Eeeek! I might be getting some Psuedomugils luminatus!

[itiwhetu]

I love community spawning fish and base everything around that idea. Low fish populations to start with that slowly get to a sustainable level. That is what my 150g tank is based around. I used to breed fish in rooms with bare bottom tanks and pumping the fry with food those days are a distant memory now.

 

[Lynnzer]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!! I'm sorry I missed it before, this was just before my old computer died and I was offline for a week, so I missed some notifications as this thread had gone right back down and I hadn't got the luminatus yet to bump it. I'm sorry you had such poor luck with the luminatus jumping! The hood for the tank they're in at the moment isn't great either, so I've been nervous since reading this, but *touch wood* mine haven't seemed too spooky yet... but I have a 20g tank ready that I'd planned to replace their current 15.5g with, which has a better acrylic lid, so reminded myself to get on with doing that!

Your tank is looking incredible! It looked great when I first saw it, but it's always good to see how a tank has matured as it grows in and establishes Sounds like while yours may well spawn in the current set up, fry growing up with the parents is apparently unlikely? So you could always try using some small spawning mops or mosses and collecting eggs that way? Depends how keen you are to breed them, I guess! But the guy I got them from also said they got on really well with Endlers, and now you too, so maybe keeping both would work out well! Oh, there were some really nice Japanese blue endlers in the store too, that reminded me. I've been trying not to get more livebearers, but I'm always drawn to blue fish, and the colour and movement Endler's give is hard to beat! Chili's would look lovely in that tank of yours too...

Thank you so much as well for the offer of the number of the guy in Sunderland! I'm in the South of the UK though, so a bit far to go, but I appreciate it! Fingers crossed I won't need it, still have contact with the guy I got these from, and apparently the store I took my bronze cories too had some in stock too, saying they get these fairly often, so hopefully I can get some there if I need any/want to expand the gene pool later.

The tank is so lovely just sat at the side of the settee where we watch the TV. I have the backlights on most days and try to keep the overhead ones off to prevent algae. It looks so surreal with a light blue background.
The endler really is at home with the rainbowfish and as much as I'm tempted to search for a female I'm holding back. I may get more males though and place them all in another tank. I always shunned the endler/guppy/molly sort of fish. I don't know why but I guess I just thought of them as being somehow artificial fish.
I'm damned if I can see any mating behaviour from the pseodomugils. They are old enough by now to be interested but it's so hard to keep an eye on them for the whole day to see if they are sexually mature just yet.
I also have 2 scarlett badis that are always among the crives under the wood, which is why I put the wood there in the 1st place. They do come out when I drop the morning whiteworm in the tank but generally stay hidden most of the day.
I don't have breeding mops but the growing expanse of the rear plants give more than enough opportunity for the rainbowfish to drop eggs into them.
I keep hearing about using infusoria for the fry. I have 3 jars of the stuff that took months to properly form but for the life of me I really am stuck on how to use it properly. I mean surely it's gonna get sucked right into the filter. The fry probably need constant access to infusoria as well so maybe a separate tank with a goodly percentage of infusoria water would be the best bet.
I'll be cleaning the tank today and try to assess the best way forward but if anyone has any useful info on this subect I'd appreciate it as I really want fry to replace the fish I have now that may well be dead of old age in the next year.

 

[itiwhetu]

The tank is so lovely just sat at the side of the settee where we watch the TV. I have the backlights on most days and try to keep the overhead ones off to prevent algae. It looks so surreal with a light blue background.
The endler really is at home with the rainbowfish and as much as I'm tempted to search for a female I'm holding back. I may get more males though and place them all in another tank. I always shunned the endler/guppy/molly sort of fish. I don't know why but I guess I just thought of them as being somehow artificial fish.
I'm damned if I can see any mating behaviour from the pseodomugils. They are old enough by now to be interested but it's so hard to keep an eye on them for the whole day to see if they are sexually mature just yet.
I also have 2 scarlett badis that are always among the crives under the wood, which is why I put the wood there in the 1st place. They do come out when I drop the morning whiteworm in the tank but generally stay hidden most of the day.
I don't have breeding mops but the growing expanse of the rear plants give more than enough opportunity for the rainbowfish to drop eggs into them.
I keep hearing about using infusoria for the fry. I have 3 jars of the stuff that took months to properly form but for the life of me I really am stuck on how to use it properly. I mean surely it's gonna get sucked right into the filter. The fry probably need constant access to infusoria as well so maybe a separate tank with a goodly percentage of infusoria water would be the best bet.
I'll be cleaning the tank today and try to assess the best way forward but if anyone has any useful info on this subect I'd appreciate it as I really want fry to replace the fish I have now that may well be dead of old age in the next year.

The only way to feed Infusoria is to have a tank either with a sponge filter or just an air stone. The water needs to be green when you have fed. The other trick is to put your Infusoria water under a microscope to check its quality. For all of the above reasons is why I feed egg yolk.

 

[Lynnzer]

The only way to feed Infusoria is to have a tank either with a sponge filter or just an air stone. The water needs to be green when you have fed. The other trick is to put your Infusoria water under a microscope to check its quality. For all of the above reasons is why I feed egg yolk.

Yeah, egg yolk is what I did the fry for my kribs but they seemed to get along fine just snacking on whatever they found among the plants and subtrate. They are probably much bigger fish than the fry of the rainbowfish though.
First of all to catch them breeding, Then collect the eggs and drop them into a small breeding tank with egg yolk and daily water changes I reckon.
I guess the natural homes of these delightful little fish are under threat due the climate changes and the severe droughts over much of the world. It would be nice to have a busy breeding programme.

 

[Colin_T]

If you want maximum numbers of eggs/ fry from fish, you breed a pair in their own tank with nothing to eat the eggs or babies (except the parents).

Air operated sponge filters are the best for breeding and rearing tanks because they don't suck up eggs or babies. The sponge (if it's old and well established) will also have a heap of microscopic organisms on it that the babies can pick at.

Baby cichlids can normally take newly hatched brineshrimp when they start swimming.

Baby rainbowfish do best on green water and infusoria for the first week and then add newly hatched brineshrimp, but keep the green water/ infusoria up for another week to two until all the babies are eating the brineshrimp.

The following link has info about culturing infusoria and green water.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Can't see any blue eyes in the moss this morning
Won't give up hope on this lot yet though, he did say to give it about 18 days for any potential fry to emerge. Still hopeful that I can get the adults to spawn even if nothing comes from these moss eggs, but we shall see! Lots of useful advice here, thank you!

Once you get them set up, I can run you through how I did them. I lost my group in the period before my move when we were selling the house, but they were easy to breed and as pretty as the pictures.

Hi! Would love to hear more details about you bred your guys, if you're still happy to share! The more detail, the better! Bear in mind I'm still pretty much a newbie, only bred livebearers and a few cories, and the cories were accidental rather than design!

 

[itiwhetu]

If you want maximum numbers of eggs/ fry from fish, you breed a pair in their own tank with nothing to eat the eggs or babies (except the parents).

Air operated sponge filters are the best for breeding and rearing tanks because they don't suck up eggs or babies. The sponge (if it's old and well established) will also have a heap of microscopic organisms on it that the babies can pick at.

Baby cichlids can normally take newly hatched brineshrimp when they start swimming.

Baby rainbowfish do best on green water and infusoria for the first week and then add newly hatched brineshrimp, but keep the green water/ infusoria up for another week to two until all the babies are eating the brineshrimp.

The following link has info about culturing infusoria and green water.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

How do you guarantee the quality of the infusoria?

 

[Colin_T]

How do you guarantee the quality of the infusoria?

Use the same plant material for the culture and keep it aerated and covered. The aeration keeps the oxygen levels up and stops it going anaerobic. The cover stops the mozzies eating the infusoria.

 

[Rocky998]

Use the same plant material for the culture and keep it aerated and covered. The aeration keeps the oxygen levels up and stops it going anaerobic. The cover stops the mozzies eating the infusoria.

Worked well for me!

 

[Lynnzer]

Can't see any blue eyes in the moss this morning
Won't give up hope on this lot yet though, he did say to give it about 18 days for any potential fry to emerge. Still hopeful that I can get the adults to spawn even if nothing comes from these moss eggs, but we shall see! Lots of useful advice here, thank you!


Hi! Would love to hear more details about you bred your guys, if you're still happy to share! The more detail, the better! Bear in mind I'm still pretty much a newbie, only bred livebearers and a few cories, and the cories were accidental rather than design!

If there are eggs yhat appear to be dead then try this, from SeriouslyFish: Should eggs containing developed embryos fail to hatch they can apparently be stimulated to do so by putting them in a small vial or similar container with some water from the aquarium and shaking it vigorously, or placing it in your pocket and walking around with it. It appears the resultant change in pressure causes the eggs to hatch.

 

[itiwhetu]

Is that Pygmy cat in your profile picture on a gravel substrate by any chance?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Is that Pygmy cat in your profile picture on a gravel substrate by any chance?

Yep and it's one of my pygmies.

Their tank is half gravel, half sand, think I've talked to you about it before, the pros and cons of having both! Can be a pain.

Because the tank was set up and planted with gravel and I got a pygmy cory before I'd planned to get any (he was alone in the store tank and I felt sorry for Larry the loner, who turned out to be female), I removed a lot of gravel and added a sand beach to the front half, attempting to separate them using smooth river stones. The gravel does creep over the sand and need moving back often.


I don't think gravel itself necessarily causes harm, if it's kept clean and it's not their main feeding area. I feed them over the sand beach so they can practice their filter feeding behaviours and sit around on the sand when they want to. But I do also have to sift and separate the gravel and sand which gets annoying.

I even have a personal hypothesis that having that gravel at the back collecting mulm and broken down almond leaves is helpful for them breeding, since this tank has seed shrimp, sometimes daphnia, and other micro critters that I'm sure the fry eat to sustain themselves in between my feeding them, so I encourage this.

So I don't think gravel is evil and every tank should be sand, and I personally think there are some benefits to gravel, if kept reasonably clean. But I also think cories should be able to practice the full range of their natural behaviours, which includes filter feeding through fine sand. So why not have the best of both worlds?
Why don't you try it? You've never had sand in a tank before, right? Shove the gravel back a bit and add a fine sand beach at the front, and see their behaviours for yourself.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

If there are eggs yhat appear to be dead then try this, from SeriouslyFish: Should eggs containing developed embryos fail to hatch they can apparently be stimulated to do so by putting them in a small vial or similar container with some water from the aquarium and shaking it vigorously, or placing it in your pocket and walking around with it. It appears the resultant change in pressure causes the eggs to hatch.

omg, that's incredible!!
I can't even see any eggs though... I didn't from the start. Not sure if that means there aren't any, or if it's my eyesight. I am way overdue for an eye appointment and new prescription and I know I need new glasses! He also gave me quite a large, dense amount of moss, and I'm afraid to rummage around in it too much in case I damage the eggs or fry somehow, if there are any in there!
I'll have another look later today. Might be time to move the moss to another clear container of tank water, get a good light and magnifying glass over it and see if I can find anything!
I got some duckweed and bladder snails with it though! While I hate duckweed, I do like the bladder snails, and it'll be nice to have them again, they're cute. Until they take over anyway.

 

[Lynnzer]

I had a long tank that I got from a LFS that went bust. Long and narrow and not too high even.
I split it in two along it's length by putting a clear plastic divider about an inch high front to back. The left side was filled with sand and the right had dark gravel. It looked OK to start with but then the "creep" sank in and it all became messy.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I had a long tank that I got from a LFS that went bust. Long and narrow and not too high even.
I split it in two along it's length by putting a clear plastic divider about an inch high front to back. The left side was filled with sand and the right had dark gravel. It looked OK to start with but then the "creep" sank in and it all became messy.

Nice shaped tank for cories! Do you know how long it was/the volume?

I bet it looked sharp and nice before the creeping substrate set in though!