Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I’m starting this thread to catalogue my adventures with breeding gold wrestling halfbeaks, and I’m starting it now because I have fry! A little backstory, I acquired 4 back in roughly October, maybe September, and have had them in a 20 gallon long community tank with some pencil fish, some CPDs, some corydoras, and a super red bristlenose. I lost one in I think late November early December from what I think was competition/bullying because I have 3 males and 1 female and lost one of the males. I went out of town for 3 weeks for Christmas break and New Years, and just returned this past Sunday. Monday this week (Jan 10th) I was doing water changes to catch back up after being gone, and I noticed my female was Very plump, so on a whim I threw her in an external HOB breeder box. I did this on the off chance she was pregnant because halfbeaks can be very predatory to fry. She didn’t really seem to eat once I moved her. Today (January 13th) I was harvesting some live BBS (I started hatching some to condition my apistos and just in case I was right) and I was looking in the breeder box, and low and behold there’s fry! I’ve been paying very close attention the past few days so she must’ve given birth during the night or Very early this morning. I have roughly 7-8 fry and have moved momma back to the main tank. It’s possible she could’ve had more throughout today but I was worried about her going and eating the fry since she hasnt eaten really since I moved her on Monday. The babies are fat and happy on BBS and I’m also offering some of the CoOp fry food as well. Momma is swimming around the main tank and seems much more active now, the more dominant of the 2 males right behind her. Now for the fun part: the pictures 😁 8 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.K.Luterman Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Super cool! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 How neat! When you were gone for the three week period, did you have anyone feeding or taking care of your fish? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 12:56 PM, Andy's Fish Den said: How neat! When you were gone for the three week period, did you have anyone feeding or taking care of your fish? Nope. My gf popped in once but didn’t do anything other than look for a minute. I had auto feeders setup and I did some good sized water changes before I left. My schoutedeni puffer is at a friends house so he was feeding him the whole time. None of the fish I have rn (except for the new fry now) need anything other than dry foods. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Congratulations! I hope you'll post progress photos as they grow. So cute. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 The babies are 13 days old now and growing fast! I have 10 and I’m feeding live BBS and vinegar eels. Still in the HOB breeder box but I have a 5 set up and cycling to move them to once they outgrow the breeder box. There’s occasional squabbles but nothing bad, and their beaks are starting to develop. That gold color is also coming in and I can sometimes see them from across the room when the light hits just right. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi_Aquatics Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 Wow they are growing fast! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 I love them. The babies remind me of Beaker from the Muppets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 3 weeks ago today is when I originally pulled the female, and she’s looking pretty round once again. Gonna try and get the fry moved tomorrow to the 5 for growout and pull her to the breeder box again. If I’m right that puts them at somewhere around 2/12-3ish weeks for pregnancy. Time will tell. In other news the babies are getting so big 🥺 there’s a couple that are smaller that are being outcompeted a bit, I’m hoping when I upgrade them that’ll even out since they’ll have more space. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 If you can I’d separate the weaker from the strong ones and power feed them for a couple weeks and get them up to the level of their brethren. Good luck with the next batch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi_Aquatics Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 That is exciting! It will be nice to have some first hand info on pregnancy length of these great fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 I’ve got everything moved, I unfortunately lost one during the move 😞 but everyone else seems to be doing perfectly fine! I expect the female to give birth within the next 5ish days, tomorrow will be exactly 3 weeks from when she last gave birth and was moved back to the main tank. Now unfortunately I don’t know when exactly her and the male did the thing once I added her back, but he was pretty much right by her side again as soon as I added her in, and they seem to cruise the tank together, the male always right behind the female 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Well guys, just over 3 weeks later and we have another spawn! Just woke up to some babies, initial count is 12. Depending on when the male spawned the female after last time, she was pregnant for 3 weeks to maybe 3 weeks and 4ish days, or anything in between there. Gonna get her moved to the main tank and get some BBS in with the babies and get em eating. Here’s some pics, first set of babies is today’s and then there will be the mom, then the first round of babies which are about 3 and a half weeks old. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi_Aquatics Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 That is super exciting! The first group of fry is growing so fast! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 They are so cute. This species is definitely on my "one day" list. They must be very happy in your tanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 I lost a group in qt a year ago and have been gun shy since but may have to do it again. Such a great fish and niche to have them in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganTheMermaid Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Help! I have 4 Halfbeaks (1 female and 3 males). I know they have been breeding constantly but I've never actually seen the babies until last night I happened to be sitting in front of my tank while she was giving birth! I sat in front of my tank for two hours individually catching the fry as they came out because the males and female and my honey gourami were absolutly going crazy trying to eat them. I cant believe I didn't think of just putting the female in a separate box...So I was able to save about 10-12 and the best I could do is put them in my big fish net, sitting at the surface of the water but I know if I want to keep them I need more equipment. What do I get? A breeder box and some BBS? But I don't have a second grow-out tank, can I let the babies grow up in the breeder box and then just transfer them to the community aquarium? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted August 15, 2022 Author Share Posted August 15, 2022 (edited) That’s what I would do, throw em in the breeder box at first. If you can setup a small temporary 5 gallon with a sponge to raise them once they outgrow the breeder box will be your best bet. They’ll get too big for the breeder box but probably won’t be big enough to avoid getting eaten by the parents or the honey gourami. Live BBS, vinegar eels, I had em on the CoOp fry food and Hikari First Bites as well. I ended up getting lazy/overwhelmed with life and only ended up with 1 fry surviving after a month, and then lost the female so I’ve only got males. Good luck!! Edited August 15, 2022 by Steph’s Fish and Plants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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