Fish Folk

The smaller one (pictured alive above) with rounded dorsal fin tip and more crimson belly is the female. In the photo with both fish in, the nearer one is the male. Females get aggressive when ready to spawn. Here’s a breeding journal video if you’re interested:

Green Terror is a great option. A large tank will be appreciated. Awesome video above from HenryC. Our LFS has a tank with a Green Terror. It's so personable, they refuse to sell him!

Looks good! Sounds like a plan. Catappa leaves are Indian Almond leaves - same thing. Take care with them. Our water is about pH 7.8 from the tap, but very soft. Too much Catappa leaves, and the breakdown produces humic acid which crashes pH. To be safe, maybe consider just letting them go and see if they like each other. Rainwater is usually very close to 7.0 pH, so that should be enough to trigger something. We usually just do 25% water changes with rain water. Another idea is to let water stand in a 4-5 gal bucket with catappa leaves or alder cones in to increase tannins. We even use rainwater drawn from our sump pump (always test that water first, of course). Then, when you add that water for a water change, the humic acid doesn't build up too much because the leaf litter is not breaking down _in_ the aquarium constantly, but rather in the _bucket_. We had a pair of wild-caught Apistogramma Bitaeniata spawn that way a few times. Here's a little video . . .

Beautiful planted aquarium set up! Cacatuoides are so charming. No really great answers here... just some food for thought: (1) if your male is a bit old, he may be an unwilling breeder (2) a healthy female Apisto will turn yellow, and lose certain markings when ready to spawn (3) female Apistos guarding eggs / fry are often the more aggressive ones... they will sometimes wind up and tail-whip the male (4) that hole in the Apisto hut may be too large... females prefer really small openings. You can probably plug off 1/2 that hut and interest her _more_ If we were breeding them, we’d definitely just let them go to town in the established tank. Depending on your water parameters, they may require some selective triggers to spawn. Try rainwater. (Maybe) Try adding a Catappa leaf. Feed live foods. Up the water changes. Give the female(s) 1-2 months to settle in. Consider also some “dither” fish. Pencil fish are always recommended... if they’ll take to your water. Good luck!!!

You might reach out to the AKA (American Killifish Association) via Facebook. Killi breeders are often interested in getting other fish keepers into keeping certain strains, since they are short-lived (though beautiful) fish. American Killifish Association M.FACEBOOK.COM American Killifish Association. 2.4K likes. The Official Facebook Home of the American Killifish Association... We are looking into getting an egg-filled mop from someone in our fish club soon. One note: be sure that you have a lid that completely covers your aquarium. Many killifish are serious jumpers!

That was my thought. It appears that fertilization for Hummingbird Tetras is internal... perhaps a bit different from other characins...

No professional answers here! Just enthusiastic amateur zeal for the hobby. These are absolutely gorgeous fish! Two followup thoughts: (1) can you find any collectors who can report on the in situ environmental factors where they are caught in the wild? (2) maybe reach out to Tannin Aquatics, and ask how he’d set up a tank for breeding them. He’s had genius success with spawning tetras in home aquaria over years past.

Lots of great responses above! If you're looking for another method, without using m. blue, here are a few videos explaining our process. These are journal entries for our BAP project. We're working on Corydoras Aeneus right now. Not master breeders of corys here! But this method is working for us. Lots of details . . . Video #1: Finding eggs and Pulling Video #2: Cory Eggs hatching Video #3: Fry growing Video #3: Cory fry entering Week 3 towards BAP

Silvertip Tetras, I presume? Their eggs are so small . . . how did you find the eggs? How did you catch them? Spawning mop? Curious what other fish you have in there? Any photos?

We prepared a series of video journal entries for our Fish Club to submit for BAP - breeding Koi Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare). If you're new to breeding angelfish, and want to watch a process that has worked for someone, these videos may be helpful. Let us know if you're successful raising up Angelfish this way!

We have a koi pair that is happy in a 20 gal. long. They spawn every 1-2 weeks. If your adults are really large, they may need a 20-tall. We lean a piece of slate against the side, and then remove and hatch out in a separate specimen container.

The Spawning tank is a 29 gal. Large HOB Filter plus small sponge filter. Weekly water changes. Tap water (town / city water) is 7.8 from the tap, but fairly soft. GH ca. 90 ppm. KH cal 30 ppm. In the planted tank with wood, pH tends to drop down to 7.5 pH. We keep the temperature high largely due to the young Discus we also keep in this aquarium - 82-degrees Fahrenheit (28-Cel). Here is a copy of the BAP report we submitted to our fish club (PVAS) for an earlier batch of Rams raised in this tank. This report was actually for the _parents_ of these adults in this series. Some of the details for the more recent batch are altered, but a lot is the same. __________________________________________________ PVAS BAP SPAWNING REPORT 19 October 2019 SPECIES Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi German Blue Ram (Electric Blue Male & Golden Female) REPRODUCTION Method of Reproduction: Egg Layer Number and Gender Distribution of Parents: 1 Male (Electric Blue), 1 Female (Golden) Pair Origin of Parents: LFS (source unknown) Approximate number of fry: Originally hatched ca. 75 Date of Birth: Free Swimming 18 September 2019 Approx. Number of Fry at 30 Days: ca. 45 AQUARIUM CONDITIONS Breeding Tank: pH — 7.5 GH —5 drops / ca. 90 ppm KH — 2 drops / ca. 35 ppm Temperature: 81 degrees Fahrenheit Average Nitrate: 20 ppm Aquarium Size: 29 gal; in inches, 30.25” wide x 12.5” deep x 18.75” high Water Source: town / city water Water Changes: 60% every 2 weeks Filtration System: Hang-on-back, Emperor 280 (with bio wheel) HOLDING / FRY TANK: pH — 6.3 (50 % R.O. water added daily) GH — (tests were difficult to read) - assuming unreadably soft KH — (tests were difficult to read) - assuming unreadably soft Temperature: 81 degrees Fahrenheit (same as 29 gal, Fry Container suspended in Tank) Average Nitrate: 25-30 ppm Aquarium Size: Lee’s Large Specimen Container; in inches, 7” wide x 3.25” deep x 6” high Water Source: R.O. bottled water Water Changes: 50% daily Filtration System: none; in future, we plan to add a micro sponge filter to cycle the container) DECOR & ENVIRONMENT (Spawning Tank) Live Plants: Heavily planted tank featuring: dwarf baby tears, rotala indica, ludwigia ovalis, ludwigia repens, red melon swords, wisteria, bronze crypts, java moss (Spawning Tank) Caves or Similar Hiding Places: one small plastic cave, and several salt-and-pepper rocks rams prefer to lay eggs on (Spawning Tank) Substrate: Eco-complete black substrate Lighting Type and Timing: One blue coral T-12 (?) fluorescent with LED strip lighting (used ca. 12 hrs / day), and additional LED utility light (used for only about 4 hrs x day) (Fry Container) Live Plants: small Water Lettuce sprouts (Fry Container) Caves or similar hiding Places: none, bare bottom (Fry Container) Substrate: none (Fry Container) MISC: Several snails added to process some waste, and lightly running air stone suspended inside FEEDING Food Fed to Parents and How Often: Fluval Bug Bites, Cobalt Fry Minis, Hikari Freeze-dried BBS, Live BBS (2x / day) Food Fed to Fry and How Often: Live baby brine shrimp, Sera-micron (2x / day) COMMENTS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi, best known as the “German Blue Ram,” are the fish that really got us into breeding. Our first attempt last year ended in failure. But then we were able to raise 7 fry from a second batch to maturity. One major goal has been to raise a BAP viable batch of 10 or more. In brief, we set up the decor so that the rams will spawn on a small rock which is then removed to a separate container with a suspended air stone to “tumble” the water over the eggs. Between 1/2 to 1 ml. of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is added 1x every 12 hours, for just two doses to fight off fungus. The fry hatch in ca. 2-3 days, seen as wigglers. Once they eat through their yolk sack and are free-swimming, the challenge begins. Sometimes a male does not properly fertilize the eggs. Another time the eggs were laid in an area too difficult to “pull” in order to hatch. With this pair - an Electric Blue Male, and a Golden Female - their first batch did not survive past three weeks. We tried feeding on hard-boiled egg-yolk and Sera micron, but without an early transition to live food, they did not grow properly. With this (submitted) batch, we determined to move them over to baby brine shrimp earlier. This has made all of the difference in survival rate. Furthermore, we have since been able to successfully move more batches over the two-week threshold with this feeding plan. We feed the rams 2x / day, feeding BBS and a light dose of Sera-Micron mixed in water. Daily vigilance is essential with Ram fry. We carefully siphon off all waste and uneaten food off the bottom, and draw out 50% of the container water. This is replaced by R.O. water that has been suspended in the tank to reach tank-temperature (ca. 81 degrees Fahrenheit). We plan to transition these small fry first to a “well-seasoned” 5.5. gal aquarium containing a fair amount of algae and plants to grow out for a month or so. From there, we have a 20 gallon long that will be the larger ram-colony grow out tank until the rams are ready to be culled, moved on to our LFS, or selected for ongoing breeding projects. Three other batches were also grown in this period. Another small one from the same parents had only 6 fry survive. Two other batches from 2nd generation GBR born in our water had 4 fry and ca. 50 fry respectively. Apart from the first few days where fry are free swimming and need food that they can consume, the crucial time frame for survival is the 2-3 week point. In this period, the rams tend to crash with just a few survivors — or en masse — they tend to press through and survive as a larger group. Water quality is crucial, as any buildup of Ammonia or Nitrate leads to early fatalities. It is difficult to keep the containers fully cycled with this approach. Nitrite tends to read higher than preferable. In the future, we plan to implement micro-sponge filters in the Specimen Containers to cycle them once the fry are large enough to avoid being hurt.

There are a number of factors to consider. We have 2x LFS and one chain store. Big store is prevented from buying locally raised fish from corporate. One of our LFS will offer store credit. The other will pay in cash outright. But we built those relationships by patience, and spending plenty of money over several years. Guppies go for $0.25 - $1.00 / each depending on strain. Platys sell for less. German Blue Rams sell for $2.50 each. Electric Blue Acaras will get about $3.00 each. Ancistrus might get $1.00-2.00 each, depending on their size. The economy in your area is key, as well as what kind of fishkeepers are buying. Also, pay attention to what’s going well and what’s struggling. Our home-raised guppies lasted, but every imported guppy died in days. So... we got about $100 for as many guppies recently. But no one in our area is buying discus. The store just can’t sell them, since there are few experienced freshwater aquarists near us.

Everyone likes seafood!

In our most recent batch of angel fry, we pulled the eggs and hatched out separately. Their growth was inconsistent - some growing much faster - "runners" - and we were appalled to come by their grout tank to witness exactly what others here are describing, larger fry massacring smaller fry. And ours were from the same batch!

Interesting! Ok. Our mature males have not never turned white. In the case of the fry, I guess we're back to square one.

We hatch ours daily out of a 16 oz. can sourced from brine shrimp direct. See photo. Keep the eggs refrigerated. Those silly little vials were very costly.

Had similar question and observations. One of our adult females always turned pale in the head and body when ready to spawn. Now, with all of our fry, we can go through and easily pick out the females due to this same discoloration. I think it's a female thing, not a disease. Perhaps the pheromones released by one in spawning mood affect the others? We have about 25-30 in a tank growing out. Easy to see who the guys and gals are.

Thanks! He’s wild...

No professional or experienced answers here. But if you're looking for _something_ to try . . . Initial Questions: What is your water like? Are you changing out with tap water? How hard is your water? pH? If no one else gives you any better ideas, this is what we would try: Use a bare 10 gal tank. (1) First, cut a black backing and 2x sides out of foam board from Walmart. Cut it carefully to fit between the tank rims. You can use black Gorilla tape to attach it to the rims. You will want this tank to be relatively dark. Just the front panel will be viewable. (2) Next, take 1x catappa leaf (Indian almond leaf - order a bag of 10x from Aquarium Co-Op) and break it into smaller pieces and scatter on the bottom. Do the same with 2x brown, dried Oak leaves thoroughly rinsed (boil if you like). These release tannins, helpful for fry. They will grow infusoria - excellent first-foods for fry. If you want to add a light scattering of peat, that is another element - but take care you don't add anything with additives, chemicals designed for plant growth, etc. (3) Then take several bags of common glass marbles and gently cover the tank bottom over top of the leaf-litter. The marbles can be layered several deep - so you may need a few bags of marbles. The goal is you want spaces for tiny free-swimming fry. (4) Next, buy or prepare a fine mesh to go over top of the marbles on the tank bottom. Darice Plastic Canvas sheets - available for order online, or from Walmart, or any craft store - would be an excellent choice. The goal is to prevent adult parents from getting through down under to eat eggs or fry, but to allow fry to eventually emerge from beneath. (5) On top of this "floor" set into the tank a prepped sponge filter. We run ours in another tank for 2x weeks or so to colonize bacteria there. (6) Do a water change on the tank the adults are currently in, and use the water removed from that tank to fill the 10 gal. (7) Add an accurate, adjustable heater. Take care to suspend it a few inches above the plastic mesh to avoid warping. Get the sponge filter going strong for a few weeks in the tank. (8) Meanwhile, add a TON of healthy, rinsed java moss above the darice mesh. You want the java moss to be 3+ inches thick all around the bottom. (9) You'll want a reasonably tight-fitting lid to keep the atmosphere stable above the water surface. (10) Lighting, however, should not be too much. If you do not have an adjustable LED, try a small LED under-cabinet light from WalMart (very small 5,000 K Hyper-Tough brand works fine), placed on top of a couple pre-cut layers of black cupboard liner to diffuse the light. Let the tank settle into a groove for a few weeks. Test the water, and perform a change if necessary (don't suck out the java moss). The tank should be cycled if you've used an established sponge filter and tank water to begin with. You'll need to feed the adult Tetras healthy live food. Daphnia and live baby brine shrimp will help to get them prepared to spawn. You want to take care that the water parameters aren't terribly different from the display tank and the breeding tank. pH should be lowered some, and tannins should be turning the water a tea color. Otherwise, it shouldn't be drastically different. Be sure temperature is about the same. It can be a few degrees warmer than the display tank. Turn off the sponge filter. Net out a half dozen or so adult tetras, put them in the breeding tank. Feed them with live food to trigger spawning. Tetras tend to spawn either at morning or evening. Leave them in for about 48-72 hours. Be sure that there are no bright lights or frightening movements that will stress the fish. A dark corner of the room is best. Breeding behavior is a lot of flashing around, bumping into each other. Males will fertilize eggs as females drop them into the dense java moss. Eggs will be eaten by adults, but enough should be able to fall down, through the moss, and into the "marble underworld." Once the adults are removed, try to keep the tank pretty dark. Some tetra eggs and fry are very sensitive to bright light. You'll want to prepare some infusoria to feed fry for a week or so. Boiled lettuce set into a jar of established tank water and hung / set in front of a window with daylight should do the trick. It will reek, but the infusoria will multiply and can be sparingly fed to tiny fry. Tetra fry are minuscule. They will barely be visible to the eye. If your eggs hatch, they should start to show up within a week or so. sorry for the book . . . 🤓😂

Clear / tan eggs are fertile. But susceptible to fungus.

Those appear to be corydoras eggs in your photos. The white ones are infertile.

I’d have to see what you mean by grime exactly. Is that fungus? Infertile eggs grow white cotton-like fungus of measures are not taken to prevent it. Can you post more photos?

Thanks very much! Rams are wonderful fish.

Because we live far away from our fish club, we compose video journals for BAP entries. Here's our video journal on breeding pink convict cichlids. I know . . . I know . . . "just add water" (right?!) But we always learn a lot in this process. If you've got time, this might give you some ideas. Let us know what you think. Pink (or Gold) convicts are actually quite attractive!