Breeding danios, how I succeeded (ATTN: Cory)

[Andrew Geiger]

Hey all, I'm new member. I want to get this out there so others can compare results. Also this seemed like the easiest path to seeing if Cory can help discuss this. I'm unsure if this will work with all species, but I see no reason that it wouldn't. (I only have owned "Giant Danios" so far).

Anyways: Regular breeder mop to start. Then pulled. 2-3days before hatching. Fed as soon as free swimming. I literally just used organic spirulina powder for food! This mop had about 30-40. The first week or so, I fed a small amount of powder (only enough to cover 3-4in diameter of the water surface) every 3-4 hours while lights were on. I then started to mix in crushed flake food (bug bites color, xtreme krill, and xtreme spirulina).  I'm sure that it would be even more successful with working up to baby brine shrimp. 

Filter was a small sponge filter, turned down fairly low in a 10gal.

I would like to see if this works with CPD's, or any tiny omnivore fry that normally would need natural algae or mulm. Hopefully Cory can touch base on this for me and get the word out on this, I've heard ?'s like this on his Q&A's.  Thanks for the light read.

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Andrew Geiger
Wanted to add detail and clarify my steps

[KBOzzie59]

You can for sure get his attention using @Cory.   Or @anymembername for that matter.

[Cory]

Should work for basically any egg scatterer. 

[Andrew Geiger]

1 minute ago, Cory said:

Should work for basically any egg scatterer. 

Thanks, yes it should. I think most of the trouble people are having is they need fine food, not all flake is created equal for crushing. Then there isn't always natural food happening in the grow out tank/box. I had to throw together a 10 after bringing them home and seeing action, the spirulina powder works, and seems like a good tip/trick. Hopefully someone finds it useful.

[Cory]

If someone is going to spawn things that need that small of food regularly, they can use repashy powder, works great for tiny fry.

[Hobbit]

I haven't been able to get my honey gourami babies to eat anything but live foods (infusoria or baby brine). Even the older ones who are two months old haven't been successfully weaned yet... I'd love it if the tiny ones would eat spirulina powder. I'll have to try it with my next batch. Do you just let it sit on top of the water and fall down over time?

Also is it possible for the babies to be totally carnivorous even though the adults are omnivores?

[Andrew Geiger]

Worth a try, they are probably conditioned to the live foods, and prefer to hunt. Yes, I just sprinkled in by tapping a little spoonful. It takes a minute or two to sink. If you want to direct it you can use a turkey baster or a feeder ring. (I made one out of 3/8in tube, danios are mid to surface feeders) 

If it lands on a surface, I’ve seen my molly fry and even the danios pick at it. If you have shrimp/snails they go nuts over it too. 
 

edit: Cory’s point is true, if they go after spirulina powder, they probably would go after rapashy in powder form too. Hard to say, I just had spirulina on hand for smoothies.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Andrew Geiger

[shkote]

I use Sera Micron for tiny Rainbows.

I also like to sprinkle a little in front of the current for Bamboo shrimp too, they love it.