Breeding/fry setup

[Colin_T]

The fact the boesemani hides while the duboulayi stay out in the open when you catch them has nothing to do with their offspring being sterile or fertile. If they are in the same genus, regardless of which country they come from, they can produce fertile offspring. I keep both of those species and had fertile offspring from them. I did a number of experiments when I was keeping rainbows including seeing if hybrids were fertile and hybrids from the same genus were. The hybrids were all killed after the experiments.

I'm also in Australia and specialised in native fishes and rainbowfishes for 20 years. I was in ANGFA National and ANGFA WA, as well as the Aquarium Society of WA and the Cichlid Society of WA. Most rainbowfish purists won't sell hybrids.

 

[Colin_T]

Ha I was at a fish fair and they had a clean infusoria culture so I bought it. Now I need to set up the 25 so it supports the infusoria culture but also has a sponge filter? Or just an air stone? Now I am co fused. Tips appreciated !

The link I put in post #3 has info about culturing infusoria. You want aeration (no airstone, just an airline bubbling away) but no filter otherwise you remove the bacteria that the infusoria feed on.

 

[MattW]

I remember watching a video that showed Gary Lang’s fishroom room. He has a very impressive collection of rainbows some of which I had never heard of or seen before. I also didn’t realise how some rainbow species have very similar looking females so multiple species tanks were a big no no for him in case of cross breeding. I think rainbows are beautiful as they are, so I’m not a big fan of hybrids but that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

 

[GaryE]

The species @Beastije has that I've bred are quite similar.

Poropanchax normani lays adhesive eggs in plants. They are larger than you might expect from a small fish. They'll spawn from 18c to 24c here, and the eggs hatch in about 2 weeks. I separate the sexes and feed them well, then recombine them in a tank with acrylic mops. I remove the mops daily and take out any eggs with wet fingers, into a separate container for incubation. I change the incubation water a couple of times over the 2 weeks.

Pseudomugils follow the same pattern here, and I consider them honorary killifish, even though they are unrelated. The eggs hatch quicker and both fish and eggs require warmer water for success here.

Both species employ single fertilization - each egg is fertilized individually and is at least partially hidden in plants (or a mop). This results in a low number of eggs each day during the breeding cycle, which can last a few weeks. If a normani female produces 5 eggs a day, that's good. It seems like very few, but over 10 days, it adds up. After 10 days though, older fry of most fish will begin to predate their younger siblings, so you might need a second rearing tank.

I can't comment on mango loaches, as I don't like loaches enough to go to the trouble of breeding them. I don't keep any. But the other two fish you have can be bred in a small tank like that.

A bare bottomed tank isn't necessary. But in a planted tank, it's harder to collect the eggs before the parents eat them. Small tanks lead to serious egg and fry eating at times, while in a larger tank, things work much better.

 

[AJ356]

Definitely don't have it bare bottom. That's not how fish should be living, including fry. Bogwood that has been in the water/subject to light is good, the fry will nibble on it, same for the substrate.

 

[GaryE]

I run bare glass tanks for egg scatterers with non adhesive eggs, like a lot of my tetras. But the adult fish are in there for a week, maximum, and usually for less. For spawning, I put grate structures so the eggs fall through and the adults can't feed on them. If you are going to use a small tank, you have to adapt your setup to the size.

Otherwise, I dislike bare tanks, and don't go that way.