Breeding Rainbowfish

[14gtr14]

I have 6 (dwarf i think) rainbowfish and am really interested in breeding them.

Does anyone have any experience in doing this at all?

Any tips?

Anything about them really!!

Thanks

 

[Chri$]

Found this that may help you a bit...
They breed themselves, i.e., many aquarists just see eggs in the tank after having done nothing special to induce breeding. They don't stop spawning for a long time after they start!

Males start the spawning process by displaying to the females and the spawning almost always takes place in the morning (though you can likely affect the time of spawning by changing the times at which the fish room is light).

The fry mature more quickly than those of other Rainbows, but they can still take months to develop. Microencapsulated fry foods are good starter foods, as are microworms. Anything much larger can and may cause serious damage to a fish whose mouth is large but throat is not.

 

[14gtr14]

thanks, so nothing too difficult then! goodgood!

 

[vix]

hi i breed (they breed themselves) praecox rainbows aka dwarf rainbows, not too long ago. Very easy to breed, once they start they don't stop, very easy to collect the eggs. But extremely hard to raise the fry, they are extremely small and need micro food. Very satisfiying though

 

[14gtr14]

so nothing special to actually get the fry, just keeping the fry alive then, ye??

i guess you did it seperately (ie not in a community tank?)

 

[14gtr14]

mine spawned today but i couldnt do anything about the eggs. as soon as it happened my tiger barbs munched them in seconds!

could be an excuse for another tank lol!! start of mts maybe

 

[Parin]

mine spawned today but i couldnt do anything about the eggs. as soon as it happened my tiger barbs munched them in seconds!

could be an excuse for another tank lol!! start of mts maybe

But even then, the spawning fish will eat a lot of the eggs as well.
Luckily they leave a lot of eggs.

Perhaps you could try making a spawning mop so it's easier to collect the (remaining) eggs?

But still, keep an eye on your tank. Chances are that in a few weeks time, you'll see a few tiny fry appearing from nowhere. You'll have to be quick to snatch them up though, but look near the surface in between plant coverage.

Keep in 'em the same aquarium water if you transfer them to a different tank. They are very sensitive to water changes. For more information you could try to read Vix' thread on my forum.

 

[14gtr14]

ok cheers, that's great, hopefully some new rainbows!! i bought 5 more today anyway so i now have eleven!...but maybe more now!!

i might have a go at raising some more in a new tank soon.

i'll post again if i see any fry develop

 

[vix]

I used spawning mops to collect the eggs, then moved the mops to another tank to hatch. The difficulity as you say lies in raising the newborn fry, till they are big enough to eat normal fry foods. I was quite amazed at how small they were. Good luck

 

[14gtr14]

just thought i'd give you all an update!

around a week/ 2 weeks ago i added 2 females and a male to a 15 gallon spawning/fry/hospital tank in hoping they would breed.

they did and i removed the rainbows and waited...and waited lol. Nothing seemed to happen over a week and a male swordtail desperatley needed to recover after a bit of bullying going on by my breeding rams and dwarf cichlids. I moved him in there, but after watching him in the tank a couple of days later i saw 3 very tiny fry, that i am guessing were from my rainbows!!

I've tried feeding them livebearer liquifry ( because it's the only one i have just now), but i don't know if they're eating or not ( hard to tell because they are sooo small). How long will it take for them to eat 'proper food' (ie liquifry, crushed flakes etc)??

thanks

 

[Parin]

just thought i'd give you all an update!

around a week/ 2 weeks ago i added 2 females and a male to a 15 gallon spawning/fry/hospital tank in hoping they would breed.

they did and i removed the rainbows and waited...and waited lol. Nothing seemed to happen over a week and a male swordtail desperatley needed to recover after a bit of bullying going on by my breeding rams and dwarf cichlids. I moved him in there, but after watching him in the tank a couple of days later i saw 3 very tiny fry, that i am guessing were from my rainbows!!

I've tried feeding them livebearer liquifry ( because it's the only one i have just now), but i don't know if they're eating or not ( hard to tell because they are sooo small). How long will it take for them to eat 'proper food' (ie liquifry, crushed flakes etc)??

thanks

About a week. In the first week, they live on infusoria or, if you have it, green water. Then after a week, microworms and other tiny tiny food. After two weeks, baby bine shrimp.

It's difficult. I lost 15 of 20 fry in the first week. Remaining 5 lived though, doing great now after 8 months.

 

[14gtr14]

kl cheers!

kl cheers!

 

[Parin]

I found about 10 fry in my quarantine tank yesterday. I must've moved the eggs in there while moving plants.
I guess I'll have another attempt at raising them.