Harlequin Rasbora breeding? :)

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Mr.Albiman

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
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Derbyshire, England
I have had 6 Harlequin Rasbora's for about 1 month now, and 2 of the 6 have really rounded bellies. To me it looks like they're bearing eggs but I'm no expert! ;) the other fish in the tank are in my signature the temperature is 24 degree C and the stats are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10. If they do lay eggs and a male fertilizes them what do i do? I have a spare 3.5 gallon tank i could move the eggs to because i don't want them to be eaten! (That is of course assuming they are egg bound and they do lay eggs!)

Please help me! :)
 
I know the females are larger than the males, so I'm guessing i have 3 males 3 females and 2 of the females look egg bound. The largest most colourful one doesn't look egg bound:)
 
I have Harlequin Rasboras as well, and when i first got them, one of the Females laid eggs underneath the leaves of my amazon sword. However the eggs didin't list due to my rather high PH (7.4). If your PH is like that, then the Eggs will be destroyed pretty quickly.
 
Definitly should be good for Eggs, although i'm not sure if Harlequins eat their own children like most live bearers do. Although im sure if you dont move them the Gourami will definitely gobble them up.
 
The only broad leafed plant i have is java fern, so if they lay the eggs on it should i move that to the 3.5, so that noone eats them? :)
 
2 of my Harlequins are consistently showing breeding behaviour. (Following closely, 'shuddering' really quickly, wrapping around each other) but if they lay eggs my other fish will eat them! Shall i move the pair and my java fern to my spare 3.3 gallon??? I've just started running a second filter in my main tank to get some BB in there ready for the transfer if its needed. PLEASE HELP ME GUYS!! :D
 
Just learned something new about rasboras lol. According to wiki they lay eggs on the underside of plants, if that's the case then you could just clip the plants with the eggs on them and transfer them to a hatching tank.
 
taken from Harlequin rasbora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Harlequin Rasbora differs from the other popular "Rasboras" in the aquarium considerably with respect to breeding. Whilst other Rasboras are egg-scattering spawners, the Harlequin Rasbora deposits adhesive eggs on the underside of the leaves of plants such as Cryptocoryne and Aponogeton. The female will swim in an inverted position beneath a chosen leaf, rub her belly along the leaf in preparation for spawning, this action seemingly encouraging the male to join in spawning. When the male joins the female, he adopts a similar inverted position alongside her, and as the female extrudes her eggs and attaches them to the underside of the leaf, the male curls his tail fin around the body of the female and with a trembling motion, emits the sperm that will fertilise the eggs. 6 to 12 eggs at a time are deposited in this fashion with each such embrace, and the fishes repeat this course of action over a period of 2 hours or more, during which a large and well-conditioned female may deposit as many as 300 eggs, though 80 to 100 is a more typical number.
The breeding aquarium for the Harlequin Rasbora requires the presence of suitable plants - Cryptocoryne species being the premier choice. The water in the breeding aquarium MUST be soft and acidic, as the fishes are unlikely to spawn in hard, alkaline water, and furthermore egg fertility appears to be adversely affected in such conditions even if the parents do spawn. Aquarists intent upon simulating natural conditions as closely as possible may choose to filter the aquarium water over peat, thus replicating the humic acid concentrations found in the fish's native waters, though this is not absolutely necessary if the basic water chemistry parameters (no higher than 4°dH hardness, pH around 6.4) are correctly maintained. Temperature for breeding should be 28°C(82.4°F), and the parent fishes should be conditioned heavily with live foods such as Daphnia and mosquito larvae prior to the spawning attempt. Once spawning is completed, the parent fishes should be removed from the breeding aquarium to prevent instances of egg eating, which may occur with this species.
 
I right, thanks jeta! D'you reckon that java fern is broad leafed enough for them? Should i move all 6 Harlequin'S to the 3.3 gallon for the time being, because the Gourami and Platy keep interrupting them and making them scatter again, and they seem to be swapping mates between themselves? :)
 
Yeah a java fern is similar in shape to crypts so I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I would move the gourami and platy to a different tank temporarily so you don't disturb the breeding behavior in the harlequins, I know when you transfer fish sometimes it takes a while for them to get settled in and acting normal. Maybe in the future get a breeding tank set up exclusively for this purpose.
 
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