no substrate and is filtered by a sponge filter and a power head for water movement. Do you think 6 in a 2 footer is too many? Cheers Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I don't think it's too many. But I'd be using a bit more filtration than that. What are you feeding them at the moment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Zucchini and OSI disc's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoges Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I wouldn't be too stressed about the filtrations - yours sounds fine, so long as you are prepared to suck out all the poo every couple of days!!! As for 6 in a tank, it should be okay but you'll just have to be vigilant with your poo collection. I personally probably wouldn't keep 6 in a 2ft... maybe 4, but that's just me, I suppose you can just see how you go!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I wouldn't be too stressed about the filtrations - yours sounds fine, so long as you are prepared to suck out all the poo every couple of days!!! ← That's exactly what I was getting at. So long as you clean up the gunk regularly you should be fine. Good luck with breeding them. Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 50% water change every second day so they should be doing something for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWs Fish Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey Ben, try cranking the temp up to 27-28 for a few days and adding some limestone... then try doing a 50 percent water change after taking the limestone out and leave the heater unplugged... might help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Thanks Mike will give that a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoges Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Also, may sounds bizarre but someone suggested to me to improvise rain, so when I put the water change water in I did it with a watering can with the head with all the little holes, don't know if it was a co-incidence, but a week later I had my first spawn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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