Hoping to breed Lake Inle Danios

[SteveMc]

Hello All.  I am new to the forum, have watched Cory's videos for years and just found the forum.

Had a question, I was excited to find a fish I had never seen before at my LFS about a month ago, Lake Inle Danios (Inlecypris auropurpurea). I purchased a group of six and they have been filling out nicely as they were fairly skinny.  See attached picture, apologize for it being a bit blurry, they are the most active fish I have ever had, never stop moving!

Searching the internet I don't see a lot of info on this species.  Wondering if anyone has bred them?  I am assuming (hoping) they are not too difficult and breed similarly to other Danio species.  Would love to get a small school of them for my large tank.

[Irene]

I haven't bred them, but they look super cool! Definitely post some pictures if you ever find some fry.

[Maggie]

Hello! I have danio erythromicron (emerald dwarf danio), also endemic to Inle Lake. I have read about a few danio species in this lake and other similar lakes in Myanmar, but this is the first I've hear of yours, which look very similar to mine! Are yours very shy and very small? Mine are tops 3/4" - the dwarf shrimp look huge next to them! I've witnessed lots and lots of breeding behavior, and today during a water change found my first few fry! 

Provide lots of plants and places to hide and spaces to break up fights. If they're anything like mine, the males can get extremely aggressive. The male coerces the female to lay one egg and then he fertilizes it. Then they swim around and it all starts again, with him fending off other males while simultaneously trying to lure her somewhere to lay another egg. I have no idea how many eggs the females lay over what period, but this goes on for several hours every day. Its fascinating but I wish they weren't so terribly shy. 

[SteveMc]

Thanks Irene, I will definitely post some fry pictures if I am successful.

Maggie, those are really beautiful danios, I have seen those on Youtube before but they are different from mine. Mine are about 3 inches long right now, having grown slightly since I brought them home. Below is an image I found online of what mine looked like when I brought them home, they have filled out a bit since. They are really difficult to photograph in the tank with their constant motion.

Interestingly one of Cory's latest videos below talks about "Copper Nose Barbs" right at the beginning of the video.  They look REALLY similar to my fish as well, though apparently grow much larger. So I believe my fish are Lake Inle Danios but it's possible they were mislabelled at my LFS.  I guess time will tell.

 

[SteveMc]

Well it took a LOT of trial and error, but I finally have success breeding the Lake Inle Danios!  Last night the first fry appeared on the glass of the breeding tank, this morning a few more.  Not sure how many eggs were laid, doesn't appear to be many but it's a start!  Not easy fish to sex, the females are not THAT noticeably different in size from the males but I believe I have 2 females and 4 males.  These fry were the result of putting both females and a single male in the breeding tank for 2 days at 74 degrees and then removing them.