Cherry Barb

[MHunt]

I'm setting up a breeding tank for my cherry barbs, It is a 30x15x15 ish tank, with a sponge filter and small heater. The filter sponge isn't cycled yet so needs seeding before adding the fish. There is no substrate and I have made a couple of real spawning mops out of a few plant cuttings weighed down with a lead plant weight. Would this be suitable and produce good results, or am I better looking for a man made spawning mop?

My intention is to let the tank settle for a week, then next week I'll change half the water with water out of my community tank, as well as seeding the tank by squeezing out the filter sponges. I'll add my two female cherry barbs and condition them for a week on bloodworm and daphnia, doing partial water changes to keep the water sweet while the filter cycles. The male will still be in my community tank, again I'll be feeding more real foods than normal to make sure he's conditioned. The following weekend i'll introduce the male into the spawning tank, then they should spawn the next morning all being well. Does a cool water change at the same time as introducing the male help things along?

Edit - title change, more of a diary about my breeding experiences with these fish now.

 

[The-Wolf]

it really dosen't matter if you use real or fake spawning 'mops'

personally when spawning Danionins I use cabomba spp or other similar fluffy plants
but I have used those dish mops (the ones that look like mini floor mops) made of wool.
just take the handle off them and bury so the wool strands wave about in the current

 

[MHunt]

Cool, I guess as long as there is a suitable spawning site, it doesn't matter what it is. I'll be adding my females in the next couple of days, conditioning for about a week then adding the male.

Wish me luck!

 

[The-Wolf]

luck is wished

 

[MHunt]

Well my two females went into the intended breeding tank yesterday. It's a nice simple affair, 30x15x15 ish, only about 5 gallon, bare bottomed with a couple of bunches of plants as spawning sites, and an air powered sponge filter. They appear to be happy enough with their new home for the time being, I'm keeping an eye on the water quality as I don't think the filter is very cycled. I'll test the water tonight and do a water change if the ammonia and nitrite are starting to creep up. I'm off to get some nice live bloodworm to condition the ladies, some will be given to the community tank too so hopefully the male should be well fed also. I think I'll move the male in about a week Saturday, then wait till they look like they've spawned. If they don't spawn within a couple of days I'll do a coolish water change and see if that encourages them.

 

[The-Wolf]

If they don't spawn within a couple of days I'll do a coolish water change and see if that encourages them.

from what I've read it is a warmer water change that triggers spawning
as this simulates a tropical rainstorm.

 

[MHunt]

If they don't spawn within a couple of days I'll do a coolish water change and see if that encourages them.

from what I've read it is a warmer water change that triggers spawning
as this simulates a tropical rainstorm.

Thanks for that, hopefully the reintroduction of the male will encourage the females enough and I'll be able to remove the adults within a couple of days.

 

[MHunt]

Ok, brief update, introduced the male into the intended spawning tank with the females, and after three days there is no apparent interest in spawning. I did see the male chasing the females round the tank to begin with, but that rapidly subsided. I have done a water change cleaning the bottom of the tank at the same time, but again that didn't appear to encourage spawning.

Perhaps my spawning sites aren't that suitable. I've gone for a couple of bunches of hygrophilia, which is a relatively large leafed stemmed plant. These have been deteriorating due to a lack of intense light as found in my main tank. Perhaps I should try and get a couple of artificial mops.

Any ideas?

 

[The-Wolf]

ah the joys of trying to breed fish.
as with danios sometimes it works, sometimes it don't.
it is a case of trying until it does, annoying and frustrating as that can be
it just makes the success all the more enjoyable.

I do wonder if air pressure has anything to do with successful spawnings or not
maybe that is a question that could be debated in the scientific forum

 

[MHunt]

But seeing like it's not happening this time, do I need to separate the male out again, or just keep the trio together and hope they get together.

 

[The-Wolf]

I would leave them together for another week, then separate and try again

 

[Alistriwen]

I don't know about Cherry barbs, but if they are anything like my Rosy barbs your best bet is to do this: Get a crew of 4 2 males 2 females. One male is sufficient to service 2, but you can get duds who are sterile, same-sex oriented or just dont know what to do (it happens) so 2 males reduces the chances of this. Keep them all together in your best tank (water quality, planted etc) and let them get acquainted and healthy. After a week or two of them being in there together, make sure you check the tube of your gravel cleaner when you're cleaning to see if any tiny clear fish are swimming against the suction. If so, your barbs are ready.

None of the fry will survive in a community tank, mostly due to cleanings and being eaten so you set up the spawning tank. The spawning tank should be WELL established before your fish go in. First of all, the fish will be less stressed in good water conditions which will promote breeding, secondly, nitrates and other bad chemicals can stunt the growth of fish and your fry will be in there for some time so you dont want them stunted.

Put your 2 females in the tank and feed them on live and frozen foods 2 times a day with their normal staple one time a day. They should be eating less more often but in total they should be getting a bit more than they normally would. Wait a week or so until they are very clearly plump with eggs. Make sure the plumpness is side to side, not top to bottom (side to side = eggs, top to bottom = ate too much). Introduce your males in the early evening and do a 50% water change with water slightly cooler than the tank water. Now turn the temperature up to 80, cover the tank from all light, wait two to three days and then take the fish out. Keep the tank in continuous darkness for 36 hrs then you can take a flashlight to the tank at night and shine it on a bare spot. If you see little specks flicking around you've got fry. If you don't have good, trained eyes, you may have to wait longer to see anything.

My Rosy Barb spawning tank is a simple affair. It is a standard 20 g tank into which we put a spawning mop from petsmart that covers a good third of the bottom of the tank. The rest of the tank is covered with whorls of Java moss which we string from top to bottom creating a dense thicket of plant through which the adults can swim and into which the eggs can fall at higher levels until they sink to safety at the bottom. I wish I had a picture but my rosy barb spawning tank is currently a rosy barb grow out tank as we have about 200 fry from our last spawning. Using the method I described though we were able to get those 200 fry out of just 2 rosy barbs which is pretty incredible considering how avidly they eat their spawn. I hope this helps you and don't be discouraged. Cherry barbs by all accounts are one of the easiest fish to breed so chances are you just need to give it another try.


Oooo and I forgot to mention, no water changes after the 50% until you can see your fry and avoid them. The Java moss will feed them fine so you dont need to put in any water dirtying food and if you vacuum the tank you will surely suck up your babies. When you can see the fry it's still best to wait a bit and then for the first while to do just h20 changes without suctioning the bottom since the fry cannot swim against the pull very well at first. Also, be prepared with a 2nd growout tank because your fry will develop at different rates and the big ones will eventuall ybe able to eat the smaller ones .

 

[MHunt]

Thanks for the lengthy reply to my journal Alistriwen. I haven't tried looking for tiny fry in my community tank, mainly because if the eggs survived, the fry would have been eaten pretty quickly.

I have separated the males and females again, I have replaced the bacopa in the spawning tank with nice feathery cabomba which every reference on breeding cherry barbs recommends. I will feed both the male in the community tank and the females in isolation with live or at least the tetra delica sachets once a day for about two weeks to condition them up. Then put the male back in and do a water change.

Hopefully they'll be more successful the second time round, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Alistriwen]

I haven't tried looking for tiny fry in my community tank, mainly because if the eggs survived, the fry would have been eaten pretty quickly.

You would think so, but if you have gravel and some plants some will survive. They wont survive to maturity most likely because of predation and human interference like gravel cleaning but it is at least an indication that you have viable barbs . We just moved our Rosy barbs out of a 20 gal theyd been using on their own for a few weeks and within a day or two noticed some tiny fry swimming about in the java moss. So long as big fish are around they hide, but when the big guys are gone they will come out. The barbs had been in there continuously for a while but some of their spawn still survived. Right now we're waiting for those that remain to put on some size and then we're going to put in our larger livebearer fry. Either that or put them in now and let the teeny tiny fry be food for the not so teeny tiny ones. Weve already got 200 or so Rosies growing out lol.

 

[MHunt]

Well it's been a while since i gave an update. I again separated and conditioned the males and females. I put them back together again last week but didn't notice any activity, but also wasn't around enough to do much about it if I had. I did a water change yesterday while cleaning out the cabomba which is rapidly falling apart now and this morning the male and one female appeared to be trying to spawn. The male was driving the female round the tank displaying and that, and every now and then they would press together side by side in or above the plants. From what I have read they should have been spawning, but I haven't been able to find any eggs. I can't decide wheather to just take the adults out and put them back in the community tank and see what happens, or just leave them and wait till I see some eggs.