African Butterfly Barbs

[DaveO]

First baby sighting this morning.

Problem is it is in the adult's tank. I haven't put a pair in the breeding tank yet. That will happen soon. I'm afraid this one will not survive the adults, but we'll see.

[Tlindsey]

On 4/1/2024 at 11:45 AM, DaveO said:

First baby sighting this morning.

Problem is it is in the adult's tank. I haven't put a pair in the breeding tank yet. That will happen soon. I'm afraid this one will not survive the adults, but we'll see.

It's an exciting experience. 

Congrats. @DaveO

[DaveO]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:14 PM, Tlindsey said:

It's an exciting experience. 

Congrats. @DaveO

Thanks. I got these guys last November with the intention of breeding them this spring. So I set up a new 29 gallon for the ones I bought, and have been preparing my 10 gallon to breed them in this spring. They have been kind of frisky for a while now and beat me to the punch. I'll add pairs to the 10 gallon soon and see how it goes.

[DaveO]

Here's a little bit better shot of the lone baby on it's third day swimming. It is already getting some color. I need to get busy and get some fry growing in the breeding tank to keep her company. Next week perhaps.

[DaveO]

So Saturday morning I put a trio in the ten gallon tank. They spent the evenings both  Saturday and Sunday doing their spawning behavior thing. First thing this morning I put them back in their regular tank. Now its a waiting game to see if there will be any fry. Fingers crossed. Here's a lousy photo of a pair getting friendly.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Very exciting and beautiful fish. Can we get a whole tank shot of your 10 g breeding setup? 

[DaveO]

On 4/10/2024 at 2:48 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Very exciting and beautiful fish. Can we get a whole tank shot of your 10 g breeding setup? 

Thank you. Here's the tank. It is very basic. It has a small hob with flow control, which I keep turned down low when there are fry. Also a nano sponge filter. There is no heater for these particular fish, they seem to like it room temperature. I have lots of crypts and a few potted anubius along with a bit of guppy grass floating on top.

[DaveO]

So far this has been a big giant flop. Not long after posting the pic of the fry, someone ate him. Then after putting the breeder trio in the 10 gallon, we had a prolonged heatwave that warmed up the tank to 76° and all spawning behavior stopped. I returned them to the 29 gallon. I watched intently for a week trying to see fry. All I could find was planeria worms instead. Apparently they came in on the anubius I had just bought a few weeks prior. Treated the tank for planeria and tried it all again. No breeding and no fry were the results. I think this spring breeding season is over now. I'll watch and see how they all behave, but it looks like I need to wait 'till fall now.