Bullhead spwan

S

Surgee

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Aug 23, 2004
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Bullhead Spawn

I noticed thursday that one of my bullheads was in a pot i have in my 55. It was strange because they are usually waiting to be feed in the morning but on thursday she would not leave the pot. I read on varous web pages that they make a saucer type of thing in the gravel, and this morning i saw that there were eggs in the pot and the other bullhead was fertilizing them.

Sorry if that story was long but i have a few questions.

How common is it for bullheads to eat their eggs?

Should i remove the parents?

How may tipicly survive to adulthood?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Tanks Specs:

55 gal

80 F - water temp

2 bullheads - the parents

3 mystery snails

Don't know ph or nitrates because my test strips ran out and i havent bothered getting more.

here are pics too.


eggs.JPG
 
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I never saw or heard of bullheads spawning in a tank, probably because they're not kept too often. I recall watching a pair in a stream near my house guarding a nest. They took turns in and around the nest, much like sunfish. However in a tank stress sometimes causes otherwise good parents to eat their young. I'd try to keep up with the water changes, and give them as much privacy as possible. What other fish are in the tank? Also, do you have cover for the young when they do hatch?
 
The only fish in the tank are the 2 bullheads, and 3 mystery snails. As for cover i don't really have much. I just have rocks, 1 natural plant, 3 or 4 river rocks, and 3 artificial plants. There are no other fish in the tank except the 2 bullheads so the only thing that can eat the fry if they hatch would be the parents.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the bad picture to.
 
In the wild, parent fish protect the young up to about 1.5" or so. The babies seem to be programmed to school densely. One spawning can produce 2500 or more fry, so I hope you have a place to put a couple thousand catfish!
 
Sorry i could not reply for a while. I was On Vacation. I Finally got good pics of the fry and the mom.(Had to wake up at 11:30 pm since they are nocturnal, But it's ok) The mom is a great mom too. Hope you like the photos.

DAD1.JPG FRY 12.JPG FRY22.JPG FRY32.JPG MOM.JPG
 
wow... what are you going to do with all those fry
i had a yellow bullhead for a while ( i reently re released it into the wild), i found it in a shrinking pool beside a river, when i got it it was only about in inch long, but within the few months that i had it, it grew to about 5 or six inches long!

gl with the fry as these catfish, as im sure that your aware, are fery cool fish
 
Bullheads

I have two bullheads and a pleco in a 55 gallon tank. All three are about 8 inches long, and they all seem to get along nicely. That is, until about a couple weeks ago. The smaller of the bullheads has been hiding under rocks, and will only come out for food. Is this a female spawning? Since it's been a couple weeks, how long does the process take.

In a couple months, I will be moving and I've decided it might be best to return the bullheads to the wild. I've had them a few years. Will they have trouble surviving? How about the water temp. In the aquarium it's probably about 70 degrees, but in the wild not during all, the water temp is in the 50's to 60's. Won't that be a shock to their system?

Loved all the reading on this site! Great info!!!

Linda, (danslinda)
 
if the fish have been in contact with petstore fish, it is not a good idea to re-release them into the wild, the could infect the native fish with god-knows what diseases from the petstore.

yes it would be a shock to their system, but they are tough fish, and would probably be fine, but im still not advocating their release
 
Cool fish! from what Ive read they are not too common in home aquaria. if you have friends with a big enough tank...:)
 
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