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Hav had 6 hoplos for 18months...hav few questions

1. How old do they have to be to breed??(sexually mature)
2. How do you recognize males and females?
3. How do you know that a female is "ready" to breed?

10q for helping me out.

OK I'm not absolutely positive, but I'll give it a go

Assuming and yes I know not good at timesthat the hoplo catfish are similar to the other catfish and it probably isn't with my luck, but I would assume that the female would be a bit broader when looking at it from the top...[link=the profile]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/hoplo.xml" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link] here on fp says, "Breeding: A large tank is needed with a slightly acidic pH of 6.5-6.7. Floating plants are required as the male builds a bubble nest among them. Only the male should be left in the tank to guard the eggs in much the same way as the [link=Siamese Fighting Fish]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/fighter.xml" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link]. Gender: Hard to tell. Older male's stomachs turn light blue during spawning season. The first spine on the pectoral fins is much fatter on males.

I bet it is more the size of the hoplo as much as the age as to if the fish is ready to breed, and I would have no idea except the female would definately be plumper when ready to spawn I'm thinking...

Hope some of that helps, heidi


"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Hoplo's are well easy to sex, I have two, one male and one female.

males: Have very distinctive ORANGE pectoral fins when mature, (their side fin on the front). The females do not have this. They start developing this when I guess about 1.5-2 years old. And get sexually mature when this orangey fin is quite large. I think a sexually mature fish would be in the region of 10cm long or so, but I'm not an expert. They grow normally about 15cm long.

females: No orange pectoral fin. Will be fat when ready to spawn. A fairly sizeable water change sometimes triggers spawning, (30-40%). The male will build a bubblenest and guards it until the fry hatch. You should remove the female after she lays the eggs in it.

Setup: Bare bottomed tank, couple of plants, several floating plants to give the bubblnest some anchorage. 120cm tank should be large enough. Remove male when fry hatch, feed them on brine shrimp etc. Broods can be large. I think some people have reported about 200 fry per go!

keep me updated if they breed, because Hoplo's are my very very favourite fish in the world!

My favourite fish too Friendly, active and peaceful. My 3 would eat out of my hand.

Those pectoral fins are certainly the way you can sex them.

I wish I could find some more I have been without any for about 4 years now but they seem to have vanished from the Essex / London area. I did manage to pick up a trio of Flag Tailed Hoplos a few months ago, but nice though they are they are just not the same

Actually, most of the information provided in above posts are speculative, at least in regards to breeding. These callicthyids are very difficult to breed, and spawning triggers are really, as of yet, unknown. Most aquarists who have bred this species claims that the eggs were concieved merely by chance--in both large and small tanks of varying water qualities. It is, however, widely recognized that this species needs some sort of overhead cover to hold in place the gigantic bubble nests sculpted by breeders.