kyle34 Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 hi all, i keep 1 male and 4 females venustus and 1 male and 2 female rostratus in a 6ft tank, Are these fish ok to keep togethger? My next question is my venustus seem to have started breeding, but has been no signs of the rostratus breeding, Is there anything i can do to get them to start breeding. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdog013 Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 try a water change, or a change in diet, is there adequate pottery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barca888 Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I have a female Venustus with a large trio of rostratus. The venustus sometimes picks on the rostratus when shovelling sand, nothing that bad. Would be interesting to see who becomes the tank boss, the venustus males are meant to be quite aggressive. I'm guessing if there's aggression is going to come from the venustus side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishguts Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 mate i dont keep africans anymore, but when i did these two were my favourites.....venustus will breed very young, they grow fast and are very "boistrous".... rostratus on the other hand, grow quite slowly and take their time to breed..... if you want a tip on spawning Venustus.... here it is.... set up a 4footer and plant it out with lots of "val". its cheap and allows the male to destroy it as he shows off to his girl. once you have the tank set up...put your fattest female in and feed her up with as much live food as you can find.....earthworms, gambusia, you name it. it'll only take about a week... then, put you male in and let him smash the plants to bits...... hell dig a spawning pit, and he'll do the deed.... then take him out , before he bashes her to death, and replant the tank with the val that he has ripped out..... she will hold the fry for the full term, and when she's ready she'll let the fry out to feed amungst the weeds..... this works well without the stress of "milking" her..... if you are impatient and cant wait just let em do it and strip her any way but if you love your fish in a natural environment...this is a great way to watch the whole process give it a go, you wont be disappointed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle34 Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 thanks all for the responses My male venustus for sure is the king of the tank, he gives everyone a bit of a shove around now and then, but has caused no damage. 1 of my female venustus is holding now, actually happened yesterday. How long do you have to wait before you strip her. Fishguts, your method sounds awsome and would love to do it this way, but have no spare tanks at the moment to allow me to do this. Because im new at this, what is VAL, i assume its some sort of plant. Whats it full name might even get some anyway and put some in my 6ft with them anyway. I still have another female i want to get going. the other 2 in the are a little small i think before they will breed. My male rostratus is probably just under 30cm mark, the females are around the 20 and 25 mark. How big do these guys have to get before they start to breed. cheers all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milhouse Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Hey there mate, this is val, comes in a few different varieties such as thin, corkscrew, contorsion etc. It's pretty cheap to purchase. Look HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barca888 Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 They should have bred by now. Mine started breeding at around 15cm, however they haven't bred in a while since I've been medicating the tank to get rid of an annoying parasite. Even thought this annoys me, there is no aggression between the rostratus and my female is getting fatter and getting a rest. Make sure they have a lot of sand area. I hope your male venustus isn't holding back the rostratus breeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishguts Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 that weeded tank is perfect!!!!they will smash it up and breed....then take him out and replant it....she will release the fry into the weeds and raise them naturally...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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