Taylor Blake’s Rainbow Shiner Breeding Journal

[Taylor Blake]

So I started with 20 fry over a year ago and I plan on starting my breeding project now that they are coloring up. I have a 55 for my males and a 75 that my females are living in at the moment but that will be the fry tank. I have 7 males and 10 females that I have selected. I plan to move the males in with the females after a week or so of good feeding. I have a pump blowing water over the spawning area in the 75. I do have a question what dose the temp have to be to get them to breed I am keepIng them in the garage and I want to know How low they will still breed at. I know they do well in cold water in the 50s and I've seen them in ponds with ice on them I'm just wondering if anyone has breed them at those temps?

[Ryan S.]

Very cool, keep us updated. I also have some rainbow shiners that I want to breed but need some ideas on how best to do it!

[Taylor Blake]

Update all my males are dead water perimeters have not changed form the females which are doing well and eating I think that they may not have adjusted well to the temp change for some reason. Anyone with shiners has this happens to you are males more sensitive to temp change then females for some reason? Also if anyone knows where I can get some male rainbow shiners to breed let me know.

[Alexa]

What a bummer 😞 They are so beautiful. I hope you’ll be able to find some more.

[Daniel]

Sorry for the setback. But you can only have setback like this if you have a serious project in the works. No project = no setbacks.  I am glad you to see you post your failures as well as your successes. It is one of the things that make this forum so valuable. Thank you!

[WhitecloudDynasty]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:34 AM, Taylor Blake said:

Update all my males are dead water perimeters have not changed form the females which are doing well and eating I think that they may not have adjusted well to the temp change for some reason. Anyone with shiners has this happens to you are males more sensitive to temp change then females for some reason? Also if anyone knows where I can get some male rainbow shiners to breed let me know.

They shouldn't die from temp change,  cause i beat my down every week on water change day. They get anywhere from 5-15 degrees colder water. I do that on purpose also to make them hardier.

[JoefishGofish]

I too am trying to breed my 13 Rainbow Shiners. I could use some pointers.
 

they consistently spawn every 2 weeks. Temp is 66F

started with a DIY egg bubbler and hatched some fry....very little success

upgraded to a Ziss Egg Tumbler 65 and love it but I’m still losing fry once the tails have formed  

I've collected 4 batches of eggs now, 1st attempt - 30 eggs-eggs grew fungus - no successful fry

2nd - 100 eggs collected- some fungus- about 20 eggs remained viable- 1 fry (6 weeks old) now eating BBS

3rd - 50-60 eggs collected - 4 fry (3 weeks old) about to go in a fry tank to hopefully eat BBS soon  

4th - 100 eggs - 20 lasted the week, now 1 week old, have tails, played around with flow in Tumbler, I think I killed them all but a few  

it’s so disappointing. I kept the flow high enough that they didn’t all stick together.  Once the dead eggs had dissolved and the remaining 20 had formed tails I turned the flow up to see if they were active but I think I killed them with too much flow  

any thoughts for next time?

I should have another spawn in a week  

 

 

[Ryan S.]

@WhitecloudDynasty I think is needed on egg care. 

What is your breeding method and tank set up and how do you collect your eggs? Would love to hear. 

[WhitecloudDynasty]

7 hours ago, JoefishGofish said:

I too am trying to breed my 13 Rainbow Shiners. I could use some pointers.
 

they consistently spawn every 2 weeks. Temp is 66F

started with a DIY egg bubbler and hatched some fry....very little success

upgraded to a Ziss Egg Tumbler 65 and love it but I’m still losing fry once the tails have formed  

I've collected 4 batches of eggs now, 1st attempt - 30 eggs-eggs grew fungus - no successful fry

2nd - 100 eggs collected- some fungus- about 20 eggs remained viable- 1 fry (6 weeks old) now eating BBS

3rd - 50-60 eggs collected - 4 fry (3 weeks old) about to go in a fry tank to hopefully eat BBS soon  

4th - 100 eggs - 20 lasted the week, now 1 week old, have tails, played around with flow in Tumbler, I think I killed them all but a few  

it’s so disappointing. I kept the flow high enough that they didn’t all stick together.  Once the dead eggs had dissolved and the remaining 20 had formed tails I turned the flow up to see if they were active but I think I killed them with too much flow  

any thoughts for next time?

I should have another spawn in a week  

 

 

Here's my 2 cents.

I believe you are trying too hard. Don't use a tumbler, they are too fragile.

How is your setup? How do you know the eggs are all fertile?

I collect my all my eggs within an hour or 2 after they spawn. I place them in a container with aged water. 1 drop of Methylane blue and a air tub/stone. The air is  barely on, just enough to move the water around. They hatch in 3 days so before that I do water change to remove the Methylane blue 50-80% every 12-24 hours(when I remember lol)

They will hatch on the 3rd day

ill dump them in a fully cycle aged aquarium with the water lv lower half way or more. Spongefilter turn all the way down.. don't mess with them within the 5 days because they are eating their egg yolk. Theyll be free swimming 5 day later.

When they are free swimming they will take bbs.

* they are light sensitive so when I collect to right before they are free swimming I put a towel over their lid to block out as much light as I can. "A new born fry that see light only mean they are out in open water and that will stress them to death". 

 

[JoefishGofish]

Here’s my setup. 
2 x 75 gallon unheated tanks. 

top tank is Gold White Clouds. Some brought inside from backyard pond, smaller ones are new that I’m growing out to put outside in the spring.  I’m up in Canada near Toronto. I don’t think I can risk overwintering these guys. 
Bottom tank is Rainbow Shiners. They were outside all summer and I brought them in to try breeding (and because is so cold too!)
 

My 20 gallon fry tank. 
Exterior fry little tank. 
Egg tumbler. 

I collected my first few batches in a small cup with stones

Eggs are now collected in glass container with stones.  Easier to see when the eggs are deposited. 
Not all eggs have been fertilized in the past. Maybe 20% have made past the 2-3 day mark.  The Tumbler took care of fungus and clumping eggs. 
Next time I will slow the Tumbler down once the eggs have hatched. I’ll leave them alone for additional 5 days before moving them to small fry tank. 
Currently my 20 gallon fry tank has Cherry Shrimp, 1 Shiner fry, and 20 Gold White Cloud fry. 

[JoefishGofish]

I’ve been letting the algae grow on my smaller fry tank to offer some nutrient(?) and natural atmosphere for newest  fry. What are your thoughts on this?

Edited February 9, 2021 by JoefishGofish

[Colu]

Bio flims a great. fry food Great looking tanks  

Edited February 9, 2021 by Colu

[WhitecloudDynasty]

@JoefishGofish 

Try it with out the tumbler, its ok even if the eggs get clump together. 

here my opinion on spawning over rocks in a container. In the wild they spawn in very similar setup but in massive group so very few eggs get missed. I noticed when the female drop her eggs she shoot it straight down. Shooting it straight down into those container fill with rock theyll fall in between the cracks, will the male milk be able to get in between those crack? 

When I did my experiment with rocks in a container I added a few drop of food coloring just to see if ill penetrate into the rocks, it doesn't, it just sit over the container and get pull out of its area. I'm guessing since there isn't moving water going in between those rocks to pull the food coloring in. Maybe thats why your fertility rate is so low?

[JoefishGofish]

I’ll try just a single layer of stones then. They definitely seem attracted to wherever I place the container. It’s been in other corners too. 
That’s a great thought on the fertilizing. 
where do you find Methylane Blue?
Can you show me a pic of what you use? There’s a few odd looking products on Amazon. 

[WhitecloudDynasty]

1 hour ago, JoefishGofish said:

I’ll try just a single layer of stones then. They definitely seem attracted to wherever I place the container. It’s been in other corners too. 
That’s a great thought on the fertilizing. 
where do you find Methylane Blue?
Can you show me a pic of what you use? There’s a few odd looking products on Amazon. 

Using a single lay stone the fish will swipe the bottom and throw the eggs up just to eat it..its crazy but I seen it happen.

Any aquarium methylane blue would work

 

[JoefishGofish]

So what do you suggest for an egg laying containment?  

[WhitecloudDynasty]

1 hour ago, JoefishGofish said:

So what do you suggest for an egg laying containment?  

Nothing special, anything will work. Just keep the water highly oxygenated 

[JoefishGofish]

They are at it again this morning. I’m hoping to collect eggs in this plastic container with a single layer of stones over a floor with gaps in it for the eggs to fall through.  Fingers crossed. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by JoefishGofish
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[JoefishGofish]

So it appears the Shiners are spawning anywhere but on my collection area so far......

they were collecting in dark corners of the tank and really going at it. 
I've placed collecting jars with a couple of stones in a net cup on top. 
we’ll see. 
Egg collecting might be difficult this round.  It’s still early.
They’ll be at it all day. 

[JoefishGofish]

My makeshift jam jar with net pot in the top has collected approximately 100 eggs so far. I only hope they’ve been fertilized too. 
I’ll post videos on YouTube. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by JoefishGofish

[JoefishGofish]

Note to self, and to others perhaps, I was feeding my other tanks bloodworms and thought I’d add some to the the spawning shiners and within 30 minutes the snapped right out of their brilliant colouring and took a break from their frenzy. 
I did not expect this. 
Im waiting to see if they colour up again or is this it for the spawn......

[JoefishGofish]

So I’m calling it a day. 
I collected about 200 + eggs from the net cup/jam jar that the Shiners chose to spawn in. 
I put 100 eggs in the little HOB fry tank with lotsa green algae in it and 100 eggs in the Ziss Tumbler 65 for hatch rate comparison. 
I really hope this yields me some more fry.  

[WhitecloudDynasty]

@JoefishGofish good luck and keep us updated 

[JoefishGofish]

I must be having issues with fertility rates.  I’m watching the eggs turn cloudy and white. 
About 30-40% are dead eggs. frustrating. 

[JoefishGofish]

Down to about a dozen eggs that have activity inside. Tails are flicking around. Should hatch by end of day.