Celestial Pearl Danio Breeding

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

I recently acquired some CPDs or Celestial Pearl Danios, and I thought I’d start a thread for breeding them. I have 4 males and 2 females (before today I thought it was the opposite ratio) that I got 3 days ago, today was my first day able to watch them the whole day and in the light, and my first day offering live baby brine shrimp. For several hours today I’ve noticed the dominant male chasing around one of the females, and occasionally another male will also try and chase for a few moments and then go off and do something else. I have some videos of this but I’m not sure how to add it (I’ll play around, advice would be helpful) and I’m wondering if this is breeding behavior or if it’s aggression. What are your experiences with the keeping and breeding of this beautiful species? (I posted a few videos on tiktok, I can’t get the video into the right format to post directly from my phone, would it be ok to post a link to the tiktok?)

[Irene]

Yes, my CPDs were constantly chasing and circling each other. They also nipped each other's fins regularly, but it never seemed to affect their health or appetite. I believe it was just normal danio behavior, which I talk about in this video. 

CPD with nipped tail

[Lizzie Block]

On 10/28/2020 at 1:51 PM, Steph’s Fish and Plants said:

I recently acquired some CPDs or Celestial Pearl Danios, and I thought I’d start a thread for breeding them. I have 4 males and 2 females (before today I thought it was the opposite ratio) that I got 3 days ago, today was my first day able to watch them the whole day and in the light, and my first day offering live baby brine shrimp. For several hours today I’ve noticed the dominant male chasing around one of the females, and occasionally another male will also try and chase for a few moments and then go off and do something else. I have some videos of this but I’m not sure how to add it (I’ll play around, advice would be helpful) and I’m wondering if this is breeding behavior or if it’s aggression. What are your experiences with the keeping and breeding of this beautiful species? (I posted a few videos on tiktok, I can’t get the video into the right format to post directly from my phone, would it be ok to post a link to the tiktok?)

You could try uploading to YouTube and then providing a link on the thread - lemme know if you want more details!!

I also came here to follow your journey! CPD's are one of my all time favorite nano fish (unlike @Irene says in her video LOL) , never had any breed in my care though. Super interested to see if you have better luck! Jimmy refers to their circular flaring behavior as 'sparring'. But I've never had any real aggression issues. The tanks I've had them in were extremely heavily planted though..

I wish you all the luck 🙂

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

I’m planning on uploading some videos soon, but I wanted to update this. I ended up moving all my CPDs to my 20 long to prepare the 10 gallon for a possible red eye puffer (which didn’t end up happening) about a week or two ago. Well, last night I found 3 fry in the 20. Today I got access to some vinegar eels and baby brine, and moved all my adults back to the 10 gallon. Today I’ve only seen 1 fry but I’m hopeful. They’re ridiculously tiny. My phone camera isn’t the greatest at picking them up but I did my best to get some few photos. My plan is to try and raise up whatever I can. I’m also gonna be starting some vinegar eel cultures based off of the CoOp blog article. Wish me luck 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

I actually just found another fry that I believe hatched out today because it is hanging on the glass rather than free swimming. 

[Streetwise]

Breeding CPDs is on my list. I hope it all goes swimmingly.

[Maggie]

Hi Steph. CPDs are genetically close to danio erythromicron, and appear to have similar behavior. I've watched my dominant male chase gravid females and lesser males, getting quite mean with them. Their color flares during this activity. He also chased away other females in favor of a particular one, and they snuck away behind the mosses several times. Then back to chasing and aggressive behavior. 

[JettsPapa]

Hello @Steph’s Fish and Plants

I also had some accidental fry that I'm hoping are CPD's.  I had moved some guppy grass from my nano fish tank to my 10 gallon shrimp tank, and noticed a few tiny fry a few days later.  I assume the eggs hitchhiked on the guppy grass.

I've been feeding them some small pellets and shrimp food that I roll between my thumb and finger over the tank to crush as fine as possible twice per day.  Of course that results in hundreds of times more than the three or four fry can eat, but the shrimp and snails eat the excess.  So far they seem to be growing and doing fine.

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

Awesome! Thanks everyone for the tips. I thought I’d update again: I started a vinegar eel culture based on the CoOp blog article today. I’ve got 6 fry total: 3 that hatched out today snd are on the glass, and 3 free swimming. I’ve noticed the free swimming ones tend to stay within the same area in the tank, which has made it easier for me to find them each time I check. They’re in a 20 long with a stiphodon goby because it was easier catching out the adult CPDs and moving them over to a vacant but cycled 10. 

[Marc]

I had a pair of CPDs that I moved out of a shrimp tank, they left about +20 fry behind, apparently they had been eating any that hatched prior to that.  When I moved them from their next tank into their final home they left another 11 fry behind. 

I tried infusoria but never really got good cultures so I went with first bites, crushed tetra granules, and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and most survived.  I now have about sub-adult 20 CPDs in my large community tank and 15-20 juveniles growing out in another tank. Having a planted tank with its own infusoria helps too.

I plan to do the same with Dwarf Emerald Rasboras i now have once I get an open tank. They are extremely skittish.

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

Thanks for the tips @Marc I’ll try that. I’ve got about 8 or so fry that are free swimming. 5 or 6 of them have started school close to the surface among the water sprite I have in the tank. I have my HOB turned off bc the flow is far too strong for them. Late last night I noticed a hydra outbreak after way over feeding the tank (which I was doing on purpose to get infusoria, not hydra 🙃) so I did some frantic digging around on here to find out if they’ll eat the fry. So far I’m thinking no, and I’ve cut back by half how much baby brine I’ve been feeding. Hopefully when I move the adults back they’ll eat the hydra and it won’t be an issue. It’s been really interesting to watch them shoal today tho with them being so small. I hadn’t noticed it any of the earlier days. Not everyone is with the big group, there’s a few solo free swimmers and a few more on the glass, which I believe to be the first day of being hatched.

[Maggie]

On 12/6/2020 at 1:23 AM, Marc said:

I plan to do the same with Dwarf Emerald Rasboras i now have once I get an open tank. They are extremely skittish.

Hi Marc, I have dwarf emerald rasboras (danio erythromicron) also! They are skittish - I'm moving mine into a 20-long and trying to figure out tankmates that'll help bring them out. Some are finally coming out and letting me snap a pic real quick. 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

Update time. I’m about 8 days in and I started feeding the hikari first bites like @Marcsuggested. I haven’t noticed them go for it but I haven’t actually seen them eat anything. I fed just hatched baby brine shrimp this morning as well and saw a bunch of orange stomachs, so they’re big enough for brine now. There’s upwards of 20 fry that are super hard to count 😅 I just ordered the breeder box and fry food from the CoOp (among other things) and I’m gonna set them up in that with the fry food and first bites in an auto feeder. I’m going away for a couple weeks to see family for Christmas but I wanna make sure the babies stay well fed, and no ones gonna be able to come more than once a week. Turning the HOB off was definitely the right choice, they were having much trouble with the flow, but the coop sponge filter is doing a great job. If I can get better pics later I’ll add some to this

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

So unfortunately I don’t think any survived my 3 week vacation. I have 1 technically but I don’t know if it’s from the same round as the others or not. If I get more breeding action or learn anymore I’ll update here. Everyone else feel free to put your input or experience here as well

[Schwack]

Sorry to hear they didn't make it through your vacation. I'm sure you'll be able to hatch a bunch more once you've got the breeder box going.

I've spent the last 2 weeks or so prepping to breed my CPDs, and collected my first eggs on the fifth. Over the last week I collected ~37 eggs and so far have something like 18 little slivers hanging around the breeder box. I've been using some weighted hornwort in a shallow tupperware dish to encourage them to spawn, and so far I've had eggs every day but yesterday.

All my research says they shouldn't need me to feed them until they're free swimming, was that your experience? I've got First Bites on hand, and some baby brine (I'm guessing they're too small for these yet) along with freeze dried blood worms, flake etc I can crush. I started two separate infusoria cultures, but I'm at the 5 and 8 day mark and they're still cloudy and disgusting. I've been fussing over these little guys since I noticed them yesterday, but I'm trying to hold back on putting any food in until they actually need it.

Looking forward to hearing more about how your next batch goes!

Edited January 12, 2021 by Schwack

[CpdLuvR]

Hello y’all!

So I’ve been putting in the time, effort and love into my cpds to get them ready for breeding as well! I too would love to see if you’ve had any more luck with breeding these cuties?!?! I have 2 female and one male that are grown enough to breed and I bought several other younger cpd’s to grow up for future breeding. Anyways today I noticed my cpd’s were finally chasing and going into the deli cup and I swear it looked like they were doing the breeding dance in there but when I went to check after several hours of them “breeding” I searched the Java moss and the cup but have not found one egg...? Is it normal for them to have several dry runs there first few times trying? The females look nice and plump and the male is so ready he’s glowing and chasing. This is my first time breeding cpd’s so I’m not sure if that’s normal? So if you’ve had any more luck breeding and could let me know that would be great?!?! Otherwise good luck breeding to you and everyone!!! 😊 

[Schwack]

I tend not to check the cup daily, but the fact that you're seeing them do a little dance is a good sign. Give it a few days before you check again. It helps me to use a light shining from the bottom of the cup, the eggs are impossibly tiny and difficult for me to see without help.

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

Alrighty it has been way too long since I updated this thread. Unfortunately, I lost my entire first spawn because I had to go out of town for three weeks within less than a week after they’d hatched. I tried a couple times since separating them into a breeder box with no luck, until now.

today, I found my first free swimming fry in an external breeder box. To spawn them this time around, I put my female and the nicest male that already seemed to be courting her into a HOB breeder box with a thick covering of subwassertang for several days. I pulled them back out ~ 6 days ago, and today I noticed fry. I am actually on the second to last day of general cure and prazi pro (water change and carbon is tomorrow) so I’m really surprised. Luckily I’m not planning on going anywhere for at least 3 more weeks so i might be able to pull it off this time. So far I’ve fed the CoOp fry food twice and vinegar eels twice. I threw some brine eggs in the hatchery and started harvesting more vinegar eels, 🤞🏻This time goes better.

now, about the question about feeding when they’re free swimming. I have yet to actually see the eggs, but I’d assume that they’d have some sort of small yolk sac immediately after hatching. I know that the first day after hatching they hang out on the walls of the aquarium, and then become free swimming, and in this stage I did not notice them eating, they stay sort of suctioned to one spot and don’t move. 

[Schwack]

Seems to be about a week of being wrigglers before they start free swimming. I've got another bunch going right now, 10 of which hatched out to wrigglers today. I think you've got it right, they don't need to eat at this stage, they're still feeding on the yolk sac which will sustain them until the sticky bit on their head is gone. In my experience, it's just a matter of getting the food directly in front of their face the first few times, especially with powder food. After that, they'll eat like little maniacs.

[Guppysnail]

Mine chase and chase all day everyday. It always looks more like play to me. I never had any issues with any of them. Wish I had that much energy 

[Marc]

I just pulled some of mine to start breeding in one of my shrimp tanks.  I think adults breed all the time we just never see the young or eggs because they get eaten quickly. I caught this video of them mating briefly. 

 

[Guppysnail]

Hi Steph. I used to breed CPD. I retired my community but recently have the opportunity to sell to my LFS.  I started searching the forum to find what new info tips and tricks are available.  I just wanted to share some info with you if you are still trying to breed that made it super easy for me.  Use a small plastic to go cup or this time around I have been using small terra cotta pot liners. Add a thin layer of gravel. Place bushy short plants moss or I take a longer piece of horn wort wrapped in a circle secured with plant weights on top.  Have a spare set up. Allow the sun to rise naturally on the tank or simulate with light the best you can. They will begin laying in the cup when it gets bright they can’t resist short bushy plant spots. You will see males almost curling around the females and the females will twist to almost be on their side often. As soon as you see this behavior end and they start looking at the plant container remove the container and replace with the new setup spare.  The looking means they are done and hunting to eat the eggs. I used to place in a deep clear glass Pyrex dish with a tiny cycled sponge filter now I have a spare bare 9 gallon  the challenge is getting food (a little goes a long way) to the pot so they can eat as wrigglers  the first few days they absorb the yolk but a day or two before they become free swimming they will eat  (can’t give exact times too small for me to see) This time I’m using sera micron as the wrigglers and days old free swimmers are to tiny  for first bites  in a seasoned tank they eat stuff we can’t see.  I wet a toothpick once a day starting day 4 wipe the water off and collect a touch of sera micron (I purchased from from aq coop) and swirl gently above the container.  It’s worked.  I just recently started again so can’t say % success but I found it easier than other methods.  I’m looking forward to reading your progress  I enjoy your other posts  the experience you have working with aquatic animals is informative. 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Guppysnail