MChambers
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This is interesting. How do you collect the eggs? Don’t they fall through the board? Or are they caught in the moss?
Yes, my fry tend to stay near the top of the tank, once they are swimming well, about 2-3 inches below surface.
@Mikolas wrote:
Also, what have you done to keep the fry alive? I don’t know what to feed the three surprises that I have right now.
Thanks for your time.
Fry can survive on infusoria, so if you have plants like java moss in your tank, they probably will be fine. Finely crushed flake food is good, too.
I feed mine very small (0-50 micron) Golden Pearl fish food, from http://www.kensfish.com. Hikari First Bites, commonly at local fish stores, also probably would work.
I also keep a jar with lots of moss and plants near the tank, and feed an eyedropper of water into the tank a couple of times a day.
@MoeBetta wrote:
To be honest, mine hate the egg traps.
I get almost no eggs in the traps, I’ve counted nine so far.
If I just put a clump of java moss in the corner I can usually vac out a bunch of eggs every three days.
I pick up moss slowly and keep it over the place it was, transfer it to the fry tank, vac the area where it was, an replace with a fresh clump. This has been my personally successful method, which is a bummer, because I was excited about that egg trap. Maybe it works better in a bare bottom.
Mine don’t seem to like the trap either, so I think I’m going back to just having moss and other floating plants (elodia, etc.) and swapping the plants out to a fry tank every week or so.
Thanks. I’ll give it a try; if they intimidate the CPDs, I’ve got another tank to which I could move them.
I think you’ll be fine. Some wood or caves might be nice, just to add some shelter, but as long as you have a fair amount of plants, I think the fish will be comfortable.
I don’t think there is any preferred male/female ratio, although I suppose that if you want to breed them you would be better off having more females than males. If you’re not worried about breeding, the males are more attractive. It’s not all that easy to tell the genders, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Your feeding plan seems fine, but understand that bloodworms are a little big for them. You might want to shave off little pieces of the bloodworms, but make sure you don’t get an allergic reaction from handling them.
I find that frozen daphnia is a little better suited for CPDs.
1/2 an inch is certainly safe. Right now, I’ve got two 1/2 inch fry in my main cpd tank.
Interestingly, Saturday I saw that two tiny (free swimming) fry also are in the tank, and there were still doing fine Sunday evening. I think I’m just going let those small ones stay and see if they survive.
I’d drop the temperature about 2°, to 25°C. They love frozen daphnia and other small foods, like microworms. They also like to eat infusoria. Mine will take flake food, so maybe yours will shortly.
@Tom2006 wrote:
WOW…you have good eyes! Do you have any pictures of the spawning trap set up?
Tom, I think he’s referring to his traps as shown here:
I’ve been using a version of something like this (although my container is a recycled plastic container from a carry out order at a Chinese restaurant and thus not transparent). So far, although I love the idea, it doesn’t seem to me to be any more productive than simply moving balls of moss in and out of my tanks. I’ve only used it for about a month, so perhaps that will change.
@In2wishin wrote:
Can you see the eggs with the naked eye? What common item can you compare them to? I am not sure what I should be seeing.
Personally, I’ve never seen them, but I suspect it has a lot to do with your aquarium lighting and other conditions. I think if you do a search here, you’ll see descriptions of what you should be looking for.
@In2wishin wrote:
After one day I am seeing what I think is spawning behavior. They are still hiding some but not as much as yesterday. I plan to keep them in the tank for a week, then move them back to the main tank. Does this seem like enough time?
That should be plenty of time.
@Mikolas wrote:
Hey guys, I’m new to breeding and this will be my first attempt, I hope to be able to do well. I’m really excited and I’m a perfectionist so I want to do this right in every aspect possible.
Thus, before I gather my things, I’d like to see how you guys do things to find the most efficient manner.
I have 2x 10 gallon tanks at my disposal, and I can easily get 20s or 5s if they are preferred. I purchased a large pyrex with plastic canvas for ballpc’s diy egg trap, though I’m not sure it’s the same size he has.
I’ve done extensive reading through this forum and other forums on best methodologies, but none seems to be consistent as they continue to change over time, so I am somewhat flustered. Please teach me a step by step procedure that will ensure the best results.
Also, I was wondering how long does it take for them to reach a healthy enough size to be able to transport them/transfer them into new homes, without sustaining casualties? My reasons for attempting breeding are threefold; first is for the experience, the next level of fish keeping, second is to make some money back as I have spent too much money on my fish keeping hobbies for a college student (my mom almost disowned me, no joke), and third is that I’m aware this fish has been over harvested in certain areas and there aren’t enough breeding projects being done, so I’d like to reduce this problem at least locally.
How much do you guys sell this to at local pet stores, a guy told me 40 cents, but that sounds pretty shady.
Additionally, I have no clue on fry feeding, there seems to be so many combinations ranging from “green water” (which I’m still not quite sure what that is), to baby brine shrimp, that the microorganisms from java moss will be sufficient, etc, so again, I’m confused as to what is the best thing to do (that is preferably easier to access).
Please also list the maintenance that you guys do, how much % water change and how often, heater or no heater (this also seems to be a debate) and temperature, and what is the best sponge filter to buy? From what I understand, hydro is the best, but I’m not sure if it’s ok to overdose on the sponge filter strength like I would for normal tanks. Is Hydro III ok? (meant for 40 gallons).
Thanks for any assistance guys, I apologize in advanced for my confusion concerning breeding as I am new.
You seem to be worried about the inconsistencies in methods. I actually think it tends to show that a lot of methods work and you should the ones that are easiest for you.
Personally, I keep my parents in a 10 gallon tank, heated to about 73F, change at least 50% of the water weekly, and feed a variety of flake food and microworms.
Every week, I swap out all the floating plants with those in my fry growout tank. This way, some of the eggs and fry escape being eaten. I feed the fry microworms and golden pearls (a type of fry food). They also feed on the microorganisms in the plants, I think. I change the water about twice a week (this is tricky, because the fry are so small).
I think they could be sold after two or three months, but I’m less certain about that.
@Katch wrote:
old pair of tights and a zip tie – or fine filter bag and zip tie.
It will slow the syphon down but it won’t let the fry out – you can also try getting some thinner tube like airline. again it is slow but on a small grow out tank shouldn’t matter too much.
Thanks! I’ll give that a try, or maybe stuff the end of the vacuum with filter floss.
@johnsolanzo1209 wrote:
I have some extra sponges for the aquaclear 20 filter that I could put a hole into and just use it as a prefilter. Would that work?
THanks
johnThat should work. I’ve done that for guppy fry.
@vtec wrote:
E.G. In Poland I paid around 1 GBP for a fish.
How much do you have to pay in London,Amsterdam or N.Y ?I recently saw them for sale in a suburb of Washington, D.C. for $10 a fish. I managed to buy 7 at a local club auction for $15 total. (I’m thinking I saved $55 to spend on other fish. :wink: )
