Hi everyone!

In my current 40 gallon tank i have 9 tiger barbs, 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 cherry barbs, 3 armored catfish, 2 peppered catfish, 2 nerite snails, and 5 ottos. Yesterday evening i noticed right before feeding my catfish, that my two peppered catfish are hovering about 5.5 inches above the sand. They stay in the same left hand corner of the tank. Once i come closer, they settles down and start digging in the sand again. I changed the water 3 days ago, and my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrated levels are all at 0. I also have plants in my tank. Could their behavior indicate a disease, or they are starting to breed?

Please reply as soon as possible!!

THANKS!!

__________________
Cornelia Baker,

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Were they near the glass? sometimes right after a water change and especially if the water was a tiny bit cooler than the tanks temperature, they do get the urge to breed. That is how they are stimulated to breed by the way, to do a water change with slightly cooler water. It is not unusual for them to hover near the glass finding a place to deposit their eggs as least mine did. But in the tank you described the eggs would soon be eaten. Plus you have a tank that is bordering on being overstocked.

I am sure that the fish are okay just doing what comes naturally. If you want them to spawn though they need to come out of that tank as the chance of them making a successful go of it in with those other fish will not make it.

Sounds like you really love your fish, congrats.

Rose

Thanks for answering!
yes, they are near the glass. i think i'm going to put them into my 5 gallon tank so they can lay eggs in peace. Are you sure they are ready to breed? None of the 2 look fat to me. They are kind of skinny, and both of them have something black behind their anal fins. It's like a part of their stomach, or something like that. Is it normal?

__________________
Cornelia Baker,

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I GET MAIL
THEREFORE I AM

No I am not sure of anything but it could be that. Especially following a water change as you said. But there are a lot of variables that I have no way of knowing that we will just have to wait and see. If you see eggs on the glass in a few days or around on plants or something then you will know but I do know that if they do spawn and lay eggs that the other fish in that tank will eat them. This will at least give them a fighting chance.

When my cories spawned they did not look big either in fact I had not been aware that I had a male and female.

Rose

OK. We'll see what happens!

Thanks for advise!!

__________________
Cornelia Baker,

With Pleasure








I GET MAIL
THEREFORE I AM