Breeding Minnows

[pichikinemo]

I have around 25 minnows in a 40 gal breeder tank. I see females are laying eggs and males are rubbing. Today I see one complete set of eggs are missing from the hanging. Probably eggs have been hatched. But I dont see any fry in my tank. Will it be very small to see them? or other not sure if other minnows have eaten the fry. Any suggestions? Or any suggestions on how can I save the fry?

 

[Andy Sager]

The best way to save fry is to breed fish in a specified breeder tank and remove the breeders after they spawn so that they or other fish in the tank don't eat the eggs or fry. if there is a lot of plant life in the tank, there is a chance the fry can survive within the plants until they get large enough to not get eaten.
Usually, fry from egg layers will spend the first few days ( the temperature of the water determines how many days) feeding off their yolk sacs so they may be hiding within the substrate while this is happening. If you can find them and siphon them out, that's about the only way you are going to save these fry. If you can see the eggs, you can try collecting them and the water they are in and you can try to hatch them out artificially in another tank. Another option is to get a Guppy net breeder for the tank and place the egg masses within the net breeder to protect them and the fry from the other fish in the tank.
At this point, that's about all you can do. Hope this helps.

 

[pichikinemo]

Thank you Andy Sager. I moved the cave with eggs and the male minnow who is working on hatching process to a separate tank for the time being and monitoring. Hope this works and I will be able to see the fry.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you Andy Sager. I moved the cave with eggs and the male minnow who is working on hatching process to a separate tank for the time being and monitoring. Hope this works and I will be able to see the fry.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[pichikinemo]

Finally able to save some fry

After almost 7-8 spawns and different combinations, below what I observed

It is not the parent or other minnows eating the fry. The fry are gone as they are not able to eat proper food.

Even though I grinded the flakes and feed them, it seems those fine grounded & powered flakes are still big to fit into their mouth and they are not able to eat. Hence most of them die.

For the last set of fry, I started to feed microworms and they did the trick. Fry is able to eat the micro worms and survived this time.

I set up a new 5 gallon tank with a bare bottom and an air filter. Temperature is set to ~ 75 degrees. I placed the cave with eggs and the dad who hatches the eggs in that tank. I see fry came in. I have been feeding them with microworms 2 times in a day. It has been close to a week and I see many fry survived this time.

 

[Andy Sager]

After almost 7-8 spawns and different combinations, below what I observed

It is not the parent or other minnows eating the fry. The fry are gone as they are not able to eat proper food.

Even though I grinded the flakes and feed them, it seems those fine grounded & powered flakes are still big to fit into their mouth and they are not able to eat. Hence most of them die.

For the last set of fry, I started to feed microworms and they did the trick. Fry is able to eat the micro worms and survived this time.

I set up a new 5 gallon tank with a bare bottom and an air filter. Temperature is set to ~ 75 degrees. I placed the cave with eggs and the dad who hatches the eggs in that tank. I see fry came in. I have been feeding them with microworms 2 times in a day. It has been close to a week and I see many fry survived this time.

Congrats on the fry.
Just so you know, grinding up adult flake food is not the best foods for fish fry. You want something with more protein and "growth" ingredients. You can try other foods like infusoria or copapods as first foods and then graduate to baby brine shrimp and/or Daphnia when the fry get larger.

 

[Colin_T]

You can buy powdered fry foods for egg layers or make your own. The following link has information about culturing food for baby fish and might interest you.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish-380381.html#post3578561