Breeding CPDs

[Crabby]

On 8/12/2021 at 3:50 AM, Slick_Nick said:

I have seen that done as well. Do you have any other fish in with the CPD’s? Also do you have another small aquarium or breeder box?

Nup, they’re in a little 5 gallon on their own. I don’t have any free tanks right now, but I will soon. I’ve got a couple mesh breeder boxes and a very small plastic one.

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/11/2021 at 3:09 PM, Crabby said:

Nup, they’re in a little 5 gallon on their own. I don’t have any free tanks right now, but I will soon. I’ve got a couple mesh breeder boxes and a very small plastic one.

Hmm.. I was hoping you had another tank to move the adults to for a week and see if any fry pop up in the 5g. In your situation the cup of Java moss might be your best bet and leave it in with them for a week and then pull it out and maybe pour the contents into your breeder box hopefully there will be some eggs! 

[Crabby]

Well since it’s an iwagumi scape that hasn’t fully grown in, they don’t even have too many places to spawn right now. Hence the cup of xmas moss. My original plan was to spawn them for a week, pulling the eggs every couple days so I can manage any fungus. Then I would move them into my 29 gallon tank and grow the fry out in that iwagumi tank. The other option is I free up a spare 5 gallon and move either the fry or parents in there. Preferably the fry. My only worry about moving the parents into my 29 gallon is that the pH usually sits between 5 and 6. My fish seem to love it once they’ve been in it for long enough, but it’s the transition that can be iffy, especially with more sensitive fish. What do you think?

Sorry to totally hijack your thread btw. And thanks for being so helpful.

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:27 PM, Crabby said:

Well since it’s an iwagumi scape that hasn’t fully grown in, they don’t even have too many places to spawn right now. Hence the cup of xmas moss. My original plan was to spawn them for a week, pulling the eggs every couple days so I can manage any fungus. Then I would move them into my 29 gallon tank and grow the fry out in that iwagumi tank. The other option is I free up a spare 5 gallon and move either the fry or parents in there. Preferably the fry. My only worry about moving the parents into my 29 gallon is that the pH usually sits between 5 and 6. My fish seem to love it once they’ve been in it for long enough, but it’s the transition that can be iffy, especially with more sensitive fish. What do you think?

Sorry to totally hijack your thread btw. And thanks for being so helpful.

Don’t worry about it! This is about breeding cpds and that’s what we’re talking about. To be honest I didn’t even worry about any fungus on the eggs, but then again I never saw any of the eggs. If the fish are already used to a higher ph I wouldn’t risk moving them to that lower ph. Is there a reason your ph is lower in the 29g? It sounds like you at least have a couple options to try though whatever you think would be easiest to do!

[Crabby]

To be honest I’m not sure exactly why my pH is so low in the 29. I get why it would be down to 6, but not any lower than that. I’ve got a big piece of driftwood I collected, some inert substrate, 30 or so fish (plus a new spawn of bristlenose fry), and a bunch of plants. Oh, and SOOOO MUCH JAVA MOSS (and xmas moss). Seriously, it’s crazy. It’s growing faster than my duckweed. I didn’t think that was possible. Anyways, I think the plants partially contribute to the low pH, and the driftwood definitely does, but I’m not sure why it’s so low. To be fair, I haven’t tested pH in 6 months, so it could’ve changed? But nothing in the tank has changed.

Anyways, yeah, you’re right, I guess I’ve got a bunch of options to play around with. I’ll let you know when I figure something out. In the meantime I’ll be feeding mine up on lots of fatty and protein filled foods, and waiting for an update on your fry! I discovered yesterday that my microworm cultures didn’t die (yay), so the CPDs will definitely be getting some of that.

Cheers mate!

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/11/2021 at 9:50 PM, Crabby said:

To be honest I’m not sure exactly why my pH is so low in the 29. I get why it would be down to 6, but not any lower than that. I’ve got a big piece of driftwood I collected, some inert substrate, 30 or so fish (plus a new spawn of bristlenose fry), and a bunch of plants. Oh, and SOOOO MUCH JAVA MOSS (and xmas moss). Seriously, it’s crazy. It’s growing faster than my duckweed. I didn’t think that was possible. Anyways, I think the plants partially contribute to the low pH, and the driftwood definitely does, but I’m not sure why it’s so low. To be fair, I haven’t tested pH in 6 months, so it could’ve changed? But nothing in the tank has changed.

Anyways, yeah, you’re right, I guess I’ve got a bunch of options to play around with. I’ll let you know when I figure something out. In the meantime I’ll be feeding mine up on lots of fatty and protein filled foods, and waiting for an update on your fry! I discovered yesterday that my microworm cultures didn’t die (yay), so the CPDs will definitely be getting some of that.

Cheers mate!

Very nice the 29g sounds like a fun tank! That’s perfect you have plenty of moss it does grow fast once it’s been established in an aquarium and it’s great for breeding egg scattering fish. I’m sure the cpds will enjoy some micro worms that’ll make them happy. Keep me updated on how things go, and I will post another update here in the next couple of weeks probably on mine. 

[Crabby]

On 8/12/2021 at 3:42 PM, Slick_Nick said:

Keep me updated on how things go, and I will post another update here in the next couple of weeks probably on mine. 

Well I expected to be giving you an update in a week or so… but the CPDs seem to have had their own plan!

While I was looking for spawning activity around the egg trap that I placed in TODAY, I found 2 little fry stuck to the glass! What the heck?! I guess they just said ‘stuff it, we’re not waiting for the scary nosey fella to give us a proper egg trap, we’ll just use this HC over here!’

At the moment I don’t know whether I have any other fry in the tank, but I’m ecstatic that I’ve got any at all! I’m hoping that this means I’ve got a good chance at getting some eggs in the trap too!!!

So what should I do? Do I put the fry in a breeder box? Or leave them in there until I can get my fry tank ready for them on the weekend?

Also uhm WOW, not only is this SUPER cool, but that was soooo easy 😂

Like easier than livebearers. And quicker too! If I assume the eggs took 7 days to hatch, then the fish must have spawned on the 11th or earlier. I got them on the 7th. They spawned in under 4 days… 

Anyways, let me know what you think I should do. They’re still just sticking to the glass, so I don’t know if they’re at risk of being eaten. They’re tiny, but much larger than any food the parents eat. Definitely my smallest fry yet, which is pretty cool. They’ll take a powdered food like Hikari First Bites, right?

Thanks so much for all of your advice mate!! It’s been very helpful.

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:29 PM, Crabby said:

Well I expected to be giving you an update in a week or so… but the CPDs seem to have had their own plan!

While I was looking for spawning activity around the egg trap that I placed in TODAY, I found 2 little fry stuck to the glass! What the heck?! I guess they just said ‘stuff it, we’re not waiting for the scary nosey fella to give us a proper egg trap, we’ll just use this HC over here!’

At the moment I don’t know whether I have any other fry in the tank, but I’m ecstatic that I’ve got any at all! I’m hoping that this means I’ve got a good chance at getting some eggs in the trap too!!!

So what should I do? Do I put the fry in a breeder box? Or leave them in there until I can get my fry tank ready for them on the weekend?

Also uhm WOW, not only is this SUPER cool, but that was soooo easy 😂

Like easier than livebearers. And quicker too! If I assume the eggs took 7 days to hatch, then the fish must have spawned on the 11th or earlier. I got them on the 7th. They spawned in under 4 days… 

Anyways, let me know what you think I should do. They’re still just sticking to the glass, so I don’t know if they’re at risk of being eaten. They’re tiny, but much larger than any food the parents eat. Definitely my smallest fry yet, which is pretty cool. They’ll take a powdered food like Hikari First Bites, right?

Thanks so much for all of your advice mate!! It’s been very helpful.

Congratulations that is awesome!!! I would definitely get them into the breeder box until your fry tank is ready because the moment they actually start swimming the adults will most likely pick them off. It is super easy and fun! I imagine you’ll have more coming. Yes I fed mine hikari first bites for probably the first month just be careful not to foul the water when feeding in the breeder box since it’s a smaller amount of water. It’s good to have them in a smaller tank so it’s easier for them to find the food. Good luck and let me know of any updates! 

[Crabby]

Whoops… I took my eyes off them for 5 minutes, and they’ve moved. I’ll definitely catch them out when I see them though. 

[Centraloregonaquatics]

Commenting to follow. Looking to get some cpd soon as my lfs has asked me to give them a try. They are having a hard time gettting them and they sell great. 

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/18/2021 at 11:56 AM, Centraloregonaquatics said:

Commenting to follow. Looking to get some cpd soon as my lfs has asked me to give them a try. They are having a hard time gettting them and they sell great. 

Very cool! That is true any time my lfs has them they sell out quickly. Hopefully you’re able to breed them for your lfs so more people can enjoy them they are really cool little fish. 

[Griznatch]

I finally got my brine shrimp hatchery set up in a permanent spot, so I fed my cpds some bbs today. Hoping if I do that for a bit they'll start spawning. Any breeding (as long as they don't have defects) is good for the hobby, these guys are not easy to get.

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/18/2021 at 1:52 PM, Griznatch said:

I finally got my brine shrimp hatchery set up in a permanent spot, so I fed my cpds some bbs today. Hoping if I do that for a bit they'll start spawning. Any breeding (as long as they don't have defects) is good for the hobby, these guys are not easy to get.

Congrats!! From my experience if they are mature and you have males and females it doesn’t take much to get them fired up to breed! Any time I feed a frozen or live food they breed! I’d love to keep making more, I’m just a very busy person and don’t have the time! Even though it’s been easier than I ever expected it to be.

[Crabby]

On 8/19/2021 at 4:56 AM, Centraloregonaquatics said:

Commenting to follow. Looking to get some cpd soon as my lfs has asked me to give them a try. They are having a hard time gettting them and they sell great. 

I got into them in a similar way. I was talking to a guy at my lfs about whether they would take my bettas, and the conversation moved to the types of fish that they love, but have trouble getting. He said in particular that they rarely get CPDs, but they always sell so well. When I saw they had some, I decided to buy a breeding group so I can help them out a bit.

[Centraloregonaquatics]

On 8/18/2021 at 3:24 PM, Crabby said:

I got into them in a similar way. I was talking to a guy at my lfs about whether they would take my bettas, and the conversation moved to the types of fish that they love, but have trouble getting. He said in particular that they rarely get CPDs, but they always sell so well. When I saw they had some, I decided to buy a breeding group so I can help them out a bit.

Now i just need to find em haha and I work with my lfs on what they want me to breed as long as it interests me as well. I have wanted to try cpds but everytime they have them i have had another project going. I try not to have to many prohects going on haha. 

[Crabby]

So I harvested my eggs and fry today. I think I left the trap in there for a couple days too long, because there were more fry than eggs. Actually, as I was sorting out the eggs and fry, I found 3 fry in the middle of hatching. By the time I finished, they were fully hatched! Wish I had put them under a time lapse camera!

Looks like I have around 40 eggs and fry - 27 fry and around 15 eggs (but a few looked like they might fungus). I’ve decided to skip the breeder box (because the holes are too large) and to put them straight in a 5 gallon grow-out. I’d like to put egg trap 2.0 back in the parents tank on the weekend, what do you recommend @Slick_Nick? Could I raise 70-100 fry in a 5 gallon, to a certain stage? I have a 4ft shrimp tank that I should be able to put them in, in about a month and a half.

Geez this is fun. What a cool fish. I’ve got a lot of video to sort through but I can get some photos from the footage later if anyone is interested. It’s just from my phone so it’s not the best, but I don’t have a macro lens for my DSLR (YET!)

Thanks to everyone on this thread who has given me the advice to get this far.

[Mr Gumby]

On 8/25/2021 at 8:00 AM, Crabby said:

So I harvested my eggs and fry today. I think I left the trap in there for a couple days too long, because there were more fry than eggs. Actually, as I was sorting out the eggs and fry, I found 3 fry in the middle of hatching. By the time I finished, they were fully hatched! Wish I had put them under a time lapse camera!

Looks like I have around 40 eggs and fry - 27 fry and around 15 eggs (but a few looked like they might fungus). I’ve decided to skip the breeder box (because the holes are too large) and to put them straight in a 5 gallon grow-out. I’d like to put egg trap 2.0 back in the parents tank on the weekend, what do you recommend @Slick_Nick? Could I raise 70-100 fry in a 5 gallon, to a certain stage? I have a 4ft shrimp tank that I should be able to put them in, in about a month and a half.

Geez this is fun. What a cool fish. I’ve got a lot of video to sort through but I can get some photos from the footage later if anyone is interested. It’s just from my phone so it’s not the best, but I don’t have a macro lens for my DSLR (YET!)

Thanks to everyone on this thread who has given me the advice to get this far.

If I can jump in here, that many fry would be fine short term in a 5 gallon as they grow quite slowly. I will add a caveat tho.

They don't really eat from the bottom so you'll end up doing lots of water charges which can be challenging with tiny fry in a small tank.

I use some airline attached to a barbecue skewer to Syphon the uneaten food and don't dump the water until you're sure you haven't sucked any babies up (trust me it happens 😁)

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/25/2021 at 12:00 AM, Crabby said:

So I harvested my eggs and fry today. I think I left the trap in there for a couple days too long, because there were more fry than eggs. Actually, as I was sorting out the eggs and fry, I found 3 fry in the middle of hatching. By the time I finished, they were fully hatched! Wish I had put them under a time lapse camera!

Looks like I have around 40 eggs and fry - 27 fry and around 15 eggs (but a few looked like they might fungus). I’ve decided to skip the breeder box (because the holes are too large) and to put them straight in a 5 gallon grow-out. I’d like to put egg trap 2.0 back in the parents tank on the weekend, what do you recommend @Slick_Nick? Could I raise 70-100 fry in a 5 gallon, to a certain stage? I have a 4ft shrimp tank that I should be able to put them in, in about a month and a half.

Geez this is fun. What a cool fish. I’ve got a lot of video to sort through but I can get some photos from the footage later if anyone is interested. It’s just from my phone so it’s not the best, but I don’t have a macro lens for my DSLR (YET!)

Thanks to everyone on this thread who has given me the advice to get this far.

Crabby I agree with Mr. Gumby they will be fine for a while in a 5g even that many. Maybe put some shrimp in there to eat the food that gets to the bottom, but also syphon the substrate to help clean it up. I just syphon into a smaller bucket so if I accidentally suck up a fry I can easily scoop them back out into the tank! Congrats by the way I’d love to see some pics!

[Crabby]

Thanks @Mr Gumbyand @Slick_Nick, that’s good news. Luckily I’m in lockdown for the next little while, so I’ve got the capability to do regular small water changes that could take a while.

 You both mentioned the bottom getting dirty - while I don’t have any shrimp available to put in there (well, I only have one, and he seems happy in his tank) and I can’t source any due to lockdown restrictions (can’t leave our 5k radius), I did just have a spawn of bristlenose. Could I pop a few babies in there to help out, or would they just make it worse?

Also Nick, you mentioned substrate - I put them in a bare bottom tank (I was trying to breed bettas in it), that should be fine though, right?

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/25/2021 at 3:07 PM, Crabby said:

Thanks @Mr Gumbyand @Slick_Nick, that’s good news. Luckily I’m in lockdown for the next little while, so I’ve got the capability to do regular small water changes that could take a while.

 You both mentioned the bottom getting dirty - while I don’t have any shrimp available to put in there (well, I only have one, and he seems happy in his tank) and I can’t source any due to lockdown restrictions (can’t leave our 5k radius), I did just have a spawn of bristlenose. Could I pop a few babies in there to help out, or would they just make it worse?

Also Nick, you mentioned substrate - I put them in a bare bottom tank (I was trying to breed bettas in it), that should be fine though, right?

I would probably leave the bristlenose out they will probably cause more of a mess! If it’s bare bottom you should be fine without shrimp it’ll be easy for you to syphon all the uneaten food and poop off the bottom anyways! 

[Slick_Nick]

Hi everyone this is going to be the last update of the cpd fry in the 5g. I got the 29g planted and co2 hooked up last week. I have been so busy with everything that I haven’t been feeding much live bbs so I finally spoiled them with some this morning and then again this afternoon! I don’t know if the 5g is hindering their ability to grow more quickly because they really don’t seem a whole lot bigger or I’m just impatient and they grow slow which is most likely the case! Either way I hope to put them into the 29g in a few weeks that will be their forever home. They are still difficult to get good pictures of so I did my best!

[PineSong]

They look very happy in that lush tank. They really are the cutest little fish. 

[Slick_Nick]

On 8/29/2021 at 10:59 AM, PineSong said:

They look very happy in that lush tank. They really are the cutest little fish. 

They really are happy they have the right side to go hide if they’d like, but they always hang out in the open area. Whenever I come up to the tank they all get excited and come up waiting for food! I watched one kill a tiny little shrimplet today. He just bit at it a few times as it was swimming and killed it and let it sink to the bottom. Ever since I moved the adults out of this tank I’ve noticed a bunch more shrimplets popping up, I didn’t realize how many they were actually eating! I’d like to get these guys out before they get much larger and take out a bunch of the shrimp themselves.

[Slick_Nick]

Hi everyone I have recently moved all of the cpd fry into the 29g. In order to get them out of the 5g I had to pull everything out! I was sad to tear that thing down, but I ended up moving it downstairs with the rest of my tanks and I rescaped it and it actually turned out really nice! I am going to wait another couple weeks probably before posting any photos of the fry in the 29g. It’s going through an ugly phase at the moment just some diatoms and stuff, but the Otocinclus I added have been making quick work of it! Unfortunately when I caught all of the fry out of the 5g to move into the 29g I only counted 28. I was really shocked because it hadn’t looked like any were missing. I’m still happy with 28 surviving for my first time attempting to breed anything. I have 8 ember tetras in with the 28 cpd and they like to hang out together and occasionally swim across the tank in a large group it looks awesome! Anyways sorry for no pictures this time, but it will be worth the wait.

[Mr Gumby]

Sounds to me like a great result so I wouldn't worry about losing a couple.

I usually just grab a bit of Java moss from my main display after I've seen activity which nets me 5 or 6 fry so to get those numbers you're doing very well