Fish Breeding

The correct environment for breeding fish
Fish that breed on substrates need proper substrates to breed on, like peat, rocks, shells, or plants. Some fish are shy and require a lot of cover, caves, or dim light. There are also fish that require a particular water chemistry to breed. Examples are discus, which require very soft, acid water or African cichlids which require very hard, alkaline water. Again, you will need to obtain the information for each specific breed before making the decision on which fish you want to breed.

A varied diet promotes fish breeding
Fish that are producing eggs need better food that fish that are just living in a community. Breeders call the process of specially feeding parents conditioning. Conditioning foods include live foods, fresh frozen foods, or spirulina based foods. Find out the specific requirements of the fish you intend to breed.

A mix of male and female fish
This may sounds obvious, but some fish are not easy to sex. In species that are difficult to sex, is best to start out with at least six young fish so that you are certain of getting both males and females. Starting with many fish also gives monogamous fish a chance to pick compatible mates. Sometimes if a single male and female are introduced, they will not breed. Other fish, like livebearers, killifish, and polygamous cichlids need more females that males so that females are not harassed by amorous males.

Fish Breeding Environment Cues
Many tropical fish breed in the rainy season. When it rains, streams flood, the water hardness drops, and there is thunder and lightning. Adventuresome breeders with rainy season fish may try large water changes with distilled water, watering cans to simulate rain, strong currents, and even flashing

Do Cats kill their Kittens?

When i was a kid i have heard that cats kill their own kittens and also the kitten that was born last. But now, i wanted know whether it was really true. My friend's father is a veterinarian and he cleared all my doubts. Here is what he said.

Some kittens are born with abnormalities that humans cannot detect. For this reason they may not thrive, they may even act or smell 'wrong' to the queen. Where one or two kittens are either killed or abandoned, these kittens are often found to be somehow 'faulty'. The mother simply does not want to waste energy on raising kittens that have little chance of survival.A number of female cats will kill litters born at 'bad times of the year' in order not to use up valuable energy in raising kittens when they themselves have problems in finding adequate food.

It is well known that a mother cat may kill kittens if the nest is disturbed, especially if she is confined and cannot move or hide her litter. This is attributed to a frustrated 'protection' instinct. Unable to protect her kittens against a perceived threat, she kills them in a futile attempt at protecting them. Sometimes she will kill the kittens because they have been handled by another person or animal.

Even tom cats also kill the kittens because, Tom Cats rely greatly on scent and scent markings to determine who is present in their territory and who has visited that territory. If a tom smells the scent of a rival tomcat he may decide that the kittens belonging to his 'harem' have been fathered by the visiting tomcat. This is not in his own genetic interests. Consequently he may kill those kittens. This has two purposes. Firstly it ensures that his queens do not raise kittens fathered by a rival male. Secondly, the queens will usually come on oestrus within a few days and he can be sure of mating them so that subsequent kittens are his.

Cat Facts

Here are some interesting facts about the cats.

• Ailurophilia is the "love of cats".
• There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world with 33 different breeds.
• Cats wag their tails when it is in a stage of conflict.
• Dont pick a kitten or a cat up by the scruff of its neck. Only mother cats can do it perfectly and only to its kittens.
• An average cat has 1-8 kittens per litter and 2 - 3 litters per year.
• During her productive life, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens.
• Cats have 290 bones in their body and 517 muscles.
• Normal body temperature of cat is 101.5 degrees.
• You can find a cat's mood by looking at the eyes, hairs and whiskers.
• Cats are partially colour blind.
• The colour of kitten's eyes changes as it grows older.
• Never feed your cats with dog food. Cats need five times more protein than dogs do.
• Cats spend 16 hours of a day sleeping.
• Paints, wallpaper pastes, thinner are harmful to cats. So, if you are redecorating your house, make sure that you don let the cat go near these things.