Correct male/female ratio for breeding BN's?

If the tank is devoted to BN's, the male guarding/not guarding the eggs shouldn't be an issue. However, don't forget to account for population density and growout space/tanks for the fry.
Many years ago I had 2 spawning pairs of Nicaraguan cichlids in a 20 long, with a 10 and a 29 for growout tanks. After a couple spawns I had several hundred juvies in the 29, a number of fry in the 10 being lost to a hydra infestation (that appeared from nowhere, apparently, but thrived on the brine shrimp I was hatching/feeding), and ended up selling the fry for a sorry return just to get rid of them. Lesson learned, NOBODY wants a couple hundred fish, regardless of how much you like them...
Worse yet, several weeks later I saw the juvies still in the tank at the lfs. They were crowded into a single tank and showed the bad results of poor management: oversized eyes relative to their bodies from insuficient nutrition/space, sunken bellies, and overall not healthy-looking fish that any expereinced fishkeeper would want.
Something to think about...
 
the females will drop their eggs in the same cave. the male will only defend one cave and that's where the females go.

If you're the only local breeder, there's always a market for BN's. Everyone "needs" an algae eater, and BN's are best. I would take 8 to the lfs per week and rarely did they have any left when I came back. I would also sell some online. By the time they got to 1.5", I had no trouble unloading them. That takes 3 months, at best, so you'll need to plan for having a coule hundred fish around for at least that long. Plan for daily water changes, too.
 
Great points everyone! Ok, let me make sure I understand this. Say there's only one cave because there's only one male. Then each female when ready comes into the cave he's guarding and lays the eggs. He fertilizes them while taking care of the fry or other eggs that are already in the cave. He will let any female in the cave any time, but no other male or other type of fish. Then if another female gets ready, she comes in the cave and the process continues?

Poor little guy, when does he ever get OUT of the cave!? Do I have it understood correctly? And yes, to the best of my knowledge, I would be the ONLY one locally (small town with no LFS at all), word of mouth and ads in the paper will find them homes with no problem!
 
that's how it works. Eventually he may stop letting the females in if there are too many fry/fish in the tank, but mine spawned a LOT. He will occasionally come out to eat, usually at night. I made sure to have high protein food available (brine shrimp, market shrimp) for when he came out.

If he starts to look overworked/skinny, seperate him and fatten him back up. the fry will usually do OK unless some predator eats them. Bristlenose will not eat their own young, so a species tank will be fine.
 
drgold said:
I made sure to have high protein food available (brine shrimp, market shrimp) for when he came out.

If he starts to look overworked/skinny, seperate him and fatten him back up. the fry will usually do OK unless some predator eats them. Bristlenose will not eat their own young, so a species tank will be fine.
Click to expand...

Other foods you can suggest? I was thinking of some rainbowfish as "dithers" just for someone to occupy the top part of the tank - maybe some threadfins. They aren't supposed to feed off the bottom - do you think they'll be ok with little BN's? Instead of taking him out of the tank, could I at that point, just take the cave out and he won't have a "place to defend" and (theoretically) would go on about eating as normal at that point when the little ones scatter?

Thanks again!
 
It's best to breed them alone, so you don't have to worry about other fish harassing the fry. If you do want dithers, choose something with a small mouth like a pencilfish. But I wouldn't have anything in there. The male will defend a place regardless of whether it's the original cave or a new one, and not having a place is stressful. I would move him to a seperate tank, or at least put a divider inbetween him and the females.

I would sometimes pour the cave into a breeder net and raise the fry that way to give my male a break. They did fine, but grew slower.
 
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