Astatotilapia Latifasciata (Obliquiden Zebra). Well 4 actually 1 male and 3 female. After moving some fish around I have a tank with 2 featherfins and a striped raph. I found a web site that will let me choose the sex of the fish so I was thinking why not try and breed them.
Heres the link

I can't decide if I like them or the Chessboard Kribensis better. Very cool.

I don't know if the striped raph plays by the same rules as other catfish but my catfish loves them tasty fry.

I dont think I'd have to worry about mine because he stays under a rock pile I made for him and the fetherfins. The only time I see him is when I clean the tank.

Would a 25 gallon tank be enough room for these little fish?

My fishy book says they only get 4 to 6 inches max. I don't know which featherfins you have, my book has like 24 some varieties all in different sizes and colors.

So long as they're the smaller featherfin guys and not the 10 inch ones. I think it should be cool.

I have S. eupterus so they get big. I'm going to move them when they get to be too big for the tank.

The synodontis can get to about 8''.

I thought they get to be 12"

8in is typical but they can easily get 10+ inches!

I think some of the confusion comes from how they are measured. PlanetCatfish gives the max length of Synodontis eupterus at 8.7"SL (Standard Length- Length from tip of nose to base of tail). This would make the TL (Total Length - Length from tip of nose to tip of tail) nearer to 10.5" to 11".

Mark

Ok I see where I got confused. Will the 25g be enough for the fish?

My first instinct is to say no. You're talking about a breeding group of 4 fish that will be around 4" to 5" each. I would think you would need at least a 45 gal, for just the breeding group.

Mark

Er. Wait. Now I'm confused. Where did the eupterus come from? Wasn't it a Rapahel?

Anywho. While a 40 would sure be nice. So long as you're up on it and attentive about it I think you could get away with using the 25. You may end up having to pull someone, but with the two backup 10s you have I think it should be cool.

For the kids I currently have 4 Nimbochromis Livingstonii in a 20 and they've been doing just fine and have even had some breeding without me trying to do anything fancy.

I still think that the catfish s going to cause some trouble at some point.

I see you point. The catfish can be moved into a larger tank

Mike what are the dimensions on your 25?

Mark

24"LX12"WX17"H

thats a 20 high for 1 thing, how big are the fish??
if they are past 2 inches then no you cant put them in the 20 high


And saint_felony just cause you can fit the fish in the tank doesn't mean its whats best for the fish

Woah really I thought it was a 25!

heres a link with tank dimensions http://alysta.com/books/fishtank.htm its a good thing to have bookmarked just in case you need

I know breeders who breed fish healthy and well in tanks that size and smaller. If you are attentive enough about water quality, to the point where you are doing water changes every other day or daily, you most definitely can keep and breed fish in a 20 High. I don't do it myself since I'm on the rescue end of things, but I've seen it done and I hang out with people who do it as their jobs.

Also it's completely laughable to think you can't put fish larger than 2 inches in a 20h and not have them do well. More than half of my rescues would be dead or dying if that were the case. Size does factor into it to some extent since the fishies need to turn and move and all but water quality is the key. It's more work, but it definitely can be done.

saint_felony wrote:

I know breeders who breed fish healthy and well in tanks that size and smaller. If you are attentive enough about water quality, to the point where you are doing water changes every other day or daily, you most definitely can keep and breed fish in a 20 High. I don't do it myself since I'm on the rescue end of things, but I've seen it done and I hang out with people who do it as their jobs.

Also it's completely laughable to think you can't put fish larger than 2 inches in a 20h and not have them do well. More than half of my rescues would be dead or dying if that were the case. Size does factor into it to some extent since the fishies need to turn and move and all but water quality is the key. It's more work, but it definitely can be done.

, wow, well for one thing doing water changes that ofter could actually be dangerous for the fish, i wouldn't recommend more then 2-3 times a week, a 25% water change 1-2 times a week is best, changing your water to often and too much can trigger your tank into cycling again which would cause a spike in your tank params such as nitrates, ammonia, which could very easily kill the stock

But to actually go as far and say you know "breeders" who uses 20hs to breed adult african cichlids is whats laughable, its all about footprint when it comes to africans, MALES REQUIRE TERRITORY!! especially during breeding, which takes up foot print, a 20 h has a 24 by 12 footprint, thats a joke to any male african cichlid over 2 inches, , the exception would be most shellies but thats only cause they max at around 2 inches and arent especially aggressive. Most africans dont pair when breeding, so there best kept in groups, no competent fish keeper would put a group of africans over 2 inches in a 20h for anything other then temporary isolation. I could talk about this all day but the bottom line is obviously you didnt do your research, fish keeping is meant to be enjoyable but can only be when your responsible about it, so dont go around giving advice about things you havent even done your research on!!!! If he was to take that advice from you he could very well end up in the end with one victorious male and the rest dead cause they couldnt get away from him, or worse ALL DEAD due to massive instability of there water

If were talking about anything other then shellies and a few very small dwarfs a larger footprint is eventually required!!

Alright lets all stop and take a I don't agree with putting said fish in the tank specified for breeding. The tank is going to be very aggressive likely and the holding female or the other females will likely be harassed. I do agree with mahemaheman85 to a certain extent...if the breeding pair are sub-adults and still pretty small you may be able to get away with it. I would just go ahead and get an adequate size tank to start. Once these fish establish dominance and become full grown that 20 gallon will likely become a death tank for the females.

On the water quality issue which is some what off the topic, Daily water changes wont hurt a thing. I do daily W/C on my hospital tank when a fish is hurt. The clean water has benefits on the fish. If we are talking massive 75% water changes than that can stress a fish but 10-15% daily will do more good than bad...esp if you are talking a fry tank. As far as water changes triggering cycling or causing a crash it is probably not going to happen unless the tank has just been recently cycled.

There is a good discussion going on in this thread but lets not start flaming up...first and last warning!

I'll just search around for a 30+ tank on craigs list.

What happened? I was going to respond to saint's post but now its missing!

Sorry the posts have been deleted, I can not get them back...It seems like a good discussion but before people start deleting each others posts I am going to go ahead and lock this one. Feel free to start a new thread if you still need help on this topic.