Breeding cherry barbs, Puntius titteya

[tetrafreak]

anybody tried breeding them before. read somewhere that they breed easily and the eggs hatch within 24hrs of laying - sounds like a very interesting project, if only i can find some in my neighbourhood lfs - they were out when i last checked.

The males and females are sexually dimorphic (ie they look different), so no confusion there!

i would like to hear from anbody who has tried this. What did you feed the fries with?

[tetrafreak]

i started on my cherry barb breeding project.

a breeding pair of similar sized cherry barbs was placed in a white plastic pail using conditioned tank water.

I used a pail because 1) i didn't have any spare tank, 2) the white background make observation of fries and eggs easier and 3) because the opacity of the pail probably reduces stress for the fish.


For substrate, I used a layer of java moss on top of a plastic mesh. The moss will help to hide the eggs from the barbs, which are known to eat them. The plastic mesh provides a hiding place for the fries.


Of course all these are theoretical at the moment, as i have yet to see any eggs. the barbs have been together for 3 days and are probably acclimatized to their environment by now. Hopefully they will turn their mind to breeding soon.

will update as things happen :0

[Puffer]

Hi, It is not difficult to breed cherry barbs. The pair would usually coil their bodies around each other in the early mornings. This is where eggs are deposited. When this happens, you should remove the adult pair as they are avid egg eaters. It is also good to have an area of thick, dense plants for them to perform their 'egg-laying act'. You should see tiny fries in a few days when this happens. Good luck!

[tetrafreak]

Well, i didn't observe them in the morning.

They have been there a couple of days and still no eggs....
Actually I have not seen any pictures of the eggs and only hope they are big enough to be visible to human eyes.

I added a Ketapang leaf and an airstone and lowered the water level (read somewhere that this helps).

I have also put my two breeding pairs together (maybe this will spurn some competition) and got a kick out of watching the two males displaying to each other.

[Quixotic]

Housing them with more than a pair (two pairs) can work, but eggs would risk being eaten by other fish as soon as they are being deposited. If this is not a big concern, hopefully there will be some eggs left by the time you see them.

Otherwise the method below would work better and more commonly used. House a group of them in a tank, condition them with variety of food (live, frozen, flake, pellet) for a couple of weeks. At the same time, set up a dedicated spawning tank. After the couple of weeks, choose the best male and female, relocate them to the spawning tank by evening time. They should spawn the next morning, and if not, leave them there for a few more days. Remove the fishes once they have spawned and you should see some fries soon.

Good luck and have fun!

[Puffer]

Or you may try this method: put 1 fat female in the spawning tank. House the rest (about 2-3) very red males separately (or vice versa with males in spawning tank first). Condition them with live or frozen food for a few days. Place the males into the spawning tank in the evening. There should be alot of dancing and chasing around in the morning throughout.

I have success with the above method. Only thing is I've lost many eggs as I'd only remove the adults when I see fries. My tank base was covered with java moss. In other articles I've read, they mentioned using marbles. Unless you want great numbers of fries, I think this method should work with 20-30 surviving fries.

[tetrafreak]

thanks for the tips. didn't realise i need to condition them by changing diet.


so far, i have not noticed any fries or eggs but it seems the process can take weeks.....so i am keeping fingers crossed.

here's a pic of my setup.

[badfish]

Here is my diary for P. Titteya. This was my first breeding attempt of an egglayer but is based on mamouth research (absence of live food due to unavailability in Korea). If anyone can advise me on the two with clamped 'rear' fins and weather to cull or wait and see that would be helpful.
I recommend reading this very detailed research paper - http://www.pgia.ac.lk/congress/j_200...veBreeding.pdf

My Diary
Setup
40ltr, temp set at 28 thermometer recording 25 at opposite end of tank. Substrate of 4mm gravel with plastic spawning ‘astro turf’ on the bottom, plus cabomba (6/7 strands) and a double handful of java moss.

Feed
1) Hard boiled egg yolk shaken violently in 2ltr water bottle then poured into mini feed bottle.
2) Boiled lettuce infusoria mix using old tank water and rotting aquatic leaves.
3) Prepared a floating fry food with mortar and pestle, FD bloodworm, flake food, granule food, spirulina tabs ground up; for when the fry are on the surface. Can also be mixed in tank water and then injected to lower levels using a teat-pipette.

Diary
Fri 16th – 8pm 2 males and one female placed in breeding tank after chasing around display tank.

Sun 18th 1pm – Switch out lame female who never responded to the chasing and ended up hiding. As soon as the new female hit the water she was chased, lots of chasing by 2 barb males on female.

Mon 19th 9pm onwards – fish spawn all day and are removed late evening, female isn’t noticeably thinner as far as I can remember. Think I find 2 eggs, not sure.

Wed 21st – Believe the fry hatched this day but weren’t visible. Should be free swimming 2-3 days later (Fri/Sat).

Fri 23rd – Fry hanging on the sides of the spawning tank. Feed mix of infusoria and egg yolk, no response from fry. Not free swimming. Estimate 20 – 30.

Sat 24th – Fed 3 times (morning + evening twice) with egg mix and infusoria cocktail (4 days old but using established tank water, boiled lettuce and rotting aquatic leaves). Fry are lying around still, not ‘free swimming’ near the surface. One fry seen to move closer to and eat egg – I think. Prepared a floating fry food with mortar and pestle, FD bloodworm, flake food, granule food, spirulina tabs ground up; for when the fry are on the surface. Since will be away from home as of tomorrow at 9am so will add all of infusoria and feed on egg and floating mix. Don’t want to add apple snails at this time since they have been collecting FD bloodworms from the surface by filtering the surface water and as the fry seem quite subdued.

Tuesday 27th – Free swimming, can’t see more than 15.

Wed 28th – 3 feeds, egg and powder mix.

Thu – 3 feeds egg and powder

Fri – morning egg and powder and lettuce green water mix. Lunch and evening just powder mix.

Saturday 31st – At least 12 free swimming fry. Several on the surface (first time seem on surface) They seem much more active. Maybe the infusoria mix? Maybe getting bigger? Only 2 water changes so far. Need to do more frequently. Don’t know why only 12 fry survived. Maybe due to population of small (2-5mm) snails? Maybe due to not enough time in breeding tank and parents ate eggs? Could be due to temperature? 25 degrees c… should I turn it up now? Hummmm

Thursday 12th February – Can see dark stripes along some of the larger fish, some of the larger ones are paler (maybe male female). The larger ones are maybe 10 – 12 mm. Still feeding several times a day with the two home made formulated feeds.

Tuesday 24th February – Counts were consistent until a couple of days ago (24 – 25 fry). The snail population all but a few left the water (indicating water problems). Now counts total no more than 17. Astroturf style spawning material removed and gravel cleaned with normal gravel cleaner. Around 6 fish have been removed for deformaties, mainly bent spines but also missing rear fin. 2 more have clamped rear fins 95% of the time, opening the rear fin only occasionally to turn. Should be noted that the live tubefix worms (used to condition adults) were seen in the gravel of fry tank mid feb and could have caused problems.