at last i can see the fences.

[mickthefish]

i'm a happy man now,
at last i can see the fences in one of my male lineolata's as he was enjoying a feast of tubifex worms.

the fry that i saw a bit back is either houdini or it's been eaten.

if anyone has got a pic of their breeding tank for these, could you please let me see a pic of the setup as i think i have a far better chance of saving the young in that.

cheers
mick

[Emma Turner]

Hi Mick,

That's great news. How many do you have in the tank? I think a good sized group (including more than one male) helps with spawning success.

Here is a pic of my old 3ft long river tank (which was of strange dimensions) complete with manifold, where they were spawning like mad:


And this is the current 4ft long river tank (again with manifold) that I transferred everything except the Amano shrimp over to:

(that was taken last year, the Cryptocoryne balansae have really taken over since then).

In the new tank, the only species that I know have bred are the Sewellia sp. 'spotted' and my Crystal Red shrimp. No sign of the S. lineolata getting down to it so far.

Hope this helps,

Emma

[Graeme Robson]

Impressive looking chap, Mick!

[mickthefish]

thanks Emma, you have an artistic eye for setting up your tanks.
i'm bloody useless at that. great tanks by the way.
i have nine lineolata's in mine and by looks alone there's more females than males, 6 to 3.
have you ever seen the eggs?

mick

[Jim Powers]

Nice fish, Mick!!
Good luck with the breeding.
Just make sure you don't have any danios in the tank. They sure love the eggs.
I have seen the eggs before when mine have spawned. They are extremely small, almost looking like fine bubbles in the current flow.

[Emma Turner]

Thanks, Mick. I've not seen eggs in any great detail, but I have witnessed the S. lineolata spawning from a distance and under blue moon lighting. They swam up towards the surface, belly-to-belly, with pectoral fins intertwined and I saw a release of something fine into the current (which I had presumed were both eggs and milt). The eggs must be pretty small as quite a number of these little 'uns did end up starting their lives in the filter. Seeing as I still have a predator in the tank (the lone old-timer and FAT Schistura balteata) I think that I did the right thing in increasing the amount of cobbles in the tank which gives the eggs and tiny youngsters more of a chance.

Emma