my setup and first fry

Hey all. I have been trying to breed these guys for a month or so now. I have 5 males and 5 females. Originally, I kept them all together in a 10g bare bottom tank, with plastic canvas for the potential eggs to fall through. I put a good clump of moss in as a breeding medium. I fed BBS, microworms, banana worms, walter worms, and the occasional frozen blood worm. However, this didn’t result in any eggs, perhaps (and probably) due to my own impatience and inexperience.

Since this time, I have decided to separate the males and females, due to reading about others who have had success with this technique. I keep the conditioning tanks (10g tanks with moss and spawning mops for cover) at ~76F. I have continued to feed them the same diet. I waited until the dominant females became swollen with eggs. At this point, I chose the 3 best females and the 1 male with the best fin patterns and overall color. I then transitioned these to the breeding tank, which is an 8g biocube that I received for free from a generous member of another forum. I keep this tank at ~72F, with a gh of ~5-7. I have a sponge filter and spawning mops in this bare bottom tank as well. I left the breeding set alone in this tank for 3 days. At this point, I shook and removed the mops, and I found 2 eggs. I extracted one with a syringe and placed it in a breeding net, which I had placed in this same tank. I accidentally dropped the second egg back into the tank while trying to transport it to the net and couldn’t find it after this. I then removed the adults and placed them in their respective conditioning tanks.

A few days later, I could no longer see the egg in the net, and could not see the potential fry. At this point, I decided to remove the net and try again. However, when i grabbed the net, I saw a small sliver dart to the edge of the net. My first fry! They are ridiculously small, which is why I missed it when I was looking in the net. The fry was still in the stage in which it sticks to solid surfaces. I immediately added a small amount of walter worms (the smallest I have) to the net. A few days later, the fry is free swimming. He (or she) is still extremely tiny, but seems to enjoy swimming in and out of the small amount of moss I added to the net. I add a small amount of walter worms a few times each day, and he is still alive. I’m not sure if he is eating them or eating off of the moss, but he’s still alive.

I have since done a partial water change to improve the water conditions (with the exact parameters of the tank water) and added the conditioned adults back to this tank, and I found 4 eggs after a couple days. I again removed the adults and added these eggs to the net 2 days ago, and have yet to see any more fry, but hopefully I will soon.

So, does anyone have any input on what I have done? Any major or obvious problems with this procedure? Any input on how fast the fry will grow or on using walter worms as a food source? I have some First Bites on the way in the mail, so I can use this as initial fry food in the future (if it is a good idea). Sorry for the long post, but I figured the more info that gets out about breeding these guys the better. Also, if I am making mistakes, maybe people can learn from me and have better success. I feel that we have a responsibility to try to breed these guys if we can, so we can prevent the potential decimation of the wild population. Also, it’s a pretty fun process! Thanks in advance for any input!

Mike