Thank goodness someone has a topic, any topic (even "foreign" fish is
better than dearth :)) As far as I can ascertain most Botias have only been
accidentally spawned in aquaria. One of the problems has been finding the
triggers and getting mature enough fish to be breedable.According to
Baensch ( 1) p370 they spawn in fast flowing spring-fed streams in the
rainy season and the fry grow up in the lower slower reaches. I guess a
decent power head or two could approximate this. It often gets fish
schooling and .swimmimg into the current flow. If you get them to spawn
then probably the parents should be removed and the flow turned off.
I heard of one guy who did get Clown Loaches to spawn but the eggs were
infertile, he thinks because his males were much younger than the females
and also the females were heavy with eggs for a long time (? more than a
year)
He used a small group, 5 or 6 I think, in a 6 foot tank and tried to copy
nature by reducing the water level, adding leaves and silt, feeding
heavily on worms and keeping the temperature up.
Then he did a lot of water changes with softer-slightly cooler water and
raised the water level and away they went. From memory there were thousands
of eggs scattered that all went white. He plans to try again when summer
is here again.
Please keep us posted. ---------
> From: rhondawi at sprynet.com
> To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
> Subject: [RML] Botias
> Date: Thursday, 12 June 1997 5:59
>
> I hope no one will be offended this is not about rainbows, Australian
fish
> or SPAM.
>
> As most of you know Peter doled his fish out to several of us out here to
> watch during his vacation. Well some of the fish I'm watching are 2
groups
> of Botias. I figured it might be fun to try and spawn them while they
were
> here and I had the opportunity.
>
> Well I've been reading up on them and it's amazing the kind of
information
> I'm finding on breeding them. Everything from egg scatterers to
livebearers.
> It looks as though no one has actually done it, or at least if they did
they
> sure didn't write about it. I have heard rumors that perhaps they have
been
> hormone induced to spawn in some Asian farms, but I havn't been able to
find
> any really good information.
>
> Right now they are 20 gallon tanks with just Peter's UGF in a bucket, and
> some rocks. I wanted to buy glass covers for the tanks, stick a shop
light
> over it and add plants in planters. I also wanted to cover a piece of
wood
> with ferns and add that too. I was thinking of using peat and a bit of
soil
> in the planters. Lot's of floating plants, probably just throw some najas
in
> that is overtaking some of the other tanks and let it float on top. I was
> thinking of cramming all the bottom space in between the filter and
planters
> with rocks, I figured I'd add a lot of small ones too that the adults
> couldn't get between. Then start doing water changes with some RO water,
> maybe I should use a watering can so it simulates rain fall, and use
> slightly cooler water too. I've been feeding them on snails, flake,
mosquito
> larva and frozen blood worms.
>
> I want to do something soon now though, because 2 of them, 1 in
particular,
> looks for all the world like I'd figure a loach full of eggs would look.
> Truly for all I know this could just be a fat male but I don't think so.
>
> Anyway if anyone knows anything about their breeding at all please tell
me.
>
> Thanks,
> Rhonda