Cherry Barbs Got Eggs..Now What?

[foxtrot1027]

I have 4 Cherry Barbs in My 10 gallon planted tank. The male turned broght red and was doin his little dance around the three females. Two of the females are swollen, like they are gonna burst. Do I need to remove the eggs? And where do they usually lay them?

[grimlock3000]

My Barbs laid eggs right at the gravel level on the base of a plastic plant. They did not have many other options so I do not know if this is normal. Most of the eggs were eaten. A few days later I had little fry swimming around in the tank, and they were promptly eaten as they tried to hide in the tank. Then a while after that, I was gravel vacuuming the tank and found that ONE of the fry managed to live and reach a decent size. Now the fry is swimming around in the tank with the rest of the fish

If you have some good hiding places, you can let nature do its thing and see what you end up with.

[Fruitbat]

The Cherry Barb, Barbus titteya, is an egg-scatterer like most other barbs. The male is an active pursuer of the female and can get a bit rough with her. A well-planted tank is recommended. The female will swim around the tank scattering up to 300 eggs with the male following close behind to fertilize them. The eggs are adhesive and will cling to plants and other objects in the aquarium. The parents will eat the eggs pretty quickly so you might consider removing the parents once they're finished spawning.

Some people use breeding traps with considerable success with Cherry Barbs. Regardless of the method you use, if the eggs are successfully fertilized then you should begin to see fry in 2 to 5 days. They will feed on infusoria at first but should be able to take brine shrimp nauplii within a week and finely ground flake food within 2 weeks.

[grimlock3000]

That explains a lot. There have been other time I thought eggs were being laid, but the female was going all over the tank so I did not pay much attention. The only time I ever saw a female actually laying the eggs was around the base of the plant.