Newbe breeding question

[Fishman]

This may have been asked before, I am brand new to the forum, if so just post a link to the thread and that would be great! My previous (and current) experiance is with annual killi fish (Nothos) and cichlids. Here goes.

1.Should the sexes be seperated and conditioned for 5-7 days before adding them to a desiganted breeding tank to perform their “magic” :wink: and create more fish.

2.How long should a pair be in a designated spawning tank before pulling them, allowing for the maximum number of eggs with least number of eggs eaten?

3.Can the fry eat microworms as a first food, before switching to BBS.

Thanks

[Fishman]

Any thoughts on any or all of the questions would be great! I am a brand new keeper of the CPD, and your help would be apreciated.

[L777]

Fishman,
welcome to the forum!!

This thread has a few thoughts:
http://www.celestialpearldanio.com/viewtopic.php?t=605&start=15

My humble 10g setup is shown — I got over 70 fry in about 2 1/2 weeks, so separate conditioning is not *necessary*, but I also assume there were losses to adult predation, and the females may not have been in peak condition that separate conditioning may have afforded.

Steve (Ste1200) has a more systematic set of breeding tanks going, so his information may better answer your question in terms of optimum breeding conditions.

As for the live foods question, my experience is that the fry are able to take microworms not right after first free-swimming, but within the first week (infusoria and/or fry food powder until then), and BBS within a week after they start taking microworms.

Keep us posted as your fry start to come along!

[Fishman]

Thanks for the welcome L777!

I will keep you posted with any and all CPD news. I have not purchased any as of yet. I have located one source (LFS) that has them and will special order more if I want additional, as well as a discount off of the $7.50 ea price tag for quantity purchases of more than 5 fish (I’m thinking 10 to get started. I will also be attending my local aquarium club meeting tomorrow night, so I will be checking there for club members who might be breeding them first.

Does any one on this forum ever exchange fish to keep bloodlines strong? Long term line breeding in a species population this small could cause problems. I don’t mean to hijack my own thread but this seems like it could be some thing others have already started working on.

[L777]

Fishman,
we’ve had some small discussion about it here, but I don’t recall anyone coming to any specific conclusions, other than it is a recognized need. Do you have experience in keeping track of bloodlines, registered out-breeding programs, etc.? Any help would be great! There are a number of you there in the UK, and a cluster in New Jersey here in the states, but also a number of us “CPD islands” who will have minor shipping issues unless we can find more locals to trade with near us.

[Fishman]

L777,

No specific experience other than tracking generations in my own breeding room to try and fix or improve traits (mostly angel fish). Since I have started keeping killis, there is a lot of tracking of location names but no specific registration for out-breeding.

I get the impresion from your last post that I live in the UK, “There are a number of you there in the UK,” but I actualy am in New Hampshire in the USA. Just wanted to clear that up.

I have a lot of experiance shipping fish. If well packed and properly sent even shipping from “island” to “island” inside the USA is not much of a problem. I think shipping to the UK can pose problems with their customes regulations, but I have not tried it personaly.

[L777]

Fishman,
I’ve never shipped fish (out) before, so any tips on keeping the expense reasonable would be greatly appreciated, especially between our northern states late in the year. I’d be up for swapping some by mail with you if not too expensive. I have a batch of 50 or so between about 7 and 5 weeks old by now. Fin color is just starting to show, more yellowish than red so far, but they’re probably big enough to survive shipment anytime.

You’re right — I saw “Hampshire” and stopped reading! :oops:

Manage to get ahold of any CPDs yet?

[Fishman]

No CPD’s yet, I went to my aquarium club meeting last night (New Hampshire Aquarium Society) and one of the old timers there has some that he has been un-successful breeding because of the municipal water he is using. He said he would pass them off to me after the Turkey Day holiday so that I could spawn them for him. I will then get to keep the breeders as well as half of the fry for a while to build up a population. So after a little time I will have to start a new thread or PM you to see about trading some bloodlines.

Shipping fish is very very easy. I usually use US Postal Service Priority mail because of the cost of Express or other carriers (FedEx, UPS). This time of year in these northern latitudes tends to require a heat pack. The heat packs can be purchased for just a couple of dollars from online sources (check Dr. Foster & Smith, etc. or Google fish heat packs and you should come up with some). For a foam box to ship in you can often scrounge them up for little or no money from your LFS (Local Fish Store). If you are only sending a few small fish then ask them for the foam boxes they get their frozen foods sent to them in, these boxes are much smaller than the large bulk boxes they get their fish in. If they don’t have any ask them to set some aside the next time they get them in. LFS’s tend to treat their regular customers very well. I have also used the flat Styrofoam sheets to line a shipping box but that would be better in the summer or of the fish are not going too far. I tend to use the Priority “Flat Rate” boxes since weight does not change the price. It costs around $9 to ship flat rate with delivery confirmation (good if you are selling to online auction winners). The USPS requires you to drop the box off at the counter when it contains liquids. The only want to know that the box will not leak (double bag, and line the box with a trash bag to be sure), and that it does not contain hazardous materials. Sometimes you will get counter help that does not know about sending fish through the mail, the current postal codes that will tell them it IS ok to mail fish are;

Cold animal shipping 609.3.3
Liquids shipping 602.3
And
Packaging 609.3.10

These change regularly but are current as of three weeks ago. This turned into a long post but I hope it is helpful.

[L777]

Very much so, and much appreciated. From the rates I’ve seen on aquabid auctions, the shipping you mention sounds too good to be true, but maybe those sellers are just erring on the safe side, always going with next day guaranteed? Is Priority half-way across the country a two day or three day job these days? What’s your experience with DOAs using USPS Priority?

[Fishman]

Often times the folks on Aquabid are shipping USPS Express for the next day guarantee. This option cost quite a bit more. For priority shippers the rates on Aquabid tend to be $9-15 dollars. This is because some shippers buy their shipping materials (styro, heat packs, etc.) and include those costs in their shipping, pluss maybe some time and effort involved with the shipping. I have never had any loss of fish using priority, if shipping dates are carefully chosen with weather taken into account. I have shipped and recieved fish sent Priority over 2000 miles across the country with no issues. I do understand that some people have encountered shipping problems though so take mine experiance as only one of many.

I used to work for an aquaculture facility in California and we once did an experiment to determine the length of time fish (fathead minnows in this case) can stay healthy in shipping containers. If properly packed and preped for shipping fish can survive for much longer than Priority should take. Before anyone jumps on me for cruelty to fish, we returned to minnows back to the culture containers after 7 days in the shipping container with no significant losses of fish life.

As far as how long it takes for across the country it would depend on the zip code you are shipping from and to, with proximity to shipping hubs being the determining factor. I would say two-three days is probably the norm for the continental USA.

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