Hey all,
I'm fairly sure my barbs are breeding, and managed to catch some video of them. But just want to make sure. (There are four in there, only two were breeding, as you will see.) Oh, and pardon the darkness... At least what you can see is somewhat clear!
Oh, and when should I pull them out of the tank? Today, I suppose?
[URL="http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Cv8MS3QZI"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Cv8MS3QZI[/URL]
iv keep a number of bars over the years but never spawned then
iv got a book with breeding cherry barbs in it
this is what it says
this asian barb spawns in much the same way as nearly all other asian species.
condition the adults separatly and after a couple of weeks,place a plump female with a male into the
breeding tank .if you do this late evening , most pairs will spawn soon after.
courtship is initated by the male early in the morning .
it usually starts with him lazily chasing his mate around the aquarium ,
but gradually speeds up as he starts flaring his fins and performing a courtship dance in front of her .
he entices her to a particular area of plant cover in ,or just above,
wich the pair mate .
this involves them turning over on there sides or even up side down,
with the male,s fins wrapped over the females body.
about 5 eggs are released with each ambrace and these hang by a sticky thread from
the plant fonds.
spawning may take sevral hours ,but once complete,the pair will start to cruise around eating
any eggs they can find ,
remove the pairents swiftly to give the eggs a chance of suviiving untill they can hatch
a day later .
the fry are not free swiming untill
the 3rd day ,at this time they look like slivers of glass and tend to congregate near
plants or under the water surface.
breeding tank
24x12x12inch
clean, slightly acidic water (up to 200 ppm and ph 6.8
allow it to stand for a few days before addind the fish.
no substrate.
plenty of bunches of fine leaved plants or atifital spawning mops.
position the tank were it will recive early morning sunlight.
set temp at 26-27oc(79-80)
rearing the fry
the fry are very small and require a liquid fry food for a week before moveing on to newly hatched bbs,
microworms,powderd fry food .
keep a close lookout for signs of velvert disease as fry grow up.
this condition can be easily cured if caught early on .
partial water changes and gradually changing the water chemistry untill conditions become moderately
hard and alkaline will help to prevent the onset of the disease .
i hope it helps
