Breeding Scarlet Badis

[memorywrangler]

I have had my eye out for a female scarlet badis for a while.  So much so, that I was know as "the guy who comes in looking for scarlet badis" at my LFS.  A few weeks ago, I brought home a promising candidate and after a few days of feasting on moina, eggs were apparent!

I picked up a companion for her and started quarantine.

They seemed healthy and happy, but not "in the mood."  

I moved the female out for a few days.  When I added her back it took about an hour for spawning start!  Hooray.  They spawned probably 10 times over the course of an hour before the female went to hide in a corner, her egg supply visibly depleted:

I moved both parents out of the the tank.

As the eggs started coming, I realized a I had a few mistakes and miscalculations:

1. I had put some plants in a small, removable container in the tank hoping they spawn there.  They did, but only some of the time.  They also spawned next to heater, behind a small pump in the tank and just here and there.
2. They eggs are incredibly small and almost neutrally buoyant, so when I tried to remove the container I think lost most of them.
3. I can barely the find the eggs in a glass petri dish when I know they are there.  Finding them on in the sand substrate in the tank is a non-starter.
4. The eggs are quite fragile.  I checked some under my microscope and the most amount of egg moving I did seemed to have damaged some of them.

I managed to move about 5 of them in a mini egg tumbler I have, but I can barely see them.

I've read it'll take about a week before they hatch and get through their yolk sacks, so I guess I'm just going to wait and watch.  The good news is that there's lots of life in the tank, so their should be food for the very tiny fry.  The potential bad news is that there's scuds in there too.  I'm concerned they may eat the fry.

In any case, in couple weeks I'll even have fry or I suspect the female may a new batch of eggs and I can again.

I'd love to hear how other people have managed collecting/incubating/hatching tiny eggs that get spread all over the place.

Thanks.

 

[CJs Aquatics]

I’ve been looking for a female of these for so long also, still no luck, congrats on the breeding 

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

Congrats on the breeding! Hopefully you get fry to grow up but if you don’t at least you’ll know what not to do next time. Good luck

[Comradovich]

To remove the eggs, try using a plastic pipette. If you buy live foods, (or even some prepared foods), on Aquabid some of the suppliers usually include 2-3 of them with the product. I don't have a good suggestion for seeing the eggs in the first place. I am so near-sighted it almost qualifies as a super power, so I usually just take off my glasses.

The pipette is a solid strategy for getting a hold of a bunch of them. Also handy for separating them in a breeder box. You'd be surprised what you can do with a tiny bit of suction.

[memorywrangler]

Well, I put the back together again after a week of feasting on live food. A few things happened:

1. They spawned a few times that produced about 20 eggs in toto
2. They spawned a few times that that produced no eggs 
3. The female seems to lose interest before she was empty of eggs.
4. I took out the female, moved the male to a breeding box, and collected the eggs in a glass dish in the bottom of the tank.
5. During the night the suction cup on the breeding box failed, the male got lose and ate all the eggs!!!!

I also checked the eggs under my microscope and almost of all of them looked wrinkled or deflated and one was torn open.   Not sure what that means.

I guess I’ll again next week, this time I’m moving the eggs to their own tank.

[memorywrangler]

Are suggestions on how long to let the female recover before trying again?  She has visible eggs, but I don’t want to stress her out too much.

[Cmike15]

Both should have their color and the female should have eggs. Years ago i raised them and even though the female is pale there is a silvery sheen that's clear when healthy which i'm sure you've seen. at least a week but i've read 10 days between spawnings to condition.  I'd suggest if you see the female is full of eggs and you are keeping an eye on them earlier might be possible. it depends on the food, temps and possibly the time of year. 

This is an interesting little fish!

[memorywrangler]

I'm so sad!  My female got caught in the output of the breeder box I had her in and died.  I feel terrible.  She was such a pretty thing. RIP 

😞