Bala shark breeding.

[esoxlucius]

For the first time today, and for a prolonged period too, my group of bala sharks have been exhibiting some peculiar behaviour which I haven't seen from them before.

Gently biting at one anothers fins, swimming in very close proximity to one another, flanking, generally showing an interest in one another which they usually don't do.

I never saw any eggs being scattered, though my clown loach were going mad, a couple of them were nosing the balas vent area, a sure sign that my clowns thought some food was on the way!!

All signs are pointing to breeding. I don't know what's triggered it, other than maybe a large water change yesterday and I did treat the whole tank to a banquet of fresh chopped worms from my wormery this morning. Maybe those two factors put them in the "mood".

Needless to say nothing will come of it. They are in a community set up and any eggs will be eaten voraciously before they have chance to settle anywhere.

It's the fact they are showing breeding behaviour which is the real positive to take from this. It must mean they are content and that my care for them is good, which methinks, is a feather in my cap.

This is Esox, bala shark aficionado, signing off, lol.

 

[Deadeye]

Keep an eye on it!
As far as I know, these guys aren’t readily bred in captivity so any advances are a good one.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Check out victors thread, his are showing similar, maybe it’s “the time of year” -mmmmmmm interesting.

 

[tlindsey]

All signs are pointing to breeding.

Yeah sure sounds like it.
That's exciting to hear that .

 

[celebrist]

Mine do that pretty much every feeding

I agree that yours must be content from good husbandry because that means mine are too !

 

[esoxlucius]

Mine do that pretty much every feeding

I agree that yours must be content from good husbandry because that means mine are too !

I'm glad you've answered, I was going to tag you because I know you have some impressive adult specimens. I suspected you may have witnessed the same.

Usually any info on Bala breeding says the same, not usually bred in captivity. But of course breeding and breeding behaviour are two different things.

I think breeding behaviour is quite common, as you've witnessed many times, and Victor just recently, and there are a few videos on line too which I've seen.

But I suppose the difficulty starts when you have to put the breeding "contenders" in a separate large tank, if in a community set up, with conditions exactly the same as in the tank which ignited their breeding behaviour in the first place, and then somehow collect the eggs, before they get eaten! And of course once the eggs are collected that's where the really tricky part starts.

I'm very happy not breeding balas, and equally happy that they are showing some breeding behaviour in the first place, which tells me they are in a good place health-wise.

Incidently, have you ever seen them actually produce eggs?

 

[celebrist]

Never any evidence of eggs

 

[DMD123]

Mine do that pretty much every feeding

I agree that yours must be content from good husbandry because that means mine are too !

Mine do it too, I just thought it was a show of dominant behavior of the larger individual towards the smaller one.

 

[Redshark1]

I remember watching this recently.

The spawning behaviour maybe we should call pseudo-spawning behaviour since there are no eggs visible.

However, I think there is a possibility that if your Clown Loaches are getting excited some eggs may have been laid at some point.

BTW my Clown Loaches exhibit pseudo-spawning behaviour often but I have never seen a single egg.

I think Andres of BioAquatix hand-strips the eggs and milt of his Clown Loaches in order to raise the young ones he has for sale at the moment.

His difficulty has been getting them into this condition reliably (i.e. on demand) but I assume he will achieve this soon if not already.

Today Peter Podhorec has posted a video of Clown Loach fry he has produced using hormone-treated adults.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=455367306653801

I strayed off topic a bit to give you some extra information on Clown Loaches while I had it. My apologies if you already have this info.

 

[esoxlucius]

However, I think there is a possibility that if your Clown Loaches are getting excited some eggs may have been laid at some point.

That video is a recent one of victors.

In all honesty the behaviour mine were exhibiting was a far more close up and personal touchy feely type of behaviour as opposed to just chasing each other. That was on Sunday, and they haven't shown any interest in each other since, back to their usual selves now.

My clown loach are clever little buggers. When they were in my 180 com tank I had a lot of frisky rainbowfish and they sprayed eggs all over. My clowns knew from their courtship dances that dinner was just round the corner, and they'd harangue the rainbowfish until they got their reward.

Perhaps my clowns remembered this from my 180 and thought that the behaviour from my balas meant they were going to get dinner again, and that's why they were getting close to their vent area. Unfortunately they were to be disappointed as I never saw any eggs!!

And yes, my female clowns are as fat as pigs with eggs too. I've observed them for some kind of dancing ritual to suggest something's going to happen, but because they're always goofing about I don't know what's mating behaviour and what's play fighting, lol. Needless to say I'm not expecting any eggs from my clowns anytime soon, but they certainly have them.