Toddnbecka

I spent several hours netting out the fry from two spawns, total was 116 and I left a few. There are even more still in the tank from the other two (more recent) spawns, but they're quite noticeably smaller. The 116 BN fry and 18 wee cichlids were moved into a 75 for growout. The smaller fry will likely be primarily cichlid food after I move the breeding pair back into the 30 long. I moved them to a 55 to allow the BN's to grow after I found a single juvie from a much earlier spawn.

11yancazosj

i dont believe in giving fry to other carnivorous fish like cihlids. why not wait until they are big enough and tade them in at your LFS

Nick G

I feed my Cichlids any Livebearer fry that I have spare. It's good for them as long as the feeder fish are healthy and have had a good diet.

11yancazosj

well i quess it saves you buying live foods

Toddnbecka

How many fry can you expect to grow to a tradeable size? How many tanks full of BN fry does anyone want/need? Not to mention that the adults will continue to produce even more. Sure it would be great to find them all happy homes, but BN's are becoming as common as convicts in the hobby.

Butterfly

In the wild fish eat other fish as a normal part of their life but I understand your feelings.

Maybe it will make them less expensive
Carol

Toddnbecka

Shortfin browns are selling as low as $4 each for small juvies on aquabid. Even the longfin browns are down to about $5 each, though breeding pairs aren't cheap. It kills me to see standard brown BN's $10 and albino $20 at the lfs.
Here's my "super red" future breeding stock from Germany, they should be mature enough in a couple more months:

Butterfly

BN are still pretty expensive here for nice specimen.
Love the red. Do you have a scientific name for it?
Carol

Toddnbecka

It's a new color morph of the common BN, called "super red". Essentially a calico w/out the darker pigment. From what I've heard the color intensifies as they grow. I'd call them "rosy red" BN's, the color is quite similar to the rosy red fathead minnows in my backyard pond. These are still relatively rare so they aren't cheap; that's $400 in a 5 gallon bucket in the first pic. The color is great though, I'm looking forward to seeing a mature male with a faceful of bristles this color. I plan to outcross some with longfin browns to add fresh blood to the stock and eventually produce red longfins.

11yancazosj

i dont like those ones for some reason. i would rather own a Bn catfish/pleco

Butterfly

Those are Bristlenose. Just a different color than your used to seeing.
carol

11yancazosj

sorry...what i meant was a normal coloured one

Butterfly

AHH... Iunderstand now. Thanks for the clarification. Many people don't like the albino ones.
carol

11yancazosj

the red ones arent albino

Butterfly

I'm sorry I should have finished my sentence "Many people don't like the albino Bn either' In other words there are kinds that are more/less popular than others.
carol

11yancazosj

ok. i understand now. thanks carol