CPD breeding

[Ashlyn]

I have 7 cpd but haven’t seen any eggs, what do they look like? They are such a variety of live to frozen to flaked foods. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

@Guppysnail has some breeding in her tanks. I expect the eggs are probably tiny,seeing as the fish itself is pretty small. 
This chap explains it pretty well:

 

[Guppysnail]

I’ve never seen the eggs. They are too small for my eyes.  I put a terra cotta plant pot liner with gravel and moss or bushy plant in the tank. They spawn in it. Then I move the whole thing to the hatch tank. 

[Ashlyn]

Thanks! I guess I should probably stop looking for eggs then! 
my angelfish in a different tank lays them so obviously I thought they would be similar, I didn’t think about size.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:40 AM, Ashlyn said:

Thanks! I guess I should probably stop looking for eggs then! 
my angelfish in a different tank lays them so obviously I thought they would be similar, I didn’t think about size.

I saw a technique where you put moss in a tissue culture cup, and it supposedly makes it easier to harvest the eggs. 

[Zeaqua]

CPD eggs are super tiny and clear, which makes them very difficult to see unless you set up an egg trap. The youtube channel Lowell ´ s Fish Lab has a few in-depth videos on both these and specifically breeding CPDs, so if you want to, I´d recommend checking them out! when I tried breeding cpds, I didn't have as much time to put into raising fry as I thought I would, but his videos definitely helped me get some spawns. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

@tolstoy21 has a method with emperor tetras (also have small eggs) where he puts a pair in a tank filled with a moss substrate for 2-3 days and then removes them…

[tolstoy21]

On 10/6/2023 at 1:55 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

@tolstoy21 has a method with emperor tetras (also have small eggs) where he puts a pair in a tank filled with a moss substrate for 2-3 days and then removes them…

For Kerri Tetras I've just laid down a super heavy layer of live sphagnum moss.  Enough eggs get lost in there that the parents don't eat them. In fact, I have never seen them go into the moss to even look. I keep a small group of breeders in there for 3 days max.

I don't ever see the eggs, or the fry for like the first week or two. They are very tiny and good at hiding in the moss. After you've done this a few times you begin to gain confidence that you've spawned fry. I just had to suspend disbelief for a week or two, knowing they were in there.

For other egg scatterers, I generally use a false bottom made from some kind of mesh. I'll put a few clumps of java moss or java fern in there to give the fish a place to put their eggs, if they need it.

CPD's might be different than what's I've bred.  But I would guess the concepts are adaptable. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Most CPD breeders utilize a container with moss over the top and if they’re hardcore a false bottom and ingenious ones use air to pull the eggs into a separate container.

 

[Creedmoor Aquatics]

That's a really great apparatus for collecting the eggs out. I wonder if the new sponge filter uplift tubes would be useful for building one. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

It is a really good idea. I wonder if you could make it out of craft mesh & a Tupperware? I’d be willing to try.