Advice Please. Odessa Barbs Spawning

[st24rsap]

I have 2 barbs in my comunity tank which have been id'd as odessa barbs. Anyway i came down this morning and switched the tank lights on and within 5 mins the male barb had come out in his full colours looking absolutely brilliant, brighter than he ever has and for the last 2 hours he has been chaseing the female around the tank constantly, they are obviously spawning

I cant put them in a seperate tank so ive just got to leave them too it. Does anyone know much about odessa barbs spawning, how big are the egss will i be able to see them they keep going back to the same plant over and over again and swimming through it with the male nudging the female

from what i have read they will just drop the eggs anyway which causes a slight problem as i have a gravel bottom so wouldnt be able to see the eggs anyway, does anyone have any advice for me please

 

[st24rsap]

anyone

 

[st24rsap]

surely someone can give some advice

 

[TammyLiz]

Hey there. I had a group of 7 odessa barbs not so long ago and I am pretty sure they spawned quite often in my aquarium. However, nothing ever came of it because of their tankmates. I am sure your gouramis and--I can't remember what else your sig said you had in there with them--but at least the gouramis will pick around in the plants and eat the eggs. I had gouramis in with mine, too, as well as yoyo loaches among others and they all picked around a lot. I'm sure yours do too and you won't end up with anything from the spawn.

Even so, it's nice that they're spawning. They are beautiful fish, aren't they? I know you said you can't separate them but if you ever want to raise any fry that's what you're going to have to do and let them spawn in that.

Enjoy them, they're absolutely stunning when they're breeding.

 

[st24rsap]

Hey there. I had a group of 7 odessa barbs not so long ago and I am pretty sure they spawned quite often in my aquarium. However, nothing ever came of it because of their tankmates. I am sure your gouramis and--I can't remember what else your sig said you had in there with them--but at least the gouramis will pick around in the plants and eat the eggs. I had gouramis in with mine, too, as well as yoyo loaches among others and they all picked around a lot. I'm sure yours do too and you won't end up with anything from the spawn.

Even so, it's nice that they're spawning. They are beautiful fish, aren't they? I know you said you can't separate them but if you ever want to raise any fry that's what you're going to have to do and let them spawn in that.

Enjoy them, they're absolutely stunning when they're breeding.

Hey. Yeah the Gouramis were all over the plants during and after the barbs spawning so i cant see there being any eggs left, not that i saw any during the spawning anyway so they may not have even spawned yet.

Yeah im suprised they are spawning, or at least showing signs of it becuase the tank is still cycling so its not the greatest water conditions ever with ammonia and nitrite present.

They are stunning fish, never really noticed untill the last few days how impressive the males markings are, by far the most colourfull fish in the tank.

I do have a second tank that has 13 cory's in it, not sure how the barbs would get on in there

 

[TammyLiz]

How big are your odessas? If you've just got them and they are young you'll probably want to keep them a while before really attempting to breed them seriously. I never did breed mine although I might have if I had not lost them (it was a combination of issues I'm very sad about it). I always fed them frozen bloodworms and spirulina flakes and they did very well on them. I would suggest that to prepare them for breeding. If I were to breed them I would have put them in a tank all to themselves with a mature sponge filter and a bunch of java moss, then remove the parents after they spawned. You might want to do a search for it on the internet. I'm sure someone has done it before and written an article about what they fed. I'm not sure how small the babies would be when they hatch but you'll need to find out if you can feed BBS when they become free swimming or if you'll need to have some microworms or something else small ready for them.

HTH.

Tammy

 

[st24rsap]

How big are your odessas? If you've just got them and they are young you'll probably want to keep them a while before really attempting to breed them seriously. I never did breed mine although I might have if I had not lost them (it was a combination of issues I'm very sad about it). I always fed them frozen bloodworms and spirulina flakes and they did very well on them. I would suggest that to prepare them for breeding. If I were to breed them I would have put them in a tank all to themselves with a mature sponge filter and a bunch of java moss, then remove the parents after they spawned. You might want to do a search for it on the internet. I'm sure someone has done it before and written an article about what they fed. I'm not sure how small the babies would be when they hatch but you'll need to find out if you can feed BBS when they become free swimming or if you'll need to have some microworms or something else small ready for them.

HTH.

Tammy

they are quite small, about 1.5 - 2 inches max. i have had them since i first got the tank over 6 months ago, they were the first fish we bought. I never intended breeding them, they just started on there own

Shame you lost yours, they are wicked fish and seem quite hardy!

 

[mikev]

Same situation here.

I have a school of ten right now, and the males go into the bright color mode pretty often, they chase females constantly, and at least some of the activity seems to be spawning. Nothing did and will come out of it, the substrate in the tank is loaches.

PS. Hi, Tammy, sorry to hear this...

 

[st24rsap]

The female is currently very ill with suspected dropsy so ill be lucky if she makes it let alone spawns again

 

[mikev]

Sorry to hear this.

Incidentally, I'd not call them "hardy". Only if the conditions are right, and that means a large tank, somewhat lower temperature (they are not a tropical fish) and planted tank; in an unplanted tank at a typical tropical temp, they are disease-prone. And you need a large shoal too, 2 is insufficient for any shoaling species, and with barbs the male is quite capable to harass the female to death.

 

[st24rsap]

unfortinately they were one of the first fish i bought a long time ago when my first tank was set up and i didnt know much about tropical tanks, they managed to survive going in a new tank without being cycled or having the water perameters checked as i was unaware of this at the time. they were with about 15 other types of fish in a warm planted tank and have never had any problems with them, i lost many other fish because i didnt know what i was doing but at the time just put it down to bad luck as i didnt know any better, anyway now after finding this site i have learned from my mistakes about new tanks

 

[Eyebiter]

Sorry to hear about the female.

I am actually thinking about breeding my Odessas. I have four healthy ones in a 125 with tons of plants and other fish (barbs/rasboras/tetras). I do see one chasing another quite a bit but I can't tell if I have four males or not. Does someone have a good picture of a female? I was going to pull them out add two more and set them up in a 20gal with marbles at the bottom and a nice size piece of Java Fern. Maybe a potted sword or two. What temp should Odessas be at? Everyone says cooler but it doesn't sound like they're cold water. So 70F?

 

[st24rsap]

The male is much brighter coloured than the female and has a bright orange stripe that runs right down the centre of him which is more vivid when they are spawning.

here is a pic of my female, unfortinately she died last night

heres the male, you can clearly see the colout difference

 

[Eyebiter]

Thanks for the pics. I'm thinking mine are males. They all have ridiculously red flanks. I'm hoping to get 2 to 4 more this weekend. Unfortunately they're much smaller.

 

[TammyLiz]

PS. Hi, Tammy, sorry to hear this...

Hi Mike. Thanks. Hope you're doing well.

Does someone have a good picture of a female?

One of my females:

Male above, female below:

EDIT: btw st24rsap, your fish do not appear to be in breeding colors in your pictures. They get much brighter. Even my pics are not representing as bright as they can really get. The females fins get bright red, and the males get black bodies, neon yellow fins and the red color along the lateral line simply can't be topped in freshwater fish! These pics were taken on a normal day without any spawning behavior.