Odessa Barbs

[Ben P.]

I'm considering putting a school of Odessa barbs from Greg sage into a spare 55.  I have watched Greg's videos on breeding the Odessa's but honestly it seems like he's overcomplicating it.  I was wondering if anyone has breed them, and how you did it? I was wondering if there was a way to utilize spawning mops and pick the eggs like I do with rainbows.  Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Fish Folk]

On 8/9/2021 at 7:23 PM, Ben P. said:

I'm considering putting a school of Odessa barbs from Greg sage into a spare 55.  I have watched Greg's videos on breeding the Odessa's but honestly it seems like he's overcomplicating it.  I was wondering if anyone has breed them, and how you did it? I was wondering if there was a way to utilize spawning mops and pick the eggs like I do with rainbows.  Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Awesome! Big issue is adults eating fry. I’d cover the substrate with smooth landscaping stones — about the circumference of a watch face — two-stones deep. On top of that I’d put 4-inches thick Java moss. Water changes, lowering, heavy quality food feeding … should help to trigger spawning. 

[Patrick_G]

Is the shipping really $100-120 for two pair? 😳

[Ben P.]

Yeah it's something like that.  I got a quote about a week ago from him.  I would suggest you get juveniles though, they ship and acclimate easier.  

[Ben P.]

On 8/9/2021 at 7:01 PM, Fish Folk said:

Awesome! Big issue is adults eating fry. I’d cover the substrate with smooth landscaping stones — about the circumference of a watch face — two-stones deep. On top of that I’d put 4-inches thick Java moss. Water changes, lowering, heavy quality food feeding … should help to trigger spawning. 

Doesn't putting the java moss on top kind of defeat the purpose of the stones?

[Fish Folk]

On 8/9/2021 at 9:01 PM, Ben P. said:

Doesn't putting the java moss on top kind of defeat the purpose of the stones?

The stones provide secure hiding places for fry. Old aquarists used to cover the floor of a tetra breeding tank with marbles.

The Java moss provides context for the adults. They rush through it to spawn, like carp on a large weed covered lake.

[Ben P.]

On 8/9/2021 at 8:28 PM, Fish Folk said:

The stones provide secure hiding places for fry. Old aquarists used to cover the floor of a tetra breeding tank with marbles.

The Java moss provides context for the adults. They rush through it to spawn, like carp on a large weed covered lake.

So in this setup do you move the parents to a breeding tank to have them drop their eggs or do you just keep them together all the time with this setup?

[Fish Folk]

On 8/9/2021 at 9:32 PM, Ben P. said:

So in this setup do you move the parents to a breeding tank to have them drop their eggs or do you just keep them together all the time with this setup?

Just a concept. I think you could have some fry survive keeping parents in if this is a large enough tank — ca. 40-55 gal.

[tolstoy21]

I've bred Greg's Odessas. I have a thread about it here somewhere.

I followed Gregs methods closely and had a large spawn, but lost 1/2 of that about 3 months in due to poor water quality issues.

So high level take aways:

1. Odessas are fast and rambunctious and eat voraciously. They will no doubt gobble up all their eggs and fry if given the chance. 
2. They are egg scatterers, so the eggs need something to fall into like rocks or marbles, or through a grate, so the adults cannot get at them
3. The newly hatched fry are TINY.  By TINY I mean like detritus worm TINY. So, you need tiny food like infusoria or paramecium in the very first few days.
4. The fry wont make it without being fed at least three times a day.
5. The fry, up till about 3 1/2 months, are susceptible to poor water quality. Here I don't mean high nitrates or ammonia or anything we measure for (though having low levels of those helps). What I mean by this is bacterial blooms indicated by cloudy water. Greg talks about this in his videos, and it's true. I lost probably close to 200 fish in a few days. The tank will just nosedive and there is no pulling up from the eventual crash. 
6. WATER CHANGES .. LOTS OF THEM. . LARGE ONES. .. see above.

How you breed them is probably an individual choice, but all those factors above are the ones I'd imagine any breeding attempt/setup will need to deal with.

Hope this helps.

Edited August 10, 2021 by tolstoy21

[tolstoy21]

My original Odessa breeding thread

I still have quite a few of these guys left. Going to do another round of breeding soon. Love these fish.