Harlequin Rasbora

[srem]

Hi all,
I've recently bought 4 harlequins and they seem to be spawning?!
im not sure on the sex of them but i assume i have some male and some female as a couple are dancing around eachother and 'trembling' a lot.
i cant see any eggs yet but was hoping someone else on here has some experience because i'd love to raise some fry.
having read some articles it looks like my water is right for breeding as i have a large piece of bogwood which is staining the water. having said that they seem to appreciate water changes aswell.
please post up with any related info!
cheers,
S

 

[DevUK]

I find my harle's do this sometimes too They like round/broad leaved plants, like bacopa, to spawn under. You'll see one will turn upside down under the leaf and shimmy away, and another will join sometimes. Really cool to watch. I only saw eggs once though, which were promptly eaten by other fish which were lying in wait.

I think you can sex them by the shape of the black patch. If the line where the black patch starts is straight, then its a female. If it has a curve at the bottom its a male. This is what I've read, but looking at mine its hard to tell!

 

[srem]

i find them very difficult to sex aswell. luckily my tank is very lightly stocked, i just have a few endlers in with them so if they do lay eggs they might survive longer than yours!

i'm hoping my harlequins will reproduce because i really want more of them!
will keep you posted of any interesting developments.

S

 

[Plecs&Puffers]

I'd love my rasbora harlequins to spawn, but i heard they are really hard to get them to breed in "Tank conditions" !!

Goodluck!

 

[srem]

an update.

2 weeks later and i'm still seeing the same behaviour, no eggs though. i guess it must be males 'competing' or something similar?
i'm thinking of making my water more acidic as apparently their natural breeding water is. any ideas on how to do this? ive read adding peat but not sure where i'd get that from.

anyone else had any luck?

thanks

 

[srem]

anyone got some advice on peat?
thanks

 

[srem]

hi again,

i'm starting to think perhaps i need more plants for them to spawn under. i dont have many any the moment as most died; i think my lfs sold me non aquatic plants. thinking of buying online as it seems to be cheaper and ive read good reviews of certain places.

if anyone has successfully bred harlequins please post up!

thanks.

 

[srem]

i'm now finding out why they are notoriously hard to breed! although i'm still hopeful as if they were that hard to breed they would be rarer and more expensive no? or is it just a case of importing rather than breeding?

 

[Hawkins]

I think all egg layers are harder to breed. I don't know why, thats just my opinion.

As for sexing the Harlequins, the males are slimmer than the females, and usually smaller. The males also have round black triangles, which kind of makes them look more like tear drops.

I had 4 Harlequins, and they used to stick their top fin up really high around each other. I don't think they got on.

Good luck breeding!

 

[Shrimper]

My group of Harlequins keep trying to breed even though i'm not trying to get them to breed! I can try and give you some tips on getting them to lay eggs based on what i'm doing.

I also have a group of 15 Black Harlequin Rasbora (a colour morph of normal Harle's) and the only tank mates are currently shrimp and bronze corys.

The tank they are in has lots of plant cover but the ones they seem to prefer are Amazon Sword plants and Java Fern. There is also a cover of floating duck weed which seems to make them feel more secure. They shoal a lot more when i clean the weed away and there is more light getting through.

In the mornings, for a couple of hours after the lights come on they will dance around each other and the females who are ready to breed will swim upside down below a leaf. A male will join her and they will do their thing and lay some eggs on the underside of the plants. The eggs are tiny (less than 1 mm) and are very light coloured making them hard to spot. You need to move the leaf with the eggs on it asap or the other fish (even other harle's) will try to eat the eggs... I don't think mine have ever lasted long enough to hatch which apparently doesn't take long (1 or 2 days if i remember correctly).

I think for them to breed they need to feel nice and secure. I would recommend lots of live plants and a bigger group if you have room. My PH is 7.5 so they will try and breed even if the PH isn't perfect. For most fish a stable PH close to the preferred water conditions is more important than getting the exact PH mentioned in the guides and the fluctuations in PH that can occur trying to get it.

The other thing to consider is how old they are... If you got them from an LFS they were probably quite young and might not be fully mature yet.

My Quins raise their dorsal fins at each other all the time... I'm sure its part of their courtship display between the males, kind of like Deer with the biggest Antlers or Frogs with the loudest croak

 

[srem]

thanks for the replies.
it seems that mine are displaying to eachother, perhaps the fact i have quite an open tank is discouraging them from laying eggs etc.
also i only have 4 so they could quite easily all be one sex.
i think i'll add a few plants and maybe try feeding some bloodworm or something?
cheers