Harlequin Rasboras- Spawning Conditions

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waterismyfriend

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Oct 8, 2008
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I bought 5 HR (2 males 3 females) yesterday and today a female is laying eggs?
My water is moderately hard, I keep reading how particular these fish are about their water during breeding.

It's a crazy breeding tank at the moment, the cherry barbs have been laying eggs everywhere, the harlequins just started this morning, the male cherry is flirting like crazy I'm thinking I won't have to buy anymore to get a whole school.

Dumb question, but do male harlequins turn reddish during breeding or are they always like that? I haven't been able to find anything about it.

This is what happens when you throw egglayers at a someone who's kept only livebearers(maybe a betta, tetras here and there)... feeling like a newbie:headshake2:
 
IME (& i haven't bred them) males are a little bit redder, females have a bit more tummy. From what I've read the couple swim under plants & turn upside down to lay on the underside of the leaves. I've never seen mine do that.

But sometimes having 1 species breed puts others "in the mood" so maybe your tank is especially nice with conditions & maybe hormones. Good luck!
 
I don't know a thing about breeding Harlies, but I've noticed that when I bring them home from the petstore, the black gets blacker and the red gets redder over the first few days.
 
Males are normally red, but they're probably more intense right now because of the breeding. They like to lay their eggs on the undersides of broad leaf plants. Mine always spawned on crypt leaves but I'd think vals or swords would work well too. Eggs are adhesive, so they're not going to fall off. They're also tasty. None of mine made it to the hatching point :) and from what I read the eggs need softer water to develop and hatch. So it's not the fish that are picky but the eggs.

It sounds like you're doing a great job with the tank if you've got them all in spawning mode.
 
I believe I have a few fry, can't really tell just yet they're not free swimming and I've only seen one.
I'm amazed at how long they've been spawning ever since I got them (the day I started the thread). I tried several times to save eggs but they would stop spawning once I moved them, I added less plants putting them all to one side for free swimming space with a current in that area. I also opened my blinds, I read that the sunrise triggers spawning.

I'll definately try again if this doesn't work, but with softer water next time, they're so easy to trigger spawning! With my hard water quite a few eggs developed fungus and I've heard that the eggs usually aren't sterile?

Alright, just wanted to share!
 
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