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.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

It has been a week. A long, grueling week full of work and exhaustion, but finally! Tonight's the night things will finally commence.

I suspect that my filter for the 5 gallon hex wasn't fully cycled (which I don't blame from all the constant moving and whatnot), which caused havoc and death upon a number of my fish. One of these fish unfortunately happened to my male Cherry Barb. So on Tuesday I made that daunting voyage to PetsMart to pick up a lone male. As luck would have it, I much like this male a lot more than the previous male. He may not be as large as the other male, but patterning and coloring are a lot better than the last one.

Two subsequent visits to the 5 gallon breeder in a bag happened on Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully the enticing worked, though both the male and the female seemed to be very receptive on both occasions. A feeding of bloodworms occurred throughout the week as was water changes every couple of days (though I took some out daily anyway).

Yesterday, I took out all the java moss, the four Cherry Shrimp, and lone male Ram and gave the tank a good scrubbing to remove all the algae. Playing around with my various filters, I made the tank seem like it was new all over again without removing any of the water. I also did a 50% water change and squeezed out the sponge filter (to help out a new aquarist), hopefully there's still bacteria on the sponge media. Today, I added in the marbles. 325 marbles later the breeding tank is primed for function. I added 5 large marbles in for fun. :)

Tonight, before I go to bed, I will place the male and female together. This should give them some time to cozy up together before the first light of tomorrow. The female, while looking as though she's holding eggs, is not as plump as I'd like her to be. Regardless, I'm sure she still has a good set of eggs on her and hope everything goes smoothly.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

So! Its been a while since I've last visited or added to this page. Seems about that time once again.

Moved into a new place with more space, and with that gained 3 tanks and a number of small temporary container setups. Increased species count on fish (+5), invertebrates (+2), and plants (+6).

Anyway, I'm once again more involved with my aquaria with a renewed passion for breeding and thus, will be more dedicated in the next coming months.

While the new tanks are established, lots of work will need to be done on all of these. However, time is precious in terms of growth so I must utilize as much of it as possible. In the next week, I will be conditioning the breeding pair and prepare the 5 gallon breeder for it's latest task. A new pair of Cherry Barbs have been purchased from Big Al's, however, I will not be using this pair to breed with. Instead, I will be using the last Cherry Barb (a female) from my original brood as she seems to be full of eggs already and more than ready to reproduce.

As I am typing this, I've already commenced enticement. I've bagged the male and placed him in the breeder tank where the female is currently residing. Visual contact is always a very powerful stimulus, but I will be exchanging water from the tank and the bag shortly after. This is because I speculate that the two individuals are releasing chemicals into the water to advertise their breeding potential.

Much work is needed since I need to give the 5 G a good cleaning and will be going out to purchase more marbles for the tank. Removal of the other inhabitants will also occur, but the question becomes where to put them. I have once again obtained a culture of Microworms which I am trying to propagate. However, I am running into difficulties.. already having to throw one out due to it's virality. Much work will be needed to ensure proper culturing although I fear my efforts are wasting. The starter culture is already becoming inviable with the two additional cultures I made beginning to struggle.

We shall see what happens in the coming week. I also need to begin focusing more into school. All this work, is it really worth it?

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb
Breeding Project: Cherry Shrimp
Breeding Project: Java Fern
Breeding Project: Hornwort

So the hornwort have been sitting in a small tempo. tank since I didn't have the soils to begin propagation yet. Instead of just leaving it in water, I've been feeding it the water I collect during water changes since I figured there would be plenty of minerals and whatnot thanks to the fish. Of course, hornwort being the fast grower that it is, is slowly beginning to die off since there aren't enough nutrients in the water for it.

A lovely note that shouldn't be much of a surprise, I have snails. I am not very pleased and its pretty sad that I actually contracted them. But y'know, its kinda not unexpected either since hornwort has been known for years to be a carrier of pond snail eggs and there wouldn't have been a way for me to have cleaned it without stripping the poor plant of all it's leaves. Whatever. Good thing the hornwort was planned to be in it's own propagation tank anyway. Not to mention, the snails will be able to eat the leaves that have fallen and are decaying so it'll help. I figure the snails should be self-sustaining in that aspect and shouldn't explode into a billion unless they begin eating the hornwort. I figure, I'll give it a good rinse perhaps before I "export" any of the plant, but the goldfish would probably swallow the snails whole anyway.

So I returned to the big city I call home during the weekend and of course, stopped at a Big Al's before making the migration back up to school town. I haven't been to a Big Al's in FOREVER, let alone that EXACT location either! So you can imagine how estatic I was! So many gorgeous fish of all varieties and with the utmost high quality. Picked me up a beautiful java fern, whose size is twice (if not thrice) of that of PetsMart and lower in price too! Not to mention it had a LOT of daughter plants growing on it too, so faster propagation should be available from it very shortly. Hopefully before I'm able to set up the propagation tank for the java fern so that I can plant the daughters alongside the mother plant.

With the java fern, I also purchased myself some Red Cherry Shrimp. Of course, they're not of the supremely high quality with the bright red coloration. Instead, I find they are more similar to the wild end of the spectrum as they have a low red coloration, but its still present nonetheless. I only bought 3 as they came in a bundle like that, but I was scared the 4 hour drive would stress them out too much and that they'd die. Lucky for me, they all survived the trip and the acclimatizing and are happily settled in their temporary tank!

I am thinking of moving them into the 5 gallon breeder temporarily until the propagation tanks set up and move them back in there once water parameters have stabilized. I've thrown in half of the java moss collection I have with me with the extremely few surviving pieces of najas and two small things of hornwort to help battle nutrient levels. Originally I only had the najas and java moss in there since I knew they harbored delicious morsels of food for the lil buggers. I later added some cleaned hornwort because I was scared I'd have random spikes and figured the hornwort would better stabilize and prevent that from happening inbetween water changes.

Seeing as how this is the first time I've actually owned Cherry Shrimp, I'm still quite inexperienced with them and can't sex them on sight as well yet. I know I have two females for sure, but I can't help but think the guy got me a third female when I know I pointed at a male. All these random factors are floating in my head and I think it may be a male afterall, but we'll have to see when they really settle in. I know I have two females though seeing as how they have BERRIED!!! Thus, the great anxiety I have for them since I didn't want either of the ladies to drop or die.. but they've still got their brood so I'm excited at the prospect of a booming population!

Here's to hoping that things will go well!! I've decided to close Breeding Project: Cherry Barb, however. Why? Well its quite the sad story. I knew I shouldn't have been so rushy, but sometimes I can't help myself and I work faster than I think. So I did a water change like usual, splitting the water to set up the tempo. hornwort tank and mixing fresh water into both setups. Then, feeling that Mr. Cherry would be cramped since there was quite a lot of java moss at the time, I took him out and moved him into the hornwort tank since there was a lot more room for him. I should've waited another day to do this since I'm sure doing a water change still brings on some stress for the guy let alone introducing him into a new tank!

If that wasn't enough, I placed it on my desk and left for school the next day. Now, my room has one giant window which faces west - meaning when the sun begins to set, I get a surplus of very strong lighting. It often raises the temperature of my room by a couple degrees thanks to the mighty power of the sun's rays. Strong lighting in a fresh tank, I'm sure these factors weren't kind to stressed Mr. Cherry. He succumbed to a type of fungal rot I think, or it could have been a form of velvet. I was kinda sad when he made the passing, so I'll be leaving the Cherry Barbs for now even though I saw a sale at Big Al's for a pair being quite cheap, but naw.

On a better note, the three successors are growing nice and strong. I am almost sure now that I have 2 boys and 1 girl thanks to coloring as well as behaviour. Lots of fin flaring, trailing of the suspected sister, and brotherly chasing all are telltale signs that I believe I have what I have. If that's the case, it may still work though since I can always pick up a lone female (afterall, I was planning on doing that in the first place with the father) and breed her with either of the two brothers. That way, I can grow a school of them and perhaps put them in the 20 gallon with a corral of Cherry Shrimp too. :)

Nothing like a school of Cherry Barbs and an army of Cherry Shrimp to dominate a tank of greens! Hopefully it'll produce a stunning color contrast as I'm planning on using a black gravel substrate! Oh, and I picked up the necessary soils I require to begin the propagation tanks! I believe tank set-ups and changes will be made accordingly over the span of this week.

Breeding Project: Hornwort
Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

Okay! So its been 9 months exactly (freaky! I didn't even plan for it like this!) since I've last posted. Some major updates: my female Cherry Barb has gone, presumedly from high stress levels or breeding pressures by the male, actually I don't really remember. The male Blue Ram ended up developing pop eye unfortunately and the female passed the day after I returned home from school. Guess the move was too much for her, poor gal!

Now if you're an aquarist, you would probably know that Hornwort is a plant and therefore, wouldn't technically qualify under a "breeding project" because not many people try to flower their plants so that they could pollenate and seed. Plant "breeding" is called propagation, but I don't really want to call it a "propagation project" so it'll just have to be a breeding project! Now, Hornwort is an incredibly easy plant to grow let alone trying to propagate it. However, I've selected this plant as a tester to test out a new method I've discovered on plant growing.

The Hornwort also serves a double purpose; my aunt has a pair of goldfish that she regularly feeds live plants to. Something about them having a better shine.. so anyway, I used to give her my Najas clippings but then I left for school and my parents decided to give her some without my consent. Well, they gave her a bit too much and not just as a clipping... now my Najas stock has seriously been damaged and quality has run amuck! This is where the Hornwort propagation comes in. She used to buy Hornwort after I exploded in fury after discovering an ugly Endler tank but it gets quite expensive after a while with the constant purchases. I figure, since she's such an awesome aunt and the Najas thing was so long ago, to grow hordes of Hornwort and gift it to her!

Now, I've bought the Hornwort but have yet to assemble the rest of the propagation tank. Here's to hoping that all becomes successful! I hope so as I now have a brand-spankingly new 20 gallon that will need to be filled with lush and gorgeous plants! So far, I'm thinking about adding Java Ferns as the main plant with a small thing of Java Moss and perhaps a small collection of Najas.. if the Hornwort grow beautifully, I might consider adding them to the tank as well! May be the ugliest tank in the world, but I'm no aquascaper!

So an update for the Cherry Barbs! Thanks to a busy school life, hectic exam schedule, funeral trip, moving stress, and summer neglect (well not 100% neglect!) I'm left with 3 surviving younglings. I know its my fault for not being able to be a better aquarist and keeping the mortality rate low.. but the three survivors are about 2-2.5 cm long and are developing very well! They have a similar bronzey coloring like that of their mother, however, two of them seem to be different than the one. Somehow, they almost give me the impression that they will mature into boys. Something about a slight darker coloration, especially in the tail fin.. but I suppose we'll have to see with time! Maybe I'll take some updated pictures and post them!

Speaking of the younglings, I am planning on doing another Cherry Barb breeding, but this year with a higher yield of young. I am not too happy with the way things turned out, albeit the first time and all. I would just rather a much higher survival rate, just to boost that breeder's profile. Nothing says success as the results of your breeding attempts! I would like to set things up as soon as possible, but its very dependent on when I can finish setting up the desk I have here so that I'll have room to set up the breeding tank.

I've been debating about setting up marbles on the bottom or just supplying a plethora of flora to decrease egg predation. Guess I still have a little while before I make my decision.. I'll purchase a female when the tanks are set up so that I don't stress her out by not knowing where to place her! I figure I would be able to stick the school of Cherry Barbs in the 20 gallon 'social tank' (as I call it) when they grow up.

I suppose that's all I have to say for now.. hopefully this blog isn't so darn long! I have such a terrible tendency to produce long, boring blogs. Talk about verbal diarrhea! I think I'll make adjustments where I see fit - or if I have any suggestive inputs (which will probably never happen seeing as how nobody reads this thing anyway! :D)

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb
Breeding Project: German Blue Ram

After all this time, the tank was never cleaned and ridded of it's algae occupants until last night. I felt that it was time for a good cleaning and the juveniles were large enough to be handled. So, I took the old tank water and filled it into a 1.2 gallon desk tank and began moving the juvenile into their new home. Of course, I'm aware that they would soon outgrow this, but until now, it will serve as a grow out tank for them. Thusly, my 5 gallon would be free to continue on with other things.

During the move, I made sure to catch every young there was and although I had an updated original thought of having only 15 juvenile, the count was once again modified as I now proudly own 17 Cherry Barb juveniles. Guess I wasn't as big a failure as I had originally thought I was! Of course, some of them seem to be selectively smaller than a few which makes me wonder if any of the eggs I had moved from an accidental spawning hatched or not. They seem to be a couple weeks away in developmental stages, making it quite the possibility!

Another thing I noticed about the young is that they are now beginning to possess coloration in their fins. The dorsal and tail fin of the young now have an orange tint at the base of the fin. They are also have a very streamline and torpedo-shaped body, exactly like those found in the adults! It's only a matter of time before they begin to look identical with the parents. Now its only a matter of size that time will continue to contribute to. Once the young are large enough to stay out of the female's mouth, they'll be able to stay with mommy.

On a side note; there was another reason why I so abruptly decided to clean out the 5 gallon. During the weekend, I had purchased a gorgeous looking pair of German Blue Rams I had seen in one of the two fish stores I visited that day. Of course, they were a tad on the more pricier side but they are quite large and spectacular in coloration! The store sold three sizes of the Rams, the tiniest being the size of a thumb, the medium size being reminiscent of my old pair, and the largest size being a couple stone throw's away from the maximum size of 3 inches.

Naturally, I bought the largest considering the coloration found in these fish were evident, demonstrating some good genes I'd say! Also, I had found in the tank a couple of females with males whereas the medium sized fish had males only, at least to what I could see. They were also demonstrating that they were of a longer-finned variety than normal German Blues. The tiniest had the tank with the most females. In fact, I could hardly even pick out a single male! They were also mixed with young Gold Rams too, which were predominantely female as well. Maybe if they are still there the next time I visit that store, I will pick up a pair of the Gold Rams!

Since the move in, the two seem to be constantly sending each other signals. Normally, I'd welcome such behaviours with open arms but considering they are currently housed in a tiny 5 gallon tank, I'm crossing my fingers that nothing becomes of it within a month. Also, since I picked out a pair that had already paired off within the tank, these two MIGHT be that pair! This would mean that they are already past the courtship stage, greatly increasing the need to breed speed. Happily though, Blue Ram breeding seems to be within my foreseeable future! =D

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

They are growing very well as of late. They are beginning to develop a stockier body, growing girth and slowly resembling miniatures of the adults. One more step closer to their developmentation is the coloration. Almost all of them are now well on their well to looking like juveniles - being in a beautiful brass-orange coloration with as irridescence of orange. Day by day, their body morphology changes slightly to resemble more of the adult body shape.

Now, in certain lighting, the brass-orange coloration is very strong, along with the stripe that is noticeable reagardless of angle. One thing that I have noticed consistantly since they have become fry is that they have quite the large mouths for the small size they come in. At most, they seem to be able to open their mouths as wide as their eyes are, which is actually pretty large if you ever get a chance to see the body proportions. My guess is, the eye developmentation for such a size possibly speculates that this species is a strictly diurnal fish. Of course, majority of fish species are diurnal, but this only furthers that theory.

I think it is at this stage in time, that the term 'juvenile' can be appropriately coined upon them. Although they still do look like fry, I'm not quite sure at what age range and stage is a good enough indicator to demonstrate that it is right to call them by their third stage. Of course, after assuming that they take on adult morphologies officially places them in the juvenile category, it is only a guess. The young (on majority), are also officially one month old this day. This is a good track, as by the second month they should resemble very much like the adults by then! Hopefully they'll be too big to be consumed at that time and will be able to be place amongst the adults.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

Although I haven't updated this as much as I would like to, I have been noticing the development of the fry through a steady daily progress. Within the last couple days, they have been rapidly developing in a physical aspect. Compared to before, they have the full brown stripe that runs across their eye and through the body to the tail. Also, they are beginning to develop their coloration slowly becoming less and less transparent as the days pass by, as well as taking up the same body morphology as the parents do. It is only a matter of time before they're all fully grown up it seems!

After doing a bit of research, some people have said that the fry don't begin resembling the parents or even becoming large enough to be noticeable like a parent until at least 2 months of age. They are almost 1 month of age at this point, depending on when you want to recognize their date of conceivement. Either when they became an egg, or actually hatched. In either case, in about 5 days, they will definitely have bypassed the 1 month milestole already. I wonder how long it will take before they begin to mature and develop the sexual dimorphic coloration. As far as I know, they all develop into the brassy, orange color found in females as juveniles.

At this point, I've consistantly counted 14 fry. This is not a bad turnout considering the strenuous and unprepared everything that I had to work with. All the while, I am beginning to condition the pair once again, for I feel that it was not to the best of my abilities for this first spawning. Originally, I was just giving room for the female to recouperate considering she started becoming lethargic after being chased all the time by the male. Hopefully I will be able to save more eggs with the second time around. I am also debating on getting some Cherry Shrimp since they have been known to be great algae combaters as well as egg cleaners - supposedly eating fungused eggs and leaving the healthy ones alive, making a great egg curator in my opinion.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

So its been a while since I last updated this. Since the last update, the Cherry Barbs has spawned an additional time and I've come to the conclusion that they may very well spawn regularly with egg predation being the key factor as to why eggs and fry are rarely noticed in the community environment.

Of course, I am not actively trying to save these horny spawns, because it would take too much effort attempting to collect what little eggs come of these happenings. The fry at the moment are doing very well, with the ones successfully hatching growing strongly and steadily. No fry death have been noticed, and with the presence of nematode-like organisms, I suspect that what I'm feeding the fry is not the only thing contributing to their amazing well-being.

So today, while trying to study for my midterm for the next day, I decided to set some things up for the tanks. First, the female has been hassled to a lot of exhaustion, which is visible and taking its toll on her condition. With this, I've decided to split them up - not because I'm trying to condition them and try another planned spawn, even though that is undoubtedly going to happen in the process. I've also set up an air stone with tubing directed to the baby tank as well as the desk tank holding the female. In the fry tank, I've also installed a heater so that the fry will have a constant temperature as well as warmer water as to quicken their metabolism. Hopefully they'll grow and mature at a much faster rate now!

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

So I haven't updated this in a little while but that's because I hadn't much time to do any updating. On October 24, I left to return home for my reading week that happens every October. I was originally intending to take the young with me down as I would be able to feed and care for them, however, due to time restraints and the difficulty in attempting to net the young, I left with the adults instead.

I figured, since the larvae were taking so long to mature into fry, they would have a better chance at surviving by their lonesome with the yolk sac and a potential array of bacteria and microorganisms that may be prospering within the tank. Also, the parents being my lone breeding pair will come useful in future spawns as well. Speaking of which, on the 28th, peculiar behaviour was noticed. Upon further inspection, the pair were breeding quite readily, without conditioning or prompting as well. This could possibly mean that Cherry Barbs may readily breed under proper conditions but the young may never propagate due to egg and young predation.

With such short notice, marbles were thrown into their 1 gallon desk tank in an attempt to save the eggs by being out of reach for the parents. Marbles are a wonderful choice to being a method of egg collection for scatter spawners, in my opinion. This is because a layer of marbles provides large enough crevices that allow for the eggs to slip inbetween but not allow the adults to be able to get at the eggs. Though some breeders use two to three layers of marbles, I feel that one layer is sufficient enough.

Hopefully the move back to school with the adults as well as the eggs become successful and have this second, unexpected spawn propagate more than that of the first spawn.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

I really need to update this more often.. but I can never bring myself to doing it! So on the 19th, eyes became developed as the young started to wiggle more. Two were noticed to enjoy hanging in the upright position (nose pointed upwards where the tail was pointing down to the ground). They seem to be developing on track, which is definitely a positive! The lack in numbers, however, is a bit worrisome but that is, on my part, all my fault. That is why these steps will be taken to further improve my capabilities for future spawns as I will now know what to expect.

October 20th; the yolk sac has gone down quite considerably and they are finally starting to resemble traditional fish larvae seen in books and other such sources. This is obviously a good sign, as the two out in the open are developing at a steady pace. Hopefully the addition of a heater in a couple weeks will aid the growing process. Still, there are currently only two being actively noticed as they sit in the open day-in and day-out. I'm hoping for a few more hiding in the filter sponge and within the najas.

Although today is the 21st, and in the morning, I most likely will not end up updating my finds later on tonight when I usually do most of my observations. I am leaving the city where these fish are staying at for a week, and I am heavily debating on whether or not I should take the young with me so I could care for them on my journey. It probably is in their best interest that I take them along, as I could be able to provide them a few more necessities. We'll see.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

So I figure I should update this more often so that the dates would be proper, but I get lazy and nobody's perfect. =P
In any case, some of the eggs had fungused over (partly because some of the saved eggs from the 1 gal parent container had bits of food with them, which most likely was the catalyst to the fungus), leaving the remaining eggs (a much smaller percentage of it) to slowly develop. The lack of a heater in the tank is quite bothersome, so I will definitely be bringing back one when I return home next. With this cool temperature (I like my room to be crispy cold), the eggs have taken a much slower developmentational route - as expected.

The larvae were seen 2 days after the eggs have been laid on October 17. In the early mornings of the 18th, movement was noticed, but since it was so early I simply passed it off as seeing things instead. Now that it is the 19th, furious wiggling was witnessed after discovering that the larvae had moved positions from the night prior to them hatching out as larvae. The eggs are clear, almost fooling one into believing that they are just blanks and not fertilized. The larvae are no different, being clear and very round themselves - however, they look like eggs with a tiny bulb on the top and a stringy end behind the bulb. This signifies the head and the developing spinal column and body, demonstrating that Cherry Barb egg yolks are not famously colored in tones of yellow or red like many other species of fish.

The larvae generally remain motionless and attached to whatever surface they hatched on. The occassional mad wiggling only occurs uncommonly as the eyes don't even seem to have developed yet. At this point in time, I've only seen about 10 of them - 4 larvae for sure. Their clear bodies make them hard to spot, on top of the fact that some tend to enjoy lying motionless amongst plants. In a couple days, they should be expected to have moved onto the next stage of life: the fry stage. This point in time is where everything kicks into gear as I want to wait a couple days after they become free swimming so that they can be prolific enough to withstand or hide from the current of the filter.

An important note I forgot to add to the last blog entry was the tidbit about my amazing roomate. He was a major driving force behind this project and even kickstarted a flame within me again that made me focus on this as a part of my life. He even went as far as to buying some bloodworms for me as to condition the fish (as I didn't bring any up with me at the time). So it is he whom I owe this spawn's success and perhaps the next couple spawns as well!

As a side note, one of the females died within the time frame of this blog and the last blog. She was the lone female from before (not the jumbo breeding pair). The diagnosis behind her death was unknown, although I had noticed a decrease in feeding and activity behaviour, often swimming somewhat abnormally for a Cherry Barb. Within the last day before her death, internal bleeding was thought to have occurred. This hypothesis came to be after observations of a red patch developed near her heart and stomach region. This worsened in the final hours of her life and after death as well as a few parts of her body - especially by the organs such as the swim bladder and upper stomach - became dark in coloration, almost reminiscent of that deep blood maroon-red. I buried her in the garden outside under the prettiest flowers still in bloom. May she now have eternal peace.

Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

Well, well, well.. What do we have here!
So I'm back after a nice long absence! A little more grown up and a little bit more crazy from when I was last here! (I'm sure I still have the bad grammar, if not worse!) My current project has led me back here, what I would consider my base journal for all projects regarding with fish. I was originally going to have posted a couple weeks earlier, but the constant school work just made me push it further and further behind until this point!

Today, well more-so October 15, was the day of Project: Cherry Barb. Finally, after so long, have I commenced my breeding project of Cherry Barbs that I have dreamed of so many years back.. The lone male I had after the previous female died was joined by a much younger female that I had picked up from the local fish store shortly after. Since then, the male has died and the same female has stayed with me, further joined by a pair of interestingly jumbo specimens. From these three fish, the foundation to Project: Cherry Barb will be built upon.

After almost a month of conditioning, the selected jumbo pair (the "original female" did not show signs of egg developmentation and was therefore, not included for this spawn) was left alone in a 5 gallon tank. I am perfectly aware that this is not an optimum size for breeding, but it is currently all that I have. Along with this tank comes a power filter and a handful of Najas. I know that the power filter isn't the best filter for breeding, but once again, it is all that I have and I will have to make do.

The pair was placed together in the morning of October 15, at approximately 5 am. This was due to the rumors that these fish have a tendency to breed in the early morning. As I left for school a couple hours later, the room was left dark with the blind pulled down to stretch out the dark-twilight period that would be seen in my room. This was due to the lack of a layer of marbles as substrate to ensure that the eggs would be safely protected in case the parents should feel the need to feed. Upon returning from a day of classes at about 3:30 pm, the pair was seen to have already commenced spawning. This was followed by various confirming actions and the eggs were seen to scatter to the bottom while being slightly adhesive in case they came into contact with the plants before the bare bottom.

The filter had mysteriously stopped working after the pair was placed in the early morning and had remained motionless all day. This is slightly worrisome as proper filtration is necessary for proper growth of the larvae and fry, not to mention a good aeration would be quite necessary for the eggs as well. This was later fixed in the night at around 11 pm, after the pair had been removed from the breeding tank at 10:45 pm. They were then placed within the small, confined 1 gallon temporary holding bucket alongside the lone female. The female at the time, had decreased in spawning behaviours and started to get increasingly hungry, so they were moved for the safety of the eggs.

Spawning behaviour, however, continued well into the night even after being placed in the small 1 gallon. After noticing some 50 odd eggs, I decided that it would be best to have collected these eggs and placed in the 5 gallon with the rest so that they had a better chance of survival. After the filter had been fixed (problem was that it did not want to start while the impeller was full of water..), it was turned on to provide aeration for the eggs. However, the powerful current made many of the eggs fall into the suction of the filter. Luckily, I had placed a filter sponge earlier to prevent unfortunate events such as these. The sponge, however, was quite porous with large holes - adding to my plate of worries. The decision was then made to turn off the filter and only turn it back on after a couple days of being free swimmers. I felt that this would be the best chance of survival as they would be more prolific at swimming and be strong enough to withstand the current.

After the pair was removed, speculations of having around 100 or more eggs was made, but the filter made quick work with dwindling the numbers. After adding the eggs from the 1 gallon, the numbers now seem to have perked back up to a near 100. The additional eggs were found after proding the sponge a bit and the eggs presented themselves. Hopefully the eggs will not succumb to fungus and hatch successfully. They should hatch by tomorrow or the day after according to various sources.

The male is wrapped around the female here in mid-spawn.

To clear up any confusion, Cherry Barbs are egg scatterers. This means that after fertilization, the eggs are dropped wherever the parents were and fall to the bottom. The barbs like to spawn inbetween the plants, especially in tight pockets made by the plants. This would mean that many of the eggs would fall on the plants, and being slightly adhesive, would stick to the plant - increasing egg survivability in the wild as they would not succumb to fungus or egg predation by various predators.

Various sites had stated that these barbs laid their eggs on threads attached to plants. This information is incorrect! They did, however, mention a truth - the barbs were noticed to release a few eggs at a time. 7 eggs being released was the maximum noticed, while no eggs were also witnessed. The typical amount that was observed the most was an egg range from 4-6.

The pregnant female that was selected.
*Note: The large belly full of eggs compared to the other female.

Probably the spawn-inducing behaviour as he would chase her around the tank, following her in such an exact position until they shimmied amongst the plants.

The two caught at the point of sperm and egg release.

The end result of such hard work for the pair. I definitely should have removed the flakes from the bare bottom though!

Breeding Project: White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Breeding Project: Cherry Barb

Alright. So this breeding project has been brought to a temporary halt currently simply because the male White Cloud Mountain Minnow has died from old age and a weak immune system after the washing. The female, however, is doing fine and still kicking - great news for a pretty old fish! Although I know I'm supposed to use much younger fish when breeding, I will be sure to pick up some more younger specimens upon the next time I visit a store with a healthy stock of these fish and be sure to purchase a small shoal instead of just 1 more male.

Also, the breeding project set up for the Cherry Barbs have also been put to a temporary halt due to the fact that during the transfer from the 10 gallon back to the 55 gallon, the female died from stress while the male and the other community fish survived. However, due to the fact that I was most likely going through about 3 different species before coming to the Cherry Barbs. So by the time that its the Cherry Barb's turn to breed, I would have already bought another female and possibly another small shoal considering it is better breeding that way sometimes.