caserole

That's the thing with spawning fish. "If it works and your happy > no need to change<" Good Luck

I have found like all danio's a pair in the act of spawning can/will be disturbed by other males. As Cpd's only produce 40-50 eggs(I have never had more then 48 eggs produce per spawn) a spawn, it will (unlike other danio's which produce well over 100eggs) seriously affect spawning success. My best results have always been using pairs in 12lt tanks(200x300x200high). If feed bbs and other live foods a female would spawn at least every 10-14 days (breeding traps were used, with a small clump of spawning moss above the middle of trap). I had major *&$% hit the fan many months a go now and lost close to 100 coloured up fry + adults breeder. I've only just replaced my breeders.

That's a bit old school Alanmin , tiger worms out of an old fashion compost will taste bad due to the rotting vegetation > so true But farmed tiger's are only feed what they will eat in one day(half there weight per day) so do not contain the bad compounds you can smell in a rotting heap of grass clippings etc > so not true. Earth worms are always good value, I found one yesterday in a bucket of gravel I was cleaning and feed it to my adult female SJO, it was gone wick smart.:lol:

They are the common composting worms, but you can't use the ones in the compost they are yucky to the fish. You can buy them from worm farms { Google worm farms nz } to find out all you need to know.

It may be easier to start a tiger worm culture > feed vege scraps from the kitchen, a culture can eat 1/2 there weight in food per day. Chop them up for the female and feed the male whole worms.

I have found that taking the male( out of site ) away is advisable for no other reason > if feed well she will breed every 2 weeks. Even if the male appears not to be eating the fry she may. The female may even bet up the male or the other way around(after 2 week, or if the male has had enough of her bulling ) so a 900mm tank I now think is best even thought I have breed cockatoo's in a 600mm tanks. If you do remove the male, a week after the eggs are laid is about right > the fry should be free swimming for a day or to by then, earlier if you can do it with out disturbing the female(at night maybe). They are an easy species to breed and raise if given the right conditions(including tank size). Best breeding temp is between 24 - 28C, although they can breed in cooler conditions. Any warmer the fish will consume more energy(food) just living, let alone getting the female gravid or growing the fry, the fry should be ready to breed them selves by 3 to 4months Bilbo, why do you think you will not have a spawning for a while?? Good luck Ryan and Olly

To begin with Cam that is normal, in a few days to a week they will be all over the place particularly the around the a sponge filter if you have one in with them.

i FELL reall thpecial now Barrie :bounce: :bounce: how rude! P.s I have the golden gardneri from our favourite importer Barrie, thanks to Alan.

NO WAY Tsarmina, If you don't want them Debza I'll have'm

I think for best effect it should be a species tank, something that is active - barbs are ok. 1/2 - 1 Doz plain old zebra danio's work too. B/n would be interesting for the residents as there so ugly(yes :lol:) , I would be incline to leave chain loachs until the tank is either established or the bigger tank is installed. Remember K.I.S.S Caryl

Well I fell left out as I only got it once

With out going into some big speel, you just make sure they get plenty of food they like > with out polluting the tank. People that seem to have no problem breeding there easy to breed fish on demand do this with out realising it.

:lol: you kind of miss the point Cam. Doing a water change to trigger spawning causes a change in the water chemistry(it simulates a sudden down pour of rain) , if your doing small daily changes you don't have the same effect, not that it would hurt. Don't forget I've seen your fish, I don't think you will have any trouble getting your female b/n into spawning condition fast, give them 2-4 weeks.

Don't forget Afrikan tetra's can be terrible egg eater so don't skimp on the moss. You may also like to scatter some boiled peat on the bottom of the spawning tank, this will help hide the eggs. Good luck. Oh yes, tetra's generally don't need that much O2, so the filter only needs to be going very slowly.

Cam your male is in excellent breeding condition and is ready to spawn. So all you need to do is keep on doing what you are and the female will condition up nicely in no time at all. I think the male fans the cave prior to spawning to clean out and aerate the cave. Keep up your water changes, this may trigger their first spawn and then on they will just go for it.

What temp do you keep your fish? I have a fish room that I could empty a 900x600x300mmhigh tank for them to live in if that is big enough( fish room gets hot that time of year, they would be the only fish in the tank ).

It's great that you have them going. What else do you have right now.

I don't know what causes this, however I strongly advise you to immediately give the affected fish a salt water bath(2 Tablespoons of plain salt dissolved in 1 lt of water), remove fish once he starts to look uncomfortable and place him back in tank water.

I don't know the answer to that question, but here's food for though...... Reef's are a reasonably stable environments, Yes or No ?? How stable are the water parameters in an environment when you have flushing of fresh or seawater several times a day - To your question, how much can they handle??

I know someone that kept mollies in sea water.

johnny, shiuh's idea for sponge filters is a good one and may be better for ej's purpose, although I would glue the sponge to the glass rather then pin and rubber bands. The sponge filter I make has a greater filtering ability > for larger tanks then ej's needs.

Yes Ron they do work, I have made my own sponge filters for years - and others before me. ej this is what the tube looks like inside, not that tidy but effective.

ej go to the Warehouse, you can buy children's mattresses cheap. Thats what I use. Like this?

The more tanks(water) to air you have in a fish room the easier(cheaper) it is to keep at temp I believe. Pm Ira and ask him to answer this question. The answer may be 6 of 1 and 1/2 a doz of the other > the cost of the equipment being the difference. 25 - 50 tank heaters over a good thermostat and a fan heater to plug into it.

No Luke, I was heating a room a 3.6x3.6m(same as the newer fish room) that had 1/2 the volume of water/tanks I now have.