NANFA-- tadpole madtoms looking amarous.

Todd Crail (farmertodd_at_buckeye-express.com)
Tue, 24 Feb 2004 21:36:01 -0500

Well an excavation has begun, and I wonder if it ain't cause they'd like a
little privacy.

I have two large tadpole madtoms, N. gyrinus, the female of which, looks
more like a small bullhead :) They were small last year, but they sure
grow fast on krill (since last May when I brought them in my care). She's
alway kept to herself under a couple pieces of limestone I stacked at an
angle, and never shared the space with any of the 5 madtoms I have in there
(the smallest of which sits in a back corner, head down, because all the
other good places are taken ;)

This last week, one of the males moved in and they've really moved some
sand. Little dunes at the front and back. I checked tonight and they have
really cut a chasm out in between a rock that must have been buried in the
sand and the right piece of their "tent". I can only assume that he was
invited in, since she's chased off intruders all the rest of the time.

Anybody bred gyrinus before? I'm assuming they'll use the flat part of the
rock to lay eggs and fan them there. They're guarding the cubby like crazy
(no one even bothers to go near it now), so I imagine I can get a hatch and
then pull some of the fry to another tank. Yes, I'm a low maintenance kind
of "breeder". Usually, fry in my care become food, but this looks like fun
;)

And granted the eggs are fertile because they really didn't get all that
cold. Low temp this winter was 65 F. So I'm not extremely hopeful, but it
does look like all systems go at this point.

And on a completely different continent... I started the stock of the 30
gallon Amazonian tank this Saturday. The blue rams already laid. Time to
go look all that up. I can make money at that to pay for my native habit ;)

Todd

It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org