I have finally hatched frye that seem to be doing well. In fact I left many eggs that I thought were bad in the breeder for one more day and wound up with plenty more. Here is my general setup;
- 210 gallon main tank with a school of 90 tiger barbs
- two breeding nets
- 5 Lee's three chamber breeders
- one 2.5 gallon nursery tank with heating and simple air driven filter (adjustable air pump)
I started because I noticed how many female barbs I constantly had that were egg swollen. My large tank, large school of barbs, and very good water quality seems to be working well for them. I also feed good flake, blood worms, and shrimp for a balanced diet. I got tired of spending money on them to get such a nice big school!
Step 1 (two breeder nets) was a bust. Breeder nets do not provide a drop tray for eggs so they eat them immediately and they are too small for a brush or mop. I tried an abrasive porous pad on the bottom but they are crafty and they will still push their noses through and eat the eggs. I also cannot see the eggs well if at all.
Step 2 (Lee's breeders) Great for isolating fish and seeing/collecting eggs. My main problem here was that I could get breeding pairs to lay eggs but they would not hatch or were taken over by fungus. I am NOT medicating my entire 210m gallon tank with something to keep fungus at bay. Breeders floating in the main tank is now also out. Also hard to keep fish waste off eggs.
Step 3 (Nursery tank) I set up a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater and a small air driven filter with adjustable flow air pump. This is where I let the eggs mature and hatch.
The process that works best for me after MANY trials and errors over a couple weeks is as follows:
I separate bloated females and males into the two breeder nets hanging in the tank since they are useless for my breeding purposes anyway. Tiger barbs can be tricky to sex if you only go by coloration so I look for the clarity of the abdomen, general shape of body, distinct coloration or lack of (especially on red nose and dorsal or green tint to stripes on males), and behavior in the tank. Sometimes its easy to spot hot-to-trot males when they stake out territory or chase females repeatedly. Once separated for a couple days ( I read two weeks but I am impatient and my method works fine so don't worry about it if you want to try it). Using the Lee's 3 chamber I put a male and female in opposite sides and leave the divider in for the day. At night I turn off all lights, remove the divider, and let them settle together for the night. In morning lights go on and they usually breed that day if not the next. My success rate for eggs is very good, although i usually have 5 pairs in breeders at any one time.
Once eggs are detected and spawning seems to be finished I remove the breeding pair and return them to the main tank. I was keeping them isolated and identified but once they are done there isn't a need unless you only have few fish. It will take time to get the female ready again anyway.
Now I remove the eggs from the breeder to the 2.5 nursery tank. There I keep a very low circulation with the air flow in the filter and a 25w heater at about 80 degrees.
I am using a hydrogen peroxide regimen to keep fungus controlled. I chose this because methylene blue seems to be a messy pain and the peroxide is cheap, handy, and breaks down into water and oxygen quickly. I am using 1ml per gallon every 12 hours (actually I under-dose slightly) and getting a hatch that seems unaffected so far. Nothing harmful to continuously flush out. I do daily water changes to keep the nursery fresh. My first hatchlings are just starting to go from wigglers to short-swim specialists. Now I am getting eggs so fast I need more nursery tanks! I may need a break until I see how these little guys fare.
Hope that was interesting for someone. I'll post some pics soon.
- 210 gallon main tank with a school of 90 tiger barbs
- two breeding nets
- 5 Lee's three chamber breeders
- one 2.5 gallon nursery tank with heating and simple air driven filter (adjustable air pump)
I started because I noticed how many female barbs I constantly had that were egg swollen. My large tank, large school of barbs, and very good water quality seems to be working well for them. I also feed good flake, blood worms, and shrimp for a balanced diet. I got tired of spending money on them to get such a nice big school!
Step 1 (two breeder nets) was a bust. Breeder nets do not provide a drop tray for eggs so they eat them immediately and they are too small for a brush or mop. I tried an abrasive porous pad on the bottom but they are crafty and they will still push their noses through and eat the eggs. I also cannot see the eggs well if at all.
Step 2 (Lee's breeders) Great for isolating fish and seeing/collecting eggs. My main problem here was that I could get breeding pairs to lay eggs but they would not hatch or were taken over by fungus. I am NOT medicating my entire 210m gallon tank with something to keep fungus at bay. Breeders floating in the main tank is now also out. Also hard to keep fish waste off eggs.
Step 3 (Nursery tank) I set up a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater and a small air driven filter with adjustable flow air pump. This is where I let the eggs mature and hatch.
The process that works best for me after MANY trials and errors over a couple weeks is as follows:
I separate bloated females and males into the two breeder nets hanging in the tank since they are useless for my breeding purposes anyway. Tiger barbs can be tricky to sex if you only go by coloration so I look for the clarity of the abdomen, general shape of body, distinct coloration or lack of (especially on red nose and dorsal or green tint to stripes on males), and behavior in the tank. Sometimes its easy to spot hot-to-trot males when they stake out territory or chase females repeatedly. Once separated for a couple days ( I read two weeks but I am impatient and my method works fine so don't worry about it if you want to try it). Using the Lee's 3 chamber I put a male and female in opposite sides and leave the divider in for the day. At night I turn off all lights, remove the divider, and let them settle together for the night. In morning lights go on and they usually breed that day if not the next. My success rate for eggs is very good, although i usually have 5 pairs in breeders at any one time.
Once eggs are detected and spawning seems to be finished I remove the breeding pair and return them to the main tank. I was keeping them isolated and identified but once they are done there isn't a need unless you only have few fish. It will take time to get the female ready again anyway.
Now I remove the eggs from the breeder to the 2.5 nursery tank. There I keep a very low circulation with the air flow in the filter and a 25w heater at about 80 degrees.
I am using a hydrogen peroxide regimen to keep fungus controlled. I chose this because methylene blue seems to be a messy pain and the peroxide is cheap, handy, and breaks down into water and oxygen quickly. I am using 1ml per gallon every 12 hours (actually I under-dose slightly) and getting a hatch that seems unaffected so far. Nothing harmful to continuously flush out. I do daily water changes to keep the nursery fresh. My first hatchlings are just starting to go from wigglers to short-swim specialists. Now I am getting eggs so fast I need more nursery tanks! I may need a break until I see how these little guys fare.
Hope that was interesting for someone. I'll post some pics soon.
