Breeding Furcata and Praecox Rainbows

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Howdy everyone. 
 

Looking for some advice on breeding both Furcata and Praecox Rainbows now that I’ve made my mops. My thoughts mostly surround when to pull mops, and feeding the newly hatched fry. 
 

-My Furcata’s appear full grown. Any other indicators that they’re ready to breed?

-My Praecox are pretty small. I’ve grown them quite a bit since I first got them, but same question: any indicators that they’re already breeding?
 

-My thought is to pull mops around day 10 and hatch in a separate container. I don’t have the time nor patience to go through the mops every day and pull eggs, nor am I wanting to produce huge numbers. 

-Mostly I’m concerned with feeding the newly hatched fry. I’ve tried infusoria cultures a couple different times with green beans, and every time the jar just gets absolutely gross. I’m always like, “maybe another day and the infusoria will begin to clear up the water” and then both myself and my girlfriend get sick of looking at the gross jar. It’s been a while since I’ve played with it, so my next attempt will literally be like 3 green beans in a jar. My thought is that considering they’re way more dense than say, lettuce or cabbage, maybe I’ve just overdone it even with like 10 green beans in the jar. 
 

-Anybody had luck with Hikari First Bites or Sera Micron over infusoria? Not only is this easier, it just takes less of my already non-existent time. 
 

-I (currently) do not have any live cultures like vinegar eels to help transition between infusoria/powdered food and BBS. Anybody had success with straight powdered foods until they’re ready for BBS? 
 

Anything I’ve bred prior to being an active forum member I’d just wing it and try to figure it out. Considering I’m now an active forum member I thought I would gather the knowledge of the sages to hopefully cut out some trial and error. 
 

Thanks in advance and I look forward to what has worked for you!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:12 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Howdy everyone. 
 

Looking for some advice on breeding both Furcata and Praecox Rainbows now that I’ve made my mops. My thoughts mostly surround when to pull mops, and feeding the newly hatched fry. 
 

-My Furcata’s appear full grown. Any other indicators that they’re ready to breed?

-My Praecox are pretty small. I’ve grown them quite a bit since I first got them, but same question: any indicators that they’re already breeding?
 

-My thought is to pull mops around day 10 and hatch in a separate container. I don’t have the time nor patience to go through the mops every day and pull eggs, nor am I wanting to produce huge numbers. 

-Mostly I’m concerned with feeding the newly hatched fry. I’ve tried infusoria cultures a couple different times with green beans, and every time the jar just gets absolutely gross. I’m always like, “maybe another day and the infusoria will begin to clear up the water” and then both myself and my girlfriend get sick of looking at the gross jar. It’s been a while since I’ve played with it, so my next attempt will literally be like 3 green beans in a jar. My thought is that considering they’re way more dense than say, lettuce or cabbage, maybe I’ve just overdone it even with like 10 green beans in the jar. 
 

-Anybody had luck with Hikari First Bites or Sera Micron over infusoria? Not only is this easier, it just takes less of my already non-existent time. 
 

-I (currently) do not have any live cultures like vinegar eels to help transition between infusoria/powdered food and BBS. Anybody had success with straight powdered foods until they’re ready for BBS? 
 

Anything I’ve bred prior to being an active forum member I’d just wing it and try to figure it out. Considering I’m now an active forum member I thought I would gather the knowledge of the sages to hopefully cut out some trial and error. 
 

Thanks in advance and I look forward to what has worked for you!

I’ve only ever bred Pseudomugil Luminatus when it comes to rainbow fish, but I’ll suggest the KeepingFishSimple YouTube channel.

Keep us posted on how the breeding goes!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

The Praecox females will have that little bit of plumpness to their mid-abdomen which usually means they’re gravid. They are the prettiest female rainbows in my opinion. I would just get in the habit of checking the mops 2 hours after lights go on as they are usually very active first thing in the morning. I always found them after a water change and a good feed could increase the yield but otherwise they are steady breeders. 
Furcata would be similar to any of the blue eyes or Pseudomugils - if you see them going in and out of the mop pull it and check for eggs. Usually you’ll find them consistently as they are a short lived species they live to procreate. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/15/2022 at 6:06 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

 

The Praecox females will have that little bit of plumpness to their mid-abdomen which usually means they’re gravid. They are the prettiest female rainbows in my opinion. I would just get in the habit of checking the mops 2 hours after lights go on as they are usually very active first thing in the morning. I always found them after a water change and a good feed could increase the yield but otherwise they are steady breeders. 

 

I’m told they’re at their most productive from the age of 8 months onwards . Do you think that would be true?

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Sounds about right. At 18-24 months they’ll slow down or stop. I’ve had a luminatus live to 28 months but they were sad to watch.

[Adam Swarbrick]

Yes @AllFishNoBrakes I’ve raised a whole batch of praecox on boiled egg and repashi powder then crushed flakes. It is much faster with bbs though. As for size praecox will breed straight out of the store pretty much ( at about an inch) there just won’t be loads of eggs

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Beardedbillygoat1975 @Adam Swarbrick Thanks for the info! Guess I need to throw those mops in the tanks!

I was reading an ACO care/breeding guide on the Furcatas that was saying 2-3 weeks to hatch, has that been your experience as well? Any info on how long the Praecox eggs take to hatch?

[Adam Swarbrick]

It’s usually around a week. They are absolutely minuscule though so could be easily missed if there aren’t many.

[Adam Swarbrick]

I forgot to mention that figure is for the last laid eggs to hatch. You could have fry as quick as the next day. The rainbows will last every day so if the mops in for a week the eggs laid on day one will be incubating and be ready to hatch once it’s been pulled. The newest eggs laid just before pulling the mop will still need a week before hatching.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Adam SwarbrickAh, yes. Thank you for the reminder. I’m used to playing with things like Corys and Angels that spawn all in one go. Thanks again

[TOtrees]

I bred furcatas. They will breed much younger than a lot of people think. I had babies appearing in my grow out tanks. There appears to be this brief sweet spot where they’re old enough to breed by mostly too small to depredate the new hatchlings  

I soaked the spawning mops for 24-48 hrs then picked eggs and removed them to 1L jars with meth blue. Hatching takes about 3 weeks. 

I tried micro worms for first food, but honestly they did better on first bites. At least for me. I’ve recently found a low micron “larval diet” from AAA (and now I can’t find the link or name) that works as well or better than first bites. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@TOtrees Nice. Appreciate the info! As soon as these angels are hatched and moved out of the hatching station it’s game on 

[Cinnebuns]

I admit I only browsed the previous posts but I have successfully beed my furcata. It took me awhile but I finally got some. I won't say I'm an expert by any means but I can pass along what I learned.

I did pull eggs out of a spawning mop. The eggs are SUPER tiny and very clear so hard to find. They lay like 1-2 every day so you can check daily if you want. 

I put the egg in with neocaridina shrimp. They nanny the eggs. They will clean fertile ones and eat infertile ones. If you don't have this then you need to remove infertile ones. They will become white and fuzzy. 

When they are born they are INSANELY tiny. I could barely see them. First bites is too large for them. I starved my first one feeding it first bites. These now I'm successfully feeding with Sera micro food. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/30/2022 at 8:36 AM, Cinnebuns said:

put the egg in with neocaridina shrimp. They nanny the eggs. They will clean fertile ones and eat infertile ones. If you don't have this then you need to remove infertile ones. They will become white and fuzzy. 

I might try that with my Corydora eggs — thanks for the tip!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Cinnebuns Thanks for the tips! I have a mop in with my Furcata’s, and I also have Julii Cory’s in that tank. 2 nights ago I saw Cory eggs on the glass, so I pulled those and put them in a tumbler, and I went through the mop as well. Definitely a few, tiiiiny eggs in the mop which I assumed were from the Furcata’s and you seem to confirm that! I noticed some shrimp in the tank hanging out in the mop, but I wasn’t sure if they were just eating leftover bits of food or if they were cleaning eggs. I knew they would do that, but hadn’t personally seen it with my own eyes yet. I put those eggs in the tumbler as well and we’ll see what happens. 
 

Appreciate the Sera Micron over First Bites tip. I have both and definitely planned on trying First Bites, but will now use the Sera Micron assuming these eggs hatch. 

[Cinnebuns]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:01 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I might try that with my Corydora eggs — thanks for the tip!

That's where I first started doing this with was cory eggs!

On 11/30/2022 at 9:46 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

@Cinnebuns Thanks for the tips! I have a mop in with my Furcata’s, and I also have Julii Cory’s in that tank. 2 nights ago I saw Cory eggs on the glass, so I pulled those and put them in a tumbler, and I went through the mop as well. Definitely a few, tiiiiny eggs in the mop which I assumed were from the Furcata’s and you seem to confirm that! I noticed some shrimp in the tank hanging out in the mop, but I wasn’t sure if they were just eating leftover bits of food or if they were cleaning eggs. I knew they would do that, but hadn’t personally seen it with my own eyes yet. I put those eggs in the tumbler as well and we’ll see what happens. 
 

Appreciate the Sera Micron over First Bites tip. I have both and definitely planned on trying First Bites, but will now use the Sera Micron assuming these eggs hatch. 

I have one warning with breeding furcata and cories side by side. I cannot confirm this is what was happening and mine are pandas, not juli, but I suspect when I had mine spawning in the same mop the cories were eating the furcata eggs. The amount of eggs I found sky rocketed a ton when I moved the cories to a different tank. Cories will even go into mops to eat their own eggs so it wouldn't surprise me if they were eating the furcata eggs. If you have to have them in the same tank I recommend multiple mops including both sinking and floating. The cories will use the sinking and the furcata may use both but likely the floating. 

In regards to the food, they eventually will get large enough for first bites. I'm told around 2 weeks but I fed Sera longer just to be safe. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Cinnebuns