How can you tell if Rasboras are ready to spawn or not?

yhbae

yhbae

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Aug 5, 2003
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I've got some Harlequin Rasboras about a week ago (5 of them so far), and they have found themselves home comfortably in my tank. All of them feature far deeper red than I thought was possible when I was looking at them at the store. Wierdly, all 5 of them varied in size greatly. The largest one is a male, at least 1.5 inches long, if not longer, while the smallest one is a female, I'd say just over half an inch long. I have two males well over 1 inch, and one female well over 1 inch. A pair of male and female just over 1 inch seems to feature the best contrast in colors.

So how can I tell if they are sexually mature? From what I have read, I am supposed to put them in a soft, slightly acidic water to induce spawning, but I want to make sure that they are actually mature before trying it out... :D My community tank is already very soft, but pH is at 7.4.

I tried raising fries of Platies, and I found no challenge there... :D I'd like to try the Harlequins next...

Any Rasbora expert out there?
 
I'm going to say that the female who is only a bit over half an inch is way too young to spawn. She's probably 2 months old, so I'd give her a while to get a bit larger. It's generally better for the fish and makes for healthier fry.
 
Originally posted by yashinfan
I'm going to say that the female who is only a bit over half an inch is way too young to spawn. She's probably 2 months old, so I'd give her a while to get a bit larger. It's generally better for the fish and makes for healthier fry.
Click to expand...

I didn't think half an inch one would breed, but what about the female that's just over 1 inch? The largst male seem almost too large for this species, the colors are not as vibrant as the slightly-over-one-inch male. I'm assuming at least one of the male is ready...
 
Well, with my danios I learnt that size doesn't matter. I had a male, slightly less than one inch, and a female who was rougly 1.5 inches or so. She pushed him around for a couple of hours but eventually they spawned! You could try the larger female out, start conditioning her, maybe even seperate the females and males for a little bit? It sounds quite plausible that you could get some fry in the next month if you play your cards right.
 
Alright - as soon as the air pump arrives, I'll try to hatch some brine shrimps... If I suceed with that, I'll go ahead and setup a 10g and slowly turn the water acidic with the pair by adding some driftwood pieces. (I don't currently have any peat).

I don't have any broad-leaf plants but would plastic Cryptocoryne work? Have you had any experience in getting fishes to spawn on a fake plant?

Appreciate any feedback!
 
The water should be very soft with a hardness of 1.5 to 2.5 DH and a Ph of around 6.0. A long breeding tank is also beneficial with a dark substrate. The mating consists of the pair lying upside down under a leaf or similar with the male curling his tail around the female. It may take several days in the spawning tank before mating takes place. The parents will eat their own eggs so it is very important to remove them from the tank right away. After the parents are removed you should carefully lower the water to a depth of four or five inches. The eggs will hatch in 24 to 30 hours and in three to five days the fry become free swimming. The young should be fed on baby brine shrimp and other small foods. Growth is fairly rapid.


This is what I could find so far... none on fake plants? but I'll keep looking!
 
I found a site that says you can do it with java moss or a spawning mop. But since Harlequin Rasboras and danios are so closely related and spawn very simlarily, I am going to assume that they do not need plants to spawn. My danios did not have any plants, real or fake in the tank. Also, the site suggested 2 males to one female during the spawning act. Mine worked with one on one.
 
Yes, from my knowledge, Danios skatter eggs all over the place, while rasboras require broad-leafed plants. They are supposed to try to stick them on the underside of the leaves, although during the first spawn, they often fail and most of them drop to the floor of the tank... :D

I too can't seem to find any info on the web wether plastic plants would work for this purpose or not...

How would Java moss work here? There's not much leaves there for them to deposit eggs... If it works, great since I have them already, but I can't imagine how...
 
I meant they actual "spawning" ie- they wrap themselves around eachother and the actual mating goes as danios do. Well, about the java moss, that's what this one breeder uses, so I suppose it must work? If it fails, you can try again with different plants in a month, I guess it will have to be a try-and-see sort of test. You could always put a variety of plants, both real and fake, and see if they have a preference of where to place the eggs? Good luck!
 
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