Advice to breed N. anomala

[Serketa]

I thought first that I had a pair of f and m, but it turned out my first nannacaras were both male. They were half of their sizes when I got them. Before New Years day I got one female and in about week she had breeding colours on, though occasionally she turns to her normal colouration.

My tank has all requirements fulfilled, and I have fed my fish about 1-2 weeks with bloodworms.

Yesterday I got a coconut shell, in case the female occupies it. Well, this morning she seemed to have noticed it and has visited there several times. Last evening I saw the bigger male beeing interested in the female, but the latter seemed to be after smaller male whose colours are much paler than bigger one's. Female wasn't hostile yet, I'm aware she might be that during after spawning when eggs have been laid and babies are born.

Well, what should I check, because I'd really loved to see these guys to spawn.

How do I know if they have spawn? Are there any other signs than female's aggressive behaviour?

[stormhawk]

Are you able to take a peek in the coconut shell without disturbing the fish? I tend to do this by placing the shell/hideout in the middle or foreground of the tank, with the opening oriented front wards. That's how I can spot the eggs using a torchlight at night, or just using a camera + flash.

If you've seen the female having ragged fins, chances are they might have bred. If you can, remove the extra male and place it in a separate tank. Condition the pair and give them soft acidic water. They are not difficult to trigger to spawn.

You might want to refer to this excellent thread by celticfish:
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=42994

The photographs will show you how the mother takes care of the fry, and the changes in her colouration.

[Serketa]

Yeah - I've seen celticfish's pictures. Actually they were the pictures which led me here in first place.

Coconut shell's "door" is opposite of the front glass, I placed it there straightaway so I may check it time to time. Female's fins are not ragged, but she was "showing" her tail to the bigger male today - wonder what that ment? She still has this strong brown-yellow colouration in upperside of her body.
Btw, should the male change his colours during the spawning? I haven't seen it to happen, just curious to know!

I would like to let those two made their babies without the third wheel, but I'm reluctant to remove another male to my small tank since the "kindergarten" is too small for that size of fish - though in Finland we can keep fish at least in 40 litres tank - but only temporaly - that's the law here (as you may know already).

So, what do you think? How long the smaller male should be separated from others?

[stormhawk]

The male is usually drab most of the time. They only show their beautiful colors when displaying or during breeding. You can always partition the tank to keep the extra male separate, or just use a breeding trap within the same tank. Net-type breeder traps are my personal favorite as compared to clear coloured plastic breeder traps.

If you see the female chasing away the male from a certain spot almost constantly, then it is highly possible the pair have already spawned, and the female is guarding eggs.

[Serketa]

This does not look good, or does it? Yesterday I didn't see the female anywhere in my tank. I do have one big stump and it has high top with empty space. There she might be (I can't take a peak there). I took the cleaning operation too and made water changes and I didn't see her swimming there either...

Does the female disappear for a while if they have spawn? If they had, I hope the water changing didn't damage it, nitrates were over suggested so it had to be done.

Bad news indeed, the female has been killed during one or two days. I found her between big plants. Tail was torn and she was little greyish - somehow I feel it was one of the males who attacked her. Not nice at all - I thought it would be opposite - to find male dead.

Should I get two females now because I have two males? Or try to get rid of another male and still get two ladies for him?

(Lucky though since blue rams seems to be practicing spawning, at least they were quite busy under low bush and thei've been doing it for few hours now..)

Well, I feel a bit down about the female's death. It wasn't nice surprise.

[stormhawk]

Sorry to hear about your loss. You should get rid of the extra male, and find some extra females for the male you wish to keep. Use a divider to keep the male separate from any future females you are planning on purchasing. N. anomala are fairly aggressive to begin with.

[Serketa]

How much space should I leave for the male? Are there any "about inches/cm" so I can plan a head if I need to make interior changes, like moving stumps etc. I would like to leave him one stump to hide within.

I called to a local shopkeeper and he'll get new N. anomalas for sale at the end of the next month. He is ready to take extra male from me since I have bought it from his store, and I'll take two females at least. And one of my co-worker will ask her daughter is she willing to take the other male (and does she have a tank suitable for that specie if she is interested.) Another shopkeeper may be able to order those fish earlier.

Another plan is in my mind. I have one spare small tank (about 60-70 l), is that too small to keep male in his own tank? If I recall right, they should be kept in over 100 l tank. Anyway, if keeping male in smaller tank separate is okay, does he suffer much when I would like to try to breed them?

Ah.. this is difficult.

[stormhawk]

You can divide the tank in two, or make the male's territory smaller. As long as he is kept separate from the female during the conditioning phase and has ample swimming space, the size of his partition does not matter much. Transferring the male to the 60 liter tank is fine too.

[Serketa]

Thank you stormhawk for your help - you are indeed a treasure to me with this specie!

I guess I have to start to search sand, plants, light and heater fitting to the 60 l tank, maybe I can use my big tank's (112 l) old filter in it - or is it too effective? Though I have heard somewhere that chiclids need effective filtering so propably it is okay - or not?

Soon you'll have to write me a novel or something about this case.

[stormhawk]

Oh no need for novels.

It's not necessary to decorate the temporary tank for the male. You can keep it bare-bottomed with just some ferns and mosses as cover and maybe a cave as its hideout. Doing it this way means that you can easily clean up uneaten food and the poop from the male. In such tanks, a small internal filter will do. Do not overfeed and keep up with the water changes and it should be fine. Alternatively, you can use this temporary set-up for the females instead.

Dither fish in the anomala tank might be good, but please pick fast swimming species. These anomala can be very nasty towards tank mates when you least expect it...

[Serketa]

My other species are:

1 Ancistrus
6 corys
6 serpaetetras
6 lemontetras
6 blue rams
And of course I had those 3 N. Anomalas

Maybe I'm having too many fish in tank now - though my friend (who has had aquariums for years) said that all those go fine - that my aqua isn't overcrowded. I can give the serpaes away, if my tank is overcrowded now. I'm not sure what to believe - in one finn forum I get different advice. Some will say it's ok, and some would like to kick my ***. Waterdemands are also met, and so far I have had no problems with anomalas versus other species.

I need to check my 60 l tank's silicons in weekend. Hope they are fine.

[stormhawk]

If you need help on knowing whether your tank is overstocked or not, try this link:

www.aqadviser.com

Made by a fellow forumer called yhbae. He did an awesome job with this calculator of sorts.

I think you are fine with those numbers of fish, but the anomala will not have any successful spawns because the tetras will easily pick off the fry.

[Serketa]

Thanks, but this link won't open.. It says that the website isn't in use. It would have been very useful link.

Ah, little googling and found the site: http://www.aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisor.php

Well, I have to take a cup of coffee and begin to calculate before I go to school.

[stormhawk]

Oops my bad. I thought it was the correct link. Good that you found it, it is extremely useful when planning to stock tanks.

[Wackytpt]

N. Anomalas are very aggressive fishes. It is either they bond or they will kill their mates.

But they are extremely beautiful in thier mating colours.

Cheers

[Serketa]

Wacky, it seems that I had a couple which fight, hope I'll (and the fish) have better luck next time I decide to take the specie. As I told in my introduce post, I consider a big tank of 300 l when I have enough money to by it. So goodbye to anomalas is only temporary.

[Blue Whale]

Oops my bad. I thought it was the correct link. Good that you found it, it is extremely useful when planning to stock tanks.

Stormy, your link is correct but her browser is preventing redirection. Both ways work. =) Already know that from her intro thread.

[Serketa]

So the anomalas are back.. And the female has taken over the coconut shell with breeding colours. She is very defensive, chases away male and tetras. She doesn't care much about rams or corys since they are not so curious about her doings.

Maybe in few days I'll see if there is any fry. At least the female is guarding her nest well.

Just one question. It was yesterday when she got the breeding colours on, is it possible that the breeding has already happened? In just 24 hours?

[Serketa]

On last saturday N. Anomalas moved to their 32 ga tank with rams. This morning (wednesday) I noticed that the anomalas have bred! Here is a photo of one of my female, guarding her eggs. Eggs are in front of her nose, a bit darker area. My digicamera isn't good but I hope it's enough clear to see the eggs in the "amphora". Female isn't very aggressive towards other fish, but chases them away if they come too close.

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/s...ahtiikutua.jpg

I tried to put the picture directly here, but it came tooo big and it wouldn't be nice to watch.

[Serketa]

Now my N. anomals finally were succesfull with breeding. Today, half an hour ago I saw first babies near the cave's entrance! They were only few mm long. They propably have been free-swimming from last midnight on. I wonder no more why the female spent 4-5 days in cave, rarely leaving it.

I'm sooo thrilled about this - my first fry of fish!