Spawning mop help!

[Jean_nöel fishguru]

Hello everyone,

I have been noticing some breeding from my bosemani rainbowfish and been willing to breed them. My question is, can i use twine as a way to make a spawning mop or should it be compulsorily made out of wool?
Any help is appreciated, tanks (thanks)

 

[Colin_T]

I used dark green or brown acrylic wool that people use for knitting jumpers.

Get a reasonably large book and wind the acrylic wool around it 20 or 30 times. Then tie a piece if wool around one area of the wool strands. Use a pair of scissors to cut the wool at the other end of the wool strands. You should now have a mop about 8-10 inches long. Wash it in cool water with some non perfumed soap. Rinse really well and squeeze out excess water. Put it in the tank.

If you have other species of rainbowfish in the tank (not just M. boesemani), don't collect any eggs. Rainbowfish will cross breed and a male from another species could sneak in and fertilise the boesemani eggs. However, if you only have boesemani in the tank, then drop a mop in and swap it every couple of days.

 

[Jean_nöel fishguru]

Thank you a lot, but is it compulsory to use wool for the mop or other types of string works as well? And won't the other male eat the eggs as i've read that they do?

 

[Colin_T]

Acrylic wool (not real wool from a sheep) is the best thing to use.

The males are usually too busy showing off to each other and to the females to worry about eating the eggs. And once the eggs are in the mop they won't see them.

If you feed the adults 3 or 4 times a day during the breeding season, they will usually ignore the eggs and fry.

 

[AbbeysDad]

You definitely want synthetic yarn (acrylic or polyester) as natural fibers will slowly decompose and most twines and string would not work as well.