I picked up a pair of ancistrus sp.3 on saturday and the female is gravid. I originally put them in the 20 gallon q tank, but there was a .25 ammonia reading in it so I put them straight into the 29 gallon where there is a cave for them to do their business. With any luck I will have baby bristlies swimming about. On a side note, this pair has got to be the biggest ancistrus sp.3 I have ever seen. They are at least 5+".

Nice pick up mate Hope your right about having some "kittens" swiming about shortly Dont forget to take plenty of pics

So are they known as kitfish then?

The girth indicating that they're gravid ?

I can see in your pics a distinct 'roundness' of the abdoman, below the pectral fins.

Yep. I have counted 8 fry at one time, around the tank.

Well thats nice to hear, bet you have more than that though, just ask Kana how easy they are to count, and how they just keep turning up

Well kana?

I think Clunk may have mentioned that they were watching me. Every count I did came up the same, for months. When I took half of them out, the count went up !! (in two tanks)

I began with 30. Sold 20. I still have over 20 ! I'm just not bothering to count them anymore !

See i told you that if we wear those camoflage clothes they cant see us

May I suggest, Funky, a lite dash of glass cleaner on your tank. Especially before photo taking. It's amazing what you don't see, until the camera flash brings it out. Makes the water look clearer too !

I have a dedicated cloth for the purpose, and keep it well separate to all the other tank stuff.

Quote:

this pair has got to be the biggest ancistrus sp.3 I have ever seen. They are at least 5+".

That's not bad. My young are 3". They're a year old now. Spot, I judge to be at least four, and perhaps a bit.

I'll have to lay out some measuring dots on the glass, next to the feeding area, with texta.

I haven't seen any of the fry in weeks now. There is only the parents and 4 rummy nose tetras in this tank.

Have you moved things around in the tank to have a good look ?

No. The parents have another clutch of eggs right now.

That's good !

I haven't seen 'Spot' for about a month. Not that it's easy to tell him from the youngsters anymore, but he's not in his cave.

He's either fish poo by now, or I can shortly expect my count to go up again.

The 2nd batch didn't make it. The eggs hatched in the net, but the fry were small enough to get through the holes. I had a good look in the cave and I think I know why he kicked most of the eggs out. There is a bunch of snails in there. I will be getting some loaches to rid the tank of these pests.