barbs mating??

[coolkidthatlike]

hi, i have 6 tiger barbs (3 albino, 3 regular) and a red tail shark. I dont know what tiger barbs are male and what ones are female, but i figer with six my chances of having a male and a female are pretty good. I was wondering what the chances are of them mating?

 

[azn dreamer]

How long have you have these barbs? Are they fully grown yet? DO they have a kinda reddish colour on the tips of the fins and mouth? You'll have a pretty good chance...raise the temp. to encourage mating

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, i have had them for about 2 months. No they aren't fully grown yet, but they do have red around the fins, reddish on the nose, and around the mouth. thanks for the advice. I will raise the temp. and try it out. thanks. any other advice?

 

[TankGirl]

Oftentimes a semi-hefty water change will induce spawning.. mimics a rainy/flood season in the wild. This is true for many species, though I can't speak for barbs in particular.

 

[azn dreamer]

Um...and another thing...don't put the fry and the parents in the same tank..the parents will eat it...have you got another tank? And the tiger barbs will get more agressive especially the female one when breeding...so any long finned like angelfish and guppies aren't recommended to be in the same tank

 

[TankGirl]

I would not hope for viable fry unless the barbs are the only ones in the tank, as other community type fish and scavenger types will munch on the eggs and you will never even know they were there. If you want to raise them, get a group together in their own tank, and if you observe spawning (they are egg scatterers) you need to remove the parents from the tank, as they will eat the eggs.

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, i just got a red tail shark in with them. Will this for sure mean that there wont ever be any fry? what do the eggs look like? and if they do mate, how do i know what ones are the parents if i dont see it happen? i do have another tank, but it is not up and running. I would have to cycle it somehow... man i thought it would be cool if they did spawn. oh well

 

[TankGirl]

If you have some grassy plant material (real or plastic) that they can scatter their eggs in, it is possible that the shark won't eat the eggs, but if you get any kind of fry to hatch the shark (and the barbs) will eat the fry. You may do a Google type search for "barbus tetrazona" and you will undoubtedly find info about spawning behavior, unless someone wants to pipe up on this board who has done this!

If you can determine when they spawn, you may be able to remove the eggs, if laid in one of those egg-laying mats that you can find at most fish stores, resembling a grassy carpet. You just would remove the plastic mat with the eggs, rather than removing the fish. You could then set them up in your empty tank with a sponge filter and do daily water changes, so no need to cycle. Read up on hatching eggs, too, while your at it, as there are a lot of species that are no good at raising their own young. Let us know how you do, and I can tell you, it IS cool when you get babies!!