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Very nice ent

I remember when my bosemanis looked like that, back in the day. Good lookin' fish

As or the food at the bottom of the net... you wouldn't eat rotting food, would you? I'd siphon it out with a little piece of airline just to make certain

Wow... those are beautiful fish entkitty! I have not seen them that bright in a long time!

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Thank you. I hardley ever see them NOT that bright. I hope the fry grow-up like them.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Theyre a nice pair, but dont expect massive breeding success from a couple that young, the fry survival rate is much better when the adults are a year or two older, the fry are often much stronger and faster growing from fully mature adults. The fact that they have started early will mean that the chances of success next time will be very good indeed. You can tell roughly when they are about to become excellent breeders, the body mass almost doubles at about 3 years and the armoured scales on the head enlarge, often the colours start to become really intense with very dark colouration in the mornings and the greens and yellows start to show in the forebody by midday. Its a noticeable hormonal change, and even the usually placid boesmani become really quite short tempered, even with other species of rainbow.

This is one of my best breeding pair, near on a six -inch fish, and the partner much the same size.Its also a fourth generation fish for me, so that dispels any myths about them losing colour with successive generations, as long as you keep the diet varied, theres no problem with colour.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/longhairedgit/IMG_5824.jpg

Youll lose a few here and there, but it sounds to me like youll do well.

This site has some info on feeding rainbowfish fry, and is probably one of the best online source of info on rainbowfish, check it out.

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/
Good luck

Wow, two years is young for a fish???? I was thinking that they were older (breeding time) for them. If you are just looking at the picture, the picture is of them at 1 year. My female is about the size of the smaller male. Every morning before the lights come on, (this has been going on for about 9 months, i remember, because I thought they were fighting) the male turn Silver on top and all armored scales stand straight up. Now this is more intense because I just put the large male back into the tank for being treated for sickness, and I am sure what is happening now is a territory thing. I will have to post new pixs of the two soon.

Lesley

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

My boesmans usually clock up 5 -7 years.1- 2 year breeding is normal , but they dont really get good at it until year 3 or 4.Some boesmans will show breeding behaviour in as little as six months but usually they have been rushed into maturity with excessive feeding and higher than normal temperatures, and the fry survival rate is awful. Under normal circumstances rainbow laying gets more successful after 2 years or so. Often the first layings result in eggs that never hatch or fry that never seem to mature and die early. On the whole the best batches seem to come from truly mature fish , at around 4 years. When they get older than 5-6 years the condition drops a little , growth of the fish effectively ceases and they are less inclined to breed in their final year.

Some folks might disagree with me on the longevity, but those are my observations, and I generally have no less than 45 rainbow adults at any given time. With high oxygenation, roomy tanks , massively varied diet,and spot on water qualities and water temps just under 79 f they live a LONG time.

Wow, what great information longhairedgit, so i truly do need to wait at least another year or so. I have never seen the eggs and this is the first batch. I find 1 or 2 newly hatched babies about every other eve- last night 1 more. I have set up a new 10 gal fry tank using water from the tank they came out of. I was not planning on breading these fish, just like them and find them beautiful. I couldn't just leave the little guys in there and see who makes it and who doesn't. Beside, they probley all would make it except I just know I would be the one to kill them durning my weekly cleaning and suck them up. I went and bought a new filter for them too - topfin drop in the tank type, hope this works. anyhow, any and all info is great.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Lots of people have trouble with raising rainbow fry, probably the biggest reason is the setup they choose to do it in, the usual technique of a small very sterile tank just doesnt seem to work. I usually raise them in matured 3 -4 foot tanks, heavily planted with an eheim 2224 with an in-tank prefilter on it. That way I dont have to clean them out for two months or so, I also keep a handful of adult rainbows (all wormed and healthy) in it to keep it cycled, and move them out when I get eggs or fry. I have two totally unsubstantiated theories that I believe make me more successful than average and thats a) the fry like to hunt down tiny algaes, minerals and microorganisms that you can only get in mature tanks and b ) that the young are coprophageous ( yep they eat poo!)and it helps to have some adult rainbowfish poo (from a healthy and parasite free fish) so that they can have a bacterial gut culture that helps them digest foods and keeps their appetite sharp. When you take that into account, plus the fact that the young are so water quality sensitive that your average hurriedly set up breeding tank just kills them stone dead, its not surprising a lot of people fail to raise them or get them past the first week.

Great, well they may servive or they will all die. Hopefuly with the added plants from the large tank will help. So far, after 8 days, they (12-14) are living still and growing too. The tank they are in now is only a 10gal. so i will keep my fingers crossed

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

I am thinking I am going to lose at least one of my babies. I have 13 and they are now 11 days old; however,
a) 1 baby swims erratically up and down one side of the tank by itself.
The other issue I am wondering about
B) Is some of the eggs that did not hatch. They are now turning white. Is this a fungus and is this potentially bad for the rest of the fish?

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Not necessarily bad for the other fish, but is rather unsightly. The amount is small enough that it probably won't effect your water parameters. Just vacuum them up with your next water change.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

A baby who is still not self orienting by about day 11 is probably a bit of a duff one, its probably a good idea to euthanise him. Fry will often upend, but those that do it consistantly may have had problems in the development of the nervous system and are unlikely to survive.

Most eggs should have hatched after a week, good ones often hatch by day three, id probably bin the unhatched mouldy ones.

Thanks again for the advice. Tonight I will do both, clean out the eggs and put down the fry.

I will keep you posted.

See my profile (link below) for fish and setup.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Well, I tried to catch the little guy last night; but I think he know what was going on. For when I came home all fish were swimming together normally and happily. After about two hours, I saw him back in his corner, by himself, going up-and-down, banging into the glass. For three hours this went on. Ok, I thought, I am going to get you out of there. Put in the net and of course they all go all over the place and now I have lost the one I was trying to catch. Waiting for another 30 mins. with net already inside of tank, he is back at it again. Then, I got him! ...so it appeared. thank goodness I had only put him in a jar. Anyhow, there is a fish, looks just like the one I have in the jar and is mimicking him to. So, do I have the right one, or the wrong one. I put the one I caught back into the tank and left it at that. So, I still have 13 fry all are living even duff.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

entkitty,

I would keep him in there, except if he/she becomes a danger to the others. They will not be ready to mate for quite some time so there should not be any worries right now that he/she may carry a bad strain to the next generation.

Maybe he/she is just a late bloomer and will come around eventually. If not then there will still be enough time to cull this fish.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah , waiting it out wont hurt, especially if hes still that strong, you dont have to rush to euthanasia.If its still doing that in another week maybe its time to bop him on the head. Its not uncommon to get more than one with the same problem.As ingo said, its probably not a good idea to breed from that particular fish even if he does seem ok later.

LOL I will wait another week and see what goes


See my profile (link below) for fish and setup.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Its one of those things, in nature, fry die off via predation is usually horrific, less than one percent of all fry survive to maturity, so you can afford to be a little brutal, in the long run it wil prevent a lot of the weakening and mutations caused by having a limited genepool to work with. People always get sentimental about fry, and while I wouldnt encourage people to be trigger happy about euthanising fry, it should be pointed out that nature tends to be uncompromising, and if you want rainbows to be strong multi-generationally it pretty much means knocking the late developers and the deformed on the head with little mercy. By no means should you not keep slighly weaker than average specimens if their life quality is not affected, but you should not breed from them.

Generally I find weak fry make weak fish, and with shoaling fish like rainbows who are so sexually promiscuous and for whom the rituals of courtship ( fighting and mock fighting and the stress involved) can be daily and year round. Rainbows are also not exactly aggressive feeders, but a large shoal does feed extremely quickly, and theyre not above a bit of strategic positioning to make sure they get the lions share of the food, and weak specimens will get weaker as they become excluded from feeding.

It pays to nip problems in the bud rather than have a dwarfed or weak fish suffer daily abuse from its cagemates and eventually die.Remember this is not a species of fish that lives well outside of a shoal. Not culling weak fry can lead to some serious multi-tank syndrome if you wish them to live,even healthy rainbows often need to be segregated by size, since a yearling who has reached sexual maturity at an inch and a half is quite simply gonna get battered by a six inch adult.The rather pleasant end of rainbow courtship ( the display without violence) only occurs regularly between specimens of same size. Smaller specimens who are "unworthy" of the level of competition are usually dismissed with an immediate nip or body ram.Females in particular may suffer from the utterly persistant badgering of much larger males to the point where they become exhaused and stressed from being squashed into corners and generally shepherded around. A weak fish is simply not going to survive much of that. The real key for survival in rainbows is peak physical fitness,as anyone who has kept them will know, they are real athletes among fish, and for their size, some of the most powerful fish around. Ive seen adults do an 8 foot length of a tank in around one second. By any fish standard, thats FAST. Unlike a lot of other fish in aquarium circumstances, that fitness even has to be maintained in captivity.Their social behaviour demands it.

Its just a friendly heads up for someone who has a few medium sized fish, when you get full size adults, and multiple generations, the rules change . A LOT.

Ultimately the choice is up to you.

I agree with you 100%. I used to raise dogs and cats and had to cull some of the puppies. -Hated doing it, but it had to be done- I think there is going to be two that need to go. I am just going to wait until I can catch the sure ones and not make any mistakes. And since I can not house them all, maybe next time I will think about not catching them, but allow the strong to survive on its own in the big tank and just feed them the fry food. Beside, I don’t really own any fish that will eat small fish - except fry, most any I am sure will - It also seems that I am going to need a bigger tank, ? (My husbands going to love me...not) lol. Maybe a 100gal will work. I do not have the monies to set-up any thing bigger. (I hope the filter I have now will work for that large of a tank?)

I will keep you posted

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Any fry you dont want just leave with the adults.Especially if you have a community of rainbows of multiple species the fry dont stand a chance. Many is the time ive spotted a fry and gone to get a net just to discover one of the others spotted it too.

Munchies

Actually its really annoying cos the fry that hatch in parental tanks tend to be the really good strong ones.
My gf's sunset platy's give birth a lot, but I never get a chance to raise any because of the rainbows.

This is all I have (see Below). And it seemed that no one fish cared about the little guys. I should have let them stay, I just didn't think they could survive the current.
3 Cardinal
1 Elephantnose-5"
3 Boesmani Rainbowfish (2 males,1female-for now)
2 Ladder Loach (Botia rostrata)
1 Candy Stripe Pleco
1 golden alagee eater
4 Rummynose Tetra

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Tends to be the filter intakes and the adults that kill most of em. That why I use in tank prefilters.

I see. I just feel lucky that any hatch at all. My elephantnose is always Rummaging in the java fern root, where the eggs are attached, and I am sure sucking them up. (Caviar he says) By watching him is how I found the remaining eggs. And when seeing the fry, I only feel guilty if leaving them inside the tank. Hence, the new tank, which sits in front of a window and get about two hours of first morning sun - which is helping out with the sterol tank issue. They are already picking stuff off the side of the tank. Oh, and this morning, duff fish wasn’t acting duff. I am wondering if I have picked up a bug from the other tank (like ich). If so, I have been treating both tanks. (Just incase) so, I guess only time well tell.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Very cool that you are breeding these guys. I have had two males now for a couple of years. I am guessing they are 3 to 4 years old. They are getting quite big having a small little head and a tall body. They are probably some of my favorit fish. Can't wait to see how things turn out.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

To be very honest, I was NOT trying to raise/breed these fish. I had only bought my female by accident. They told me it was a young male, I didn't think it was, but say hey, what the heck. I had already had the two males prior. And the new male was in fact a female alright. Anyhow, I have had them all for 2 years and longer. nothing had ever come of it, so I assumed nothing ever would and had no worries. But, yes it is knid of cool if they are males; out here, in LV, all I see in the fish store selling are females, no males in their tanks.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

I get the reverse , usually its all males and no females around here, one male will service a load of females, so youre lucky, get them while you can! About a year back I did buy a batch of 12 "unidentified" juvenile females from an LFS who charged me £8 for the lot. I knew they were Royals and consequently got the rainbow bargain of the year. They were all white at the time, when I got them home with other rainbows in an appropriate decor tank the colours came out. Suckers

Heres one .

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/longhairedgit/IMG_6481.jpg
and here the lucky menfolk in their lives.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/longhairedgit/IMG_6455.jpg

Great Pictures. Well, maybe you are right about females. My two Males are always getting beat-up (Large male with cone over eye AGAIN) just poped up late yesterday. And of course it was only 4 weeks ago that this happened and 6-8 days later - BABIES!. but I did take him out of the tank last time into my sick tank. Only now I don't have a sick tank, frys have my heater. anyhow, I did lose 2 fry so far. I have now 11 out of 13. I am guessing Mr Duffy checked out. And I never did find the other missing fish, do maybe I just counted wrong the frist time. (Easy to do)

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

My tank is really cloudy, but all is stable in the water department. I am thinking it is a algae bloom, with this hurt the little guys?



See my profile (link below) for fish and setup.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

The algae should be good for the fry. Algae usually doesnt cause health problems in fish, it is just unsightly. The free algae may even be some good food for the fry.

20 Gallon Long:
Aquaclear 300
2 Bolivian Rams, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus: Gumby and Pokey

well, that is what i was thinking, but I wasn't sure. And you are right, it is ghastly looking. However, I am also feeding Liquid fry food, I am hopping this is not from that.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Have you checked your water parameters? I've found that liquid fry foods can, if overfed, quickly pollute the waters.

I'm pretty sure that one of he main ingredients is egg yolks, which can foul fairly fast. You may want to check to make sure.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Great...... don't tell me that. They won't eat the "first bits" they just spit them out. What next?

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

The fish are a couple of weeks old now, so they may be able to take flake that has been seriously finely ground with a back of a spoon or a pestle and mortar. Boesmanii can usually take to solids fairly quickly and that reduces the pollution risks. Try offering a 50/50 split between liquid foods and finely ground flake.

I am trying Frozen Rotifers,it's like a liquid when disolved. Not crazy about that either. They are 4 weeks now. I wish they would grow up already. Picky little things. All other pix were a blur

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Smaller male and female. Boy are they hard to photograph. She is mommy fish, papa, just don't know if it is the large one or smaller one.

Attached Image:


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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

and the last, the two males together. kind of. Along with the flash.

Attached Image:


See my profile (link below) for fish and setup.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

OK, we are on a good start now. Frys are now eatting the Frozen Rotifers I am just so excited and last night did 50% water change and tank looks much better. Fry are very happy this morning.

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Well, there they are, eatting their new food and happy too. and tank is clear as a Bell. Thanks Oldtimer for warning me about the Liquid Fry Food, didn't know about it being egg.

Attached Image:

Babies feeding

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Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

I think a small ripple of applause is warranted for getting the little guys this far.



Well done!

Thank you longhair, but like you said,

a small ripple

.
Ok, 6 week old fry - down to 8- are back in the large tank in net #1, in net #2, 6 more 1 & 2 day old fry. 10 gal tank cycling. and boy, numbers are strange. After putting NH4 (1cc) and getting a NH4 reading of 1, next day 0. Good I think. NO2 2 or 3, NO3 80-160 or so it had looked to me. I then do 1/3 water change, and NO2 1 - NO3 20-40. (last night) this morning, still the same. I keep thinking I am at the end of this. My fry need to get back into their tank.

PS: My moss looks like a x-mass tree with eggs all over it along with the 2 breeders net. I don't have the space to keep them all, so mr elephantnose is getting Caviar.

See my profile (link below) for fish and setup.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.