I think my Denison Barbs are scattering eggs this morning...

[Magnum Man]

"Goldie" appears to be depositing eggs, while the male is hovering over her, in some roots on the bottom of the tank, at 1st light this morning... the other Denison's all seem interested, and so far are not having a buffet, and no panda loaches near ( I would suspect, they would be the biggest challenge to the eggs in this tank, them or the gourami )

kind of cool to watch, but I have little expectations of any survival in a community tank, but seeing as they chose an area with the cover of some pothos roots... maybe

this is an older picture, but they chose the spot, behind the stump planter, with the anubias in it...

 

[Magnum Man]

has anyone here, ever successfully bred them in an aquarium???

this picture from this morning...

 

[Magnum Man]

I think feeding time, turned into a buffet, at the egg bar

maybe they were picking out food from around the eggs, but I suspect not...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Here is what Seriouslyfish.com says about this:

Reproduction​

Large numbers are produced for the aquarium hobby in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, presumably via stimulation with hormones.

A 2011 study of its reproductive biology revealed that the sex ratio in wild fish appears skewed in favour of males and that absolute fecundity, i.e., the total number of eggs per female at a given point in time, is relatively low compared with some relatives such as Systomus sarana or Rasbora daniconius. Such factors, combined with habitat degradation via pollution or alteration, are likely to have an adverse effect on natural recruitment while affecting population dynamics and potentially leading to a reduced number of individuals in a given population.

In terms of private success at least one report of ‘accidental’ reproduction exists, in which a couple of fry were discovered hiding among plants during aquarium maintenance.

A more detailed report was published in the German magazine Aqualog in 2005. In this case a group of 15 adults spawned in soft, acidic water (gH 2-3/pH 5.7), depositing their eggs in a clump of Java moss (Taxiphylum barbieri). Apparently several of the adults exhibited a colour change with the dorsal surface becoming bluish, and the event appeared to be triggered by a gradual lowering of the pH via addition of driftwood.

Chester Zoo Aquarium in England have also reported successful breeding, and their theory is that a large group is needed as spawning is hypothesised to occur en masse.

from https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/sahyadria-denisonii/

 

[Magnum Man]

I have noticed the blueish coloring on my male...
the shoal right now total 5 of them, I tried adding a few more, a while back, and I think the male killed the new male, and allowed the 2 new females, and "Goldie" was added separately, and appears to be female, so currently I suspect there is one male, and 4 females... totally they have been there, as long as 3 years, and I've lost a few over the years, resulting in the 5 I have currently...

 

[GaryE]

When they were first sold, you couldn't get females - a common industry trick with desirable new species. It always breaks down with a mistake or a bribe, and females got out.

My fish spawn all the time in communities, but nothing is going to survive the level of predation in a tank like that. The spawning is just something interesting to see. In many cases, the eggs can't be fertilized because the water is wrong. I used to be entranced by my harlequins spawning when I was a kid, but I had medium hard water and the eggs never survived.

A lot of egg scatterers are easy enough to breed, but they need breeding tanks with the parents removed and the eggs, larvae and fry protected at the start. Our tanks are too small and too crowded for natural processes to be counted on. I've had killie fry survive and reach adulthood in communities, as well as a few Cichlids, but they weren't crowded tanks full of hungry, bored fish.

 

[Innesfan]

you couldn't get females - a common industry trick with desirable new species.

Yes. It's happening now with the 'new' super red and super high-priced Nannostomus 'species,' if in fact they are species at all and not color variants of N. rubrocaudatus.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

With certin species it can be hard to find females. In some cases this is because the males are colorful and the females are drab. This means many keepers only want males.

This also applies to pricier fish much in demand and whom the exporters and importers do not want to see being bred. When such fish become more readily available because they are being farmed commercially or being bred by hobbyists this ultimately lowers the price.