Breeding the threadfin eartheater
Biparental substrate spawner, rarely bred in aquaria: the pair digs a large pit, lays eggs on a cleaned solid object and covers the brood with leaves, wood or substrate. It is not a mouthbrooder.
Step by step
Keep a group of 6 and let a pair form, or one male with several females.
A 300 L tank with a sponge or gentle filter, fine sand to sift, a few rocks and open swimming space.
Clean warm water, big regular water changes and varied protein foods.
200 or more eggs; they hatch after about 3 days (70 hours at 27°C) and the fry swim freely about 48 hours later.
The brooding parent holds eggs and fry, releasing them at about 1 cm; feed newly hatched brine shrimp.
- Coarse or sharp substrate
- Stressing the brooding fish
- Infrequent water changes
Male or female
Very hard to sex: no external differences except that gravid females look somewhat deeper-bodied, and the female's ovipositor shows during spawning.
Can I breed it in my tank?
- Takes some experience.
Day-by-day plan
Typical for open substrate spawners
- 21 days beforeLet a pair form
Grow up a group and let a pair choose each other. Give them a flat stone or broad leaf.
- Day 0Spawning
The pair cleans the stone and lays rows of eggs. Both guard them.
- Day 3Eggs hatch
Wrigglers hatch in 2–4 days and are moved to pits by the parents.
- Day 7Free swimming
Feed baby brine shrimp several times a day. Parents often herd the fry.
- Day 42Grow-out
Move fry to a grow-out tank before the parents spawn again.
A general guide for this breeding type. Days change with temperature and species.
Simulator: guided
Grow up a group and let a pair choose each other. Give them a flat stone or broad leaf.
Simulator: try it yourself
Set up a virtual breeding tank and see what would likely happen.
- Without live or frozen food the parents aren't in breeding condition.
An educational estimate from the breeding rules, not a promise.