Omg! P. Gertrudae Fry!

[Mikaila31]

OMG! I'm sooo happy, I had almost given up on these guys. But I finally found some fry! But the only problem is I'm not totally sure they are gertrudae's. There are 4 I. werneri in the tank too, I'm pretty sure they are all males. But one of them is really dull in color, but it still has fins that reach all the way to it's tail. So it's either the lowest male or it's a female .

But for now I'm gunna say that they are gertrudae fry. I've been trying to breed this fish all summer. It wasn't really that they wheren't breeding, but more so the fact that I couldn't find any females. I've bought a few dozen of these fish, both locally and online. I had good luck locally with the first 3 fish I bought doing great until just recently. But every other fish I bought after that wouldn't last more than 2 weeks. So I gave up with those and bought 10 very young ones online. But the guy used breather bags and one of the bags popped during shipping and only 3 fish made it out 10 . So I've had 3 very large males I got locally, 2 young males and a young female. They all lived together for a couple months, then 2 weeks ago I started losing them. They would just hover at the surface, then a few days later they would dissapear. I've lost my two best males and one of the young males .

So, I'm down to 2 males and a female, but I beleive I finally got fry !

 

[Syphoniera]

Sometimes it's darkest before the dawn...
Since I need to use my hands, I'm keeping my toes crossed for you and the fry.
After all this, they have to be the right ones, and do well, knock wood.
Now I have an excuse to walk funny, lol.
Best of luck, and may all your troubles be coping with too many little ones.

 

[drobbyb]

I. Werneri will not crossbreed and if you have only males then they must me P. Gertrudae. If you are trying to breed rainbows why not use yarn mops? That's what I do and at the moment I have way too many fry to count (estimated 60-70.) Rainbows will eat their own fry, so It's best to set up a small tank with a seeded sponge filter and put in 2 males and all your females. Make a mop out of synthetic yarn, drop it in some boiling water to get it to sink, then add it to the tank. Turn the mop everyday for a week and remove the parents. In 7 to 10 days you will have fry!

 

[Mikaila31]

they are in a densly planted tank, will they still breed on a mop? I have one, I've just never thought to add it with all the plants in there.

 

[drobbyb]

They might! I use bare bottomed tanks for breeding but people have used mops before in planted tanks. There's just no guarantee they will spawn on it.

 

[Mikaila31]

Well its been awhile. Of the 3 fry I first found I still have 2, the other one just sorta vanished. I put a mop in the tank and I did find a single egg on it today. I have cherry shrimp in this tank and I'm wondering if they are able to eat the eggs?

The two fry I have are doing great and are definitely gertrudaes. I took some pics, which I'm surprised even came out as well as they did.

Heres the tank the adults are in

 

[drobbyb]

If you found one egg on the mop, there must have been more. The shrimps will eat the eggs if they can find them. It would probably be best to get a different tank if you wanted to pull lots of eggs.

What are you feeding them?