Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

As you may have noticed, the font has changed for my spawn blogs. This is because blogspot is being stupid and the font and color changes don't fully register and I've officially become too lazy to write the html for it myself, as I've been doing for the past couple of entries.

Anyway, 2 days after Cherry Barb sexy time, I finally removed the pair today. This was because after the first day, I wasn't sure if they had bred or not. The female definitely looked more thin on the second day than the first, however, I'm pretty sure they still bred on the first day. When I woke up, I found the female wedged under a large marble, clear hints that she was attempting to get at the eggs.

In retrospect, 1 day is often enough and for future references, keep the pair in there for only one day max! Egg yield was awfully low - about 5 eggs, more or less. More marbles need to be added as well! Just one layer is simply not enough as there are pockets where the barbs are able to wedge in between and pick at the eggs. While it is recommended for at least 3 layers, the 2 I plan on having should suffice. This means I need at least 200 more marbles.. Also, for the next spawning I will not use as much java moss. For this time, I left all of the java moss that was in there previously and that may have influenced egg survival as well. While the eggs are not completely adhesive, they are slightly sticky and I'm sure a fair share clung to the java moss to which the parents were happily lingering around. For the next time, I am only going to add a very small layer of najas instead.

While I wouldn't exactly call this attempt a pure success, I intend on trying in another week or so. This time, I will implement my solutions to the problems I faced during this time in the hopes that a much higher and more successful yield will occur. As for the few eggs I have now, they shall be left to their own devices. If the eggs are unfortunate enough to fungus, then that will be sad. However, if they hatch, then that will be good! I will attempt to feed them if I can find them but I do not have high hopes.