Breeding Cherry Barbs

[BananaBecca]

Heyy I am interested in breeding my cherry barbs, I have seen some spawing behaviour but if they are laying eggs then they are eating them right after. I want to save some from this fate. I dont have access to a seperate breeding tank but I do have a 12cmx16cmx13cm (WxLxH) breeding net, and i was considering buying one of those floating hatcherys where the eggs fall out of the parents reach things. Would this be suitable? or is it too small I don;t want to do anything that will stress out my fish. It will have to be in the community tank as I dont have another one. My tank is 65 litres, with 2 scissortails, a bristle nose pleco a GIANT kissing gourami (like no joke she is like 4 1/2" long) some other algae eaters, 1 zebra diano and a dwarf gourami. I have 6 cherry barbs, I have worked out that two of them are females. I know a little about breeding them, but any advice from people who have breed them would be great. can I condition them whilst they are all in the same tank? or should i seperate them... with the breeding net? also I i just left them in the main tank to breed how could I increase the chances of them laying eggs and some eggs surviving? I only have plastic plants, I have 7 all lined up at the back of the tank. I dont want to use live plants as when my dad got me some I ended up with an infestation of snails and the plant died. any ideas?

 

[Andy Sager]

"giSome people have some success in a heavily planted aquarium. That being said, in a community situation, the eggs will most likely be eaten by the other fish in the tank, probably before the parents can even get to them. I prefer to breed in a separate tank to ensure that I get fry. Breeding nets are not really suitable for breeding barbs. The floating "traps" are really for livebearers only more then for egglayers. If you remove all the other fish, you MAY have a chance of them breeding and some of the eggs making into the plants and the fry surviving. (Not a good chance tho.) Conditioning is best done when the sexes are separated and spawning will happen much quicker when they are separated as well. The reintroduction to each other heightens the desire to breed before they lose each other again (as in nature.) At this point, however, if you don;t want to get rid of the other fish or use a separate tank, I'd not concern yourself with them breeding. If it happens, it happens. If any survive, they survive.

Sorry I couldn't be more positive for ya.

Oh, and BTW, your "Giant" pink kisser is still a baby. lol They get to approx.12" and don't even start breeding until they are about your fish's size (maybe even a little bigger.) Time for a bigger tank