Finally tiger barb breedng success
- Thread starter gunther
- Start date
I have to start a new but simple adventure now. I bought a "shrimpery" to hatch my own brine shrimp for the frye to eat. This is becoming interesting. Sounds like anyone could do it with little or no trouble. Leave it to me to find something to get wrong haha. My frye will be spoiled rotten.
i dont mean to offend and your tank looks amazing. your breeding project is a great success too, which is impressive. when i talk about breeding readily availale fish i mean that you can put that effort into rare or endangered fish which may further expand the hobby. the tiger barbs are great fish and it looks amazing to have a school with so many, so if they are what makes you happy then it is awesome that your successful at it. i did not mean to upset you at all, was just curious to why you chose them of all the fish in the hobby.
Thanks dip thats EXACTLY what motivates me..fun and satisfaction.
Jaysen no hard feelings at all. I was just answering your question. I think I indicated in my short story that this all came about by accident. I am not trying to further the field just MY tank. I never thought to do it until I saw how many plump females were generating eggs in my tank. Now I am a tiger barb and shrimp breeder! haha
Jaysen no hard feelings at all. I was just answering your question. I think I indicated in my short story that this all came about by accident. I am not trying to further the field just MY tank. I never thought to do it until I saw how many plump females were generating eggs in my tank. Now I am a tiger barb and shrimp breeder! haha
Well my project has continued to show improvement. I set up a second 2.5 gallon to receive more eggs because I had established such a successful routine that I was getting multiple breeding pairs each night (I run 5 breeding chambers). I have enough common sense to realize I have to learn more about the frye stage before I keep this pace up to be sure I can care for them effectively so I pulled all the breeders out and returned all the fish to "general population." They do well enough plumping up in the main tank to be selected again when i need to start new pairs.
Here are some important things I've learned so far that might help another person save time, money, and eggs in their attempt to breed.
1. An air stone and frequent water changes is all that is need to circulate and oxygenate the water for developing eggs. I put a small air driven filter in my first nursery tank and its more trouble than its not necessary. In fact I suspect I lost quite a few frye to it even though its on an adjustable pump set very low and covered by a net. If you want to use one try a sponge filter with a big sponge to decrease flow at any one point. If frye get sucked to it they'll be able to swim off.
2. Hydrogen Peroxide has worked beautifully for me. I can best estimate its effectiveness according to me second breeder tank because I used it right from the start with those eggs and I have virtually no loss to fungus. I uses a 2.5ml dose for my 2.5 tank every 12 hours. I'll never mess around wit another medication thats messy or stays in the water. The peroxide also helps keep the water oxygenated since it breaks down into H20 and O.
3. Brine shrimp are quick and simple to hatch for food. I used a San Francisco Bay Shrimpery and had a good lot of the in a day.
4. To get successful and ambitious pairs I separate males and females into two chambers for at least a full day or two. That seems to be all it takes to get them fired up even though most thing I read recommend as much as several weeks of isolation from opposite genders. Breeder nets are OK for this if you don't have another tank but forget the nets for egg collection. I also keep tank temp between 77-80F.
4. Lee's breeders are excellent in the 3 chamber style. You can put a male and female together and still keep the divider in and it has a drop tray for catching eggs thats easy to see and safe from mom and dad.
4. I use a diet of flake, blood worms, and shrimp to get fat females quickly and great color from my fish. Its a little expensive to use all that but you could just start that diet a few weeks out from a breeding attempt for best results. I have to feed over a hundred fish twice daily with the stuff!
Ask questions. I can't think of anything else that people would want to know.
Here are some important things I've learned so far that might help another person save time, money, and eggs in their attempt to breed.
1. An air stone and frequent water changes is all that is need to circulate and oxygenate the water for developing eggs. I put a small air driven filter in my first nursery tank and its more trouble than its not necessary. In fact I suspect I lost quite a few frye to it even though its on an adjustable pump set very low and covered by a net. If you want to use one try a sponge filter with a big sponge to decrease flow at any one point. If frye get sucked to it they'll be able to swim off.
2. Hydrogen Peroxide has worked beautifully for me. I can best estimate its effectiveness according to me second breeder tank because I used it right from the start with those eggs and I have virtually no loss to fungus. I uses a 2.5ml dose for my 2.5 tank every 12 hours. I'll never mess around wit another medication thats messy or stays in the water. The peroxide also helps keep the water oxygenated since it breaks down into H20 and O.
3. Brine shrimp are quick and simple to hatch for food. I used a San Francisco Bay Shrimpery and had a good lot of the in a day.
4. To get successful and ambitious pairs I separate males and females into two chambers for at least a full day or two. That seems to be all it takes to get them fired up even though most thing I read recommend as much as several weeks of isolation from opposite genders. Breeder nets are OK for this if you don't have another tank but forget the nets for egg collection. I also keep tank temp between 77-80F.
4. Lee's breeders are excellent in the 3 chamber style. You can put a male and female together and still keep the divider in and it has a drop tray for catching eggs thats easy to see and safe from mom and dad.
4. I use a diet of flake, blood worms, and shrimp to get fat females quickly and great color from my fish. Its a little expensive to use all that but you could just start that diet a few weeks out from a breeding attempt for best results. I have to feed over a hundred fish twice daily with the stuff!
Ask questions. I can't think of anything else that people would want to know.
i tried using the breeder for other types of fish and they try to get out the whole time. in fact, they seem uncomfortable and cramped in them. how are you able to get them to breed in it? tiger barbs also get pretty big so if you are breeding full sized adults it is shocking that they arent stressed out by being in a tiny cube.
I wouldn't say "shocking". I prep them before they go in it and they seem to be most interested in each other. When they first go in I turn out the lights for the night so they aren't roaming anyway. In the morning they are focussed on breeding or pecking and stimulating each other more than they are escaping. Any roaming that does occur doesn't last long. I wouldn't allow them to spend more than 1 day+ in there. After that they go back to the main tank no worse for wear. The most stressful thing to any of them is the breeding behavior between them which does result in some raggety fin nipping in some cases. They heal up quick.
