Breeding danios

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bloodlucky

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Jul 31, 2012
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I'm trying to breed my danios, and I heard its quite easy but you need a grate type thing to keep the eggs from falling through. Well I have a fairly large livebearer fry case with a grate that came with it, and basically you slide the grate down to double the amount of swimming room for the adults. Could I just put like 3-4 in my fry case and expect to have them breed? Do I need to do anything else? I have a 40 gallon tank (cycled) wit 6 danios and some other fish
 
I think they will. If your parameters are right it should work. But iv never actually bread them so not sure?
 
The way I think of it is this hey what do you have to lose they the hardiest fish known to man. Just kidding but they are extremely hardy.
 
The way I think of it is this hey what do you have to lose they the hardiest fish known to man. Just kidding but they are extremely hardy.

Yeah they've lived through the whole cycle ad they basically cycled the tank for me I needed to do water changes but none of them died!
 
That's good I have one that is 1 yr old and every other fish from that time died.
 
Not sure if they would breed in the fry case because of the small size of the enclosure and because they are very active fish. You can certainly try it out. Also, the fry that hatch are very small; they would easily slip through the slots in a slotted breeder; a mesh breeder might prevent this.

A separate tank might be the best option. Traditionally a tank with marbles on the bottom is used for egg layers with non-adhesive eggs. You could use egg crate as an alternative. They do like to breed in moss but I have seen videos where green yarn is used instead. Promoting breeding is often done by adding cooler treated water in the evening using a watering can (simulates rainfall) and opening the shades. Breeding is supposedly start at the crack of dawn. Then the adults need to be removed.

I have long fin blue danios that breed constantly in a planted 20 gallon planted tank. They prefer the java moss. They are very good at grazing in the moss or scouring the bottom for eggs. Occasionally I have seen fry against the glass. I only managed to raise one (about 1/3" now at 3 weeks). Will release in the tank when it is about 1/2-3/4". Raising it in a slotted Livebearer breeder. Had to put filter pads on the sides when it was newly hatched.
 

I think you may have gotten the thing backwards. You are trying to get the eggs as far away from the parents as possible as Danios are known to eat their own eggs. ;)

I've read through you thread and need to ask: Are you trying to have your fish breed so you can say they have bred in your tank or are you trying to raise some fry? With all due respect to the other poster, having 1 fry survive out of a spawn is not really a good ratio of eggs to fry. :nono: A successful spawning (imo) should result in a couple of hundred fry. Since the fry are tiny, they need tiny food so they really should be in a separate tank so that they can grow quickly by being able to find adequate food.
Feel free to pm me and I will send you the procedure I used to commercially raise these fish (y)
 
I think you may have gotten the thing backwards. You are trying to get the eggs as far away from the parents as possible as Danios are known to eat their own eggs. ;)

I've read through you thread and need to ask: Are you trying to have your fish breed so you can say they have bred in your tank or are you trying to raise some fry? With all due respect to the other poster, having 1 fry survive out of a spawn is not really a good ratio of eggs to fry. :nono: A successful spawning (imo) should result in a couple of hundred fry. Since the fry are tiny, they need tiny food so they really should be in a separate tank so that they can grow quickly by being able to find adequate food.
Feel free to pm me and I will send you the procedure I used to commercially raise these fish (y)

In regards to the single fry, I was in the process of removing a rock from the tank that had moss in it and noticed a few eggs on it. The eggs had eyes and there was some wiggling inside. I placed them in the aforementioned breeder where they did hatch and all but one fry slipped out. Decided to keep the one and let it grow. I released it and it took a short while before it figured out why open water was not a good thing. It found a safe spot near some swords and Sagitteria.
 
In regards to the single fry, I was in the process of removing a rock from the tank that had moss in it and noticed a few eggs on it. The eggs had eyes and there was some wiggling inside. I placed them in the aforementioned breeder where they did hatch and all but one fry slipped out. Decided to keep the one and let it grow. I released it and it took a short while before it figured out why open water was not a good thing. It found a safe spot near some swords and Sagitteria.

I understand and as I said, no offense was meant. :) It's just that an average spawn of a Danio is at least 100 eggs or more so the methods used which produced only 1 surviving fry, I think you'd agree, is not a good way of doing it if your goal is to make some babies.
On another note, I would have liked to have seen the look on the fry's face when it realized it was in open water :eek: lol (y)
 
I understand and as I said, no offense was meant. :) It's just that an average spawn of a Danio is at least 100 eggs or more so the methods used which produced only 1 surviving fry, I think you'd agree, is not a good way of doing it if your goal is to make some babies.
On another note, I would have liked to have seen the look on the fry's face when it realized it was in open water :eek: lol (y)

No offense taken. Not really interested in increasing the stock but if the plant cover helps their chances then so be it. The danios have been frisky ever since I go them.

Yes, it went from happily swimming along "like I own the place" to OMG panic zig zag into the java moss. Now it appears to be more alert.
This little exercise might have answered my question about how well RCS shrimplets might fair with this stock.
 
Ok I'm going to use my 10 gallon. Can someone help me find a good grate/net material I can buy online for the breeding?
 
Ok I'm going to use my 10 gallon. Can someone help me find a good grate/net material I can buy online for the breeding?

You could try egg crate (sold in the lighting section of most hardware stores), however, the openings might allow the adults to pass through. Another material you can try is gutter guard which is basically rolls of plastic (~1/4") rigid mesh.
There are videos on YouTube describing the procedure
Or just contact Andy Sager
 
You could try egg crate (sold in the lighting section of most hardware stores), however, the openings might allow the adults to pass through. Another material you can try is gutter guard which is basically rolls of plastic (~1/4") rigid mesh.
There are videos on YouTube describing the procedure
Or just contact Andy Sager


WOW, I'm honored Fresh2o. Thanks :D

If you intend to remove the parents after the spawn, I'd suggest going to your local Toys R Us and get bags of marbles and forget about the grating. Use just about 2" of water above the marbles so the eggs don't have a long time or distance to travel to get between the marbles. The parents won't be able to get to the eggs this way either. Once you remove the parents, you can SLOWLY start adding small amounts of water daily until the water is high enough for the sponge filter to work properly. By that time the eggs should have hatched and the fry will be free swimming soon.

Feel free to PM me if you need more instructions (y)
 
I know usps sux! If it was in sac this morning I wont get it til tomorrow but since mu carrier wont leave ANY package in my box, even if it fits I wont get it til Monday:(
 
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