Synodontis petricola breeding hut

[msjinkzd]

Anyone keeping/breeding these guys and have made your own DIY breeding hut?

Right now I have a mid-sized terra cotta pot and cut a nice hole in the side. I have a terra cotta lid to set it on with some dark marbles.


ANyone else made one and have any advice? My petricola females are looking nice and ripe for breeding and any tips would be appreciated.

[FallenAngel]

Sorry I don't have syno's but good luck with breeding them :)
I know some people make coconut huts cut in half with a 'door' for breeding some dwarf cichlids?

[msjinkzd]

yea for petricolas you need marbled in the bottom and alot more room than a coconut hut has to offer. If you dont' have the marbles, the adults eat the eggs. The eggs need to be able to fall between the large marbles to get a chance to hatch.

[FallenAngel]

Oh okay, I've seen sites recommend marbles with corydoras as well, maybe the same with similar catfish? I don't know, but syno's are definately alot bigger than corys, so maybe a big plastic or terracotta pot could do the trick, same technique with making the door?

Maybe a bucket even? Depending how big the tank is.

[msjinkzd]

Having bred quite a few catfish and other fish, I feel confident on what I am doing. I need specifics for petricola as they are different to spawn than cories by far. They either use a host fish or need some sort of "nest" setup.
Here is a link for people for more info: http://www.scotcat.com/articles/article30.htm

I have been growing these guys out for nearly a year and they are just now hitting maturity.

[msjinkzd]

This is what I have made so far:
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff170/msjinkzd/IMG00268.jpg

[oscardelahoya]

What did you use to cut the whole? And the bottom of that then gets filled with black marbles correct? Is there a distinctive way to tell between male and female?

[msjinkzd]

What did you use to cut the whole? And the bottom of that then gets filled with black marbles correct? Is there a distinctive way to tell between male and female?

A stepped drill bit.

Yes, marbles will go in the bottom. I will probably try to finda small glass bowl to sit it in so that I can see if there are eggs without disrupting it.

The females are MUCH wider/fatter than the males at maturity.

[platytudes]

Rachel, you ever checked out Rosenthal Pottery on Aquabid? He makes lots of dedicated species breeding caves (pleco, Calvus, etc.) as well as discus cones, and they are beauuuutiful!

I wish I had something helpful to add, but you know so much more than I do sooo....:o

[Cerianthus]

DOnt know if you read this already but worth reading if you havnt.

www.kwas.ca/Articles/Petricola.pdf (http://www.kwas.ca/Articles/Petricola.pdf)

Good Luck!

[msjinkzd]

Thanks, that is a good article :) Looks like I am on the right path!

[Cerianthus]

Looking forward to pics of frys/juvies soon.

[Chrisinator]

Awesome diy!

[oscardelahoya]

What size pot did you use? My local craft store has 5-6 different sizes, wasn't sure which one to use?

[msjinkzd]

its pretty sizeable, maybe 8" tall or so

[shaynablizard]

The local breeder that I bought my petricolas from puts his in with his spawning African Cichlids to pick up and brood the eggs. I know he has great success with this method.

[msjinkzd]

yea, I don't keep any african cichlids though so that won't work wiht me. That is the more traditional method

[Narwhal72]

Synodontis petricola and Synodontis lucipinnis are both egg scatterers and not brood parasites like Synodontis multipunctatus. Cichlids will not brood their eggs. The eggs are much smaller and there are many times more eggs than with Syno. multipunctatus.
I have never bred the true Syno. petricola but I have bred Syno. lucipinnis. I took a 10 gallon tank and put a tank divider in it separating the tank in half. I then used round marbles to make a double layer of marbles on one side of the tank. I took a reptile cave (which has no bottom) and put it on top the marbles. I then put my pair of Syno. lucipinnis in the tank and let them go to work. They chased each other around in circles within the cave throughout the evening. The next day I removed them from the tank. Within a few days I could see tiny white fry in the marbles and nestled into the grooves on the sponge filter. I removed the divider and left them in there until I could see them swimming around the tank. I fed frozen baby brine shrimp and OSI micro food until they were starting to show some color and then switched to finely crushed flake food. I was able to raise more than 300 fry from that single spawn. They grow really slow but if you change 50% of the water at least weekly you can keep them in the 10 gallon for about 3-4 months at least.
Andy

[Cerianthus]

I believe even S. petricola is considered Cuckoo Breeder.

[msjinkzd]

well they are already showing spawnign behavior in my cave :) My camera wont' be back from the shop for 7-10 days, hopefully I will have fry by then to take pics!

[pinkertd]

Looking forward to the pics when your camera comes back Rach! Would like to see the parents and your set up too. Sounds cool!

[keithnj]

hey, iv had my petricolas breed 4 times already on me!!! i dont use the pot and marble method. shoot me a pm and i'll tell you in great detail how to get large broods of up to 65-70!!! its just a lil too much to write right now.

[shaynablizard]

Hey Rachel, thought I'd let you know what I found out from another local breeder that has been successfully spawning petricolas for some time. He takes a clear plastic cup and fills it with marbles, then he puts a pot that fits well upside down over the cup. The petricolas go through the little hole that is the bottom of the pot (top of the breeding hut) and lay the eggs in the marbles. He uses the clear plastic cup because he can periodically pick it up and look at the bottom to check for fry/eggs easily. I thought that was a great idea! Might just give that a try with my petricolas...

[msjinkzd]

i have eggs!

[shaynablizard]

AWESOME!

[msjinkzd]

some pics of them using the cave:
141529

141530

141531

[fishorama]

So cool! They look so cute peeking out! How many eggs, or is it fry now?

[msjinkzd]

I have honestly not even looked, lol. I just haven't had time.

[toddnbecka]

Good luick with the fry, they're tiny little buggers when they hatch. I might get around to actually trying to raise some from my group after I move along some of these cichlids and BN growing out now.

[msjinkzd]

that is my issue right now as well, just toooooo much going on in the fishroom to raise every fry. I was just trying to get ready for them in the future, lol

[Bubbles2112]

This is really awesome!! :thm: Keep up with their progress in photos if you've got the time!

[RianS]

any updates?