Breeding, Biotoecus sp. Tapajos

[a.d.wood]

I collected these many months back and have had 7 in one of my breeding tanks with no sign of them doing anything other than growing.

I cleaned the tank last night and noticed that a pair seemed to have formed and a couple of pits had been dug in the sand at the front of the tank beside the clay pot that they were taking an interest in. Looking again a few minutes later, among the debris now swirling round the tank I saw a few fry in the pit and the pair defending the territory.

I think I may have stumbled upon the spawning trigger, live daphnia daily (I currently have 3 poly boxes in the garden with daphnia cultures that provide a continous supply of daphnia for a good few tanks of dwarves!!).

Now there are 5 other adults in the tank with this pair, I'm hoping these others won't predate on the fry as there is no chance of removing the others from the tank.

But its moments like this that make it all worth while.

Todays pics:

Male didn't want his picture taken!!

Andrew

 

[ed seeley]

Congratulations. I had a group but just one left now. No obvious problems just one by one they disappeared. What are your water parameters?

 

[Microman]

Nice one Andrew, No sign from my group as yet.
If the pH was as normal for your fish house then these obviously dont require the very low >4.5pH that B opercularis required for breeding purposes when we had them a couple of years ago.
They are certainly not as mature either....
Do you think that this species seems somewhat hardier than B.opercularis?

Ed... Andrews fish are from the same import as yours.
Mark...

 

[ed seeley]

Ed... Andrews fish are from the same import as yours.
Mark...

Thought they might be mate! Simply adds to the frustration!!! :redface:

 

[oaken]

How does one differentiate Biotoecus-species? I have a group of 8 Biotoecus that I bought as B. opercularis, but they look pretty much identical to the fish in your pictures. So is it in fact B. sp. "Tapajos" that I have in my care? Other pictures that I have seen of B. sp. "Tapajos" have shown fish with a lot more red in them, like in the pictures shown in this thread: http://www.zbbf.de/forum/showthread.php?p=83123

 

[Mike Wise]

Biotoecus sp. Tapajós appears to be merely a population of B. opercularis that is found in the Rio Tapajós. Both appear to have the same body form & finnage; minor color differences are all that separate them. I could be wrong, of course, but someone will need to explain how the Tapajós form and the Negro form differ. Biotoecus dicentrarchus & B. sp. aff. opercularis Upper Rio Negro, however, have differences in body shape and finnage when compared to B. opercularis.

 

[pleurothallid]

This is more of a general question related to Biotoecus, but this thread definitely helped fuel my interest in them, but is their metabolism really as fast as many people are saying, especially to rear them to maturity?

 

[ste12000]

Very nice Andrew...Good pictures as usual.

 

[oaken]

Not intending to hijack the thread. But here is a picture of my biggest male:

B. opercularis, yes?