How many babies will I actually end up with?

Hello! I know there isn't actually an exact answer to this question, but I'm curious how likely it is that I end up with any babies, or that I get overrun with them. I have cherry barbs and pristella tetras. I have thought about breeding them to increase my stock levels. I would be putting them in a 10g breeding tank to protect the eggs from their parents after breeding. My ph is 7.8. So will I get anything? Will I end up with hundreds?

 

I would say in either case, it would be dependent on the stock itself and how well you look after it and with time, get better methods. but I'd suspect it will be minimally productive for the first half dozen to dozen attempts, and might require changing out fish to new examples or hobby raised fish instead of commercial fish. .

because of commercial breeding operations and methods, you might not get a male that will fertilize eggs, or weak females that don't produce a lot of eggs. either case it might not be productive at all no matter what you do. If you do get productive fish, you'd still need to hatch and feed them and get them to size without dying, it's another challenge to figure out. You might get 5 or 10 or 20 at first to make it. or none at all, then it might improve with experience as you refine technique or change out your breeding stock.

For the Tetras you will need to lower the pH from 8 down to 6.5 to 7 range and look for that sweet spot for them,. you also might have a problem with a GH of 4 dGH or higher and need it lower than that.

There's just a lot to figure out to hone your method to increase viability and spawn size. I wouldn't expect to be overrun unless you are trying to get it optimal and looking to be overrun. I mean you might get lucky, but I doubt it. Breeding fish isn't anywhere near as easy as it sounds. My numbers were really low at first (and I mean for the first two years of attempts), and when I finally sourced and put together a productive pair of fish, and then had everything ideal, that's when "hundreds of fry to a thousand or so" a month became possible with 80%+ survival rates to adulthood.

It will take a lot more effort on your part than you think it will reading on how to get them to spawn. Not trying to deter you, just letting you know the information out there is general, you'd need to do it and fail and fix, and learn as it goes just like the fish will need to learn as they go also.

 

I would say in either case, it would be dependent on the stock itself and how well you look after it and with time, get better methods. but I'd suspect it will be minimally productive for the first half dozen to dozen attempts, and might require changing out fish to new examples or hobby raised fish instead of commercial fish. .

because of commercial breeding operations and methods, you might not get a male that will fertilize eggs, or weak females that don't produce a lot of eggs. either case it might not be productive at all no matter what you do. If you do get productive fish, you'd still need to hatch and feed them and get them to size without dying, it's another challenge to figure out. You might get 5 or 10 or 20 at first to make it. or none at all, then it might improve with experience as you refine technique or change out your breeding stock.

For the Tetras you will need to lower the pH from 8 down to 6.5 to 7 range and look for that sweet spot for them,. you also might have a problem with a GH of 4 dGH or higher and need it lower than that.

There's just a lot to figure out to hone your method to increase viability and spawn size. I wouldn't expect to be overrun unless you are trying to get it optimal and looking to be overrun. I mean you might get lucky, but I doubt it. Breeding fish isn't anywhere near as easy as it sounds. My numbers were really low at first (and I mean for the first two years of attempts), and when I finally sourced and put together a productive pair of fish, and then had everything ideal, that's when "hundreds of fry to a thousand or so" a month became possible with 80%+ survival rates to adulthood.

It will take a lot more effort on your part than you think it will reading on how to get them to spawn. Not trying to deter you, just letting you know the information out there is general, you'd need to do it and fail and fix, and learn as it goes just like the fish will need to learn as they go also.

I really appreciate your thoughts! I'll read a bunch more and see if I want to attempt it. I'm also not surprised by the tetras. They haven't even filled up with eggs before. It's a little unfortunate though, because I can't find them anymore. At least not from a healthy store. I may have to order them online. My school has 6, and I want it bigger to keep them happy.

 

Cherry barbs live actually in more acidic water than Pristella, while the latter still live in quite soft water.
But: The barbs have been bred in average tap water Pristella rarely breed unintentionally.

Cherry barbs - Optimal: GH/KH 0, pH 5-6, moss as a substrate, remove parents after spawning. Possible are occasional fry surviving in decently planted tanks running with tap of GH up to 10 and KH um to 5, with a pH around neutral.

Pristella - Optimal: GH/KH 0, pH 6-7, dense vegetation. Haven't heard much of them successfully reproducing in home aquaria, I'm pretty sure they might as well be not that picky, since there is quite a number of commercially bred Pristella in the trade.

 

Wow, that's really unfortunate. Not because of breeding purposes, but because I thought I had my fish in proper conditions. I researched a lot, and I read that their environments can be up to a ph of 8 for both. Especially pristella tetras who live in many environments. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

The tetras live in seasonally changing waters, so during the rainy season a lot of sediment is brought into their habitat, locally and temporarily parameters change drastically. Still mostly soft, but not very acidic water.

 

The tetras live in seasonally changing waters, so during the rainy season a lot of sediment is brought into their habitat, locally and temporarily parameters change drastically. Still mostly soft, but not very acidic water.

Thanks! I know the xrays also live in brackish some parts of the year. Anyway, I think my fish are doing well though. Everyone is active, they eat well, good color, and the barbs are breeding, even though I know they won't have success. I guess I should have stuck with rainbows, but I other than a ph that's not perfect, my fish have a good home.

 

Pristella mostly come from continental populations in the Amazon amd Orinoco. The coastal populations from the Guyanas are not fished for the aquarium trade.

 

Pristella mostly come from continental populations in the Amazon amd Orinoco. The coastal populations from the Guyanas are not fished for the aquarium trade.

You always know so much. I don't know where you learn all this from. I read SO many articles before buying fish, and I never get anything that detailed. Are there websites that are better are explaining these things?

 

Na, it's not a secret that few fish are caught and exported from certain regions. French Guyana, Suriname and Guyana proper are among these regions. You learn that from talking to importers or people that go to south america to catch the fish themselves. Or in articles and documentaries about the trade, not about the fish

 

Na, it's not a secret that few fish are caught and exported from certain regions. French Guyana, Suriname and Guyana proper are among these regions. You learn that from talking to importers or people that go to south america to catch the fish themselves. Or in articles and documentaries about the trade, not about the fish

I see. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I have a completely off topic questions, if you don't mind. Would you quarentine snails? Or would you just add them directly to a community tank?

 

The Cherry Barbs commercially available in the US were mostly bred in Florida, and are adapted to hard, alkaline water. I bred them in such water quite easily. They've been bred in Florida for many decades. What I found was that they bred better as a group than as pairs: two males, three females. I have heard numerous stories of them breeding in heavily planted community tanks, but you will get more fry by setting up a separate spawning tank.

Pristella are a very easy Tetra to breed. The fact that a couple of color varieties are common in the hobby should make this evident. Again, a commonly bred fish in Florida for a long time. These I bred in 1983 as pairs, but the sexes needed to be separated for conditioning. It was one of the earliest Tetras that I bred, so I had little experience prior. I have not heard of community tank fry, so I would guess that the adults are very good at finding their own eggs and fry. Unlike many Tetras, they do not require darkening of the breeding container, nor do the eggs need to be kept in the dark.

I suspect that the breeding lines of Pristella may have originated from the Guianas back in the 1950s-60s. Those countries were exporting many fish back then but put a moratorium on exporting when they realized that their natural populations were being decimated. Only in the last few years a few fish are being shipped again, and some species originated from private collecting trips. But it is likely that many of the breeding lines in Florida have been around for over 60 years.

I would expect that most European stocks originate from the Far East, and therefore are not as adjusted to hard water as those raised in Florida. Certain European wholesalers are also known to import wild stocks and breed them.

 

The Cherry Barbs commercially available in the US were mostly bred in Florida, and are adapted to hard, alkaline water. I bred them in such water quite easily. They've been bred in Florida for many decades. What I found was that they bred better as a group than as pairs: two males, three females. I have heard numerous stories of them breeding in heavily planted community tanks, but you will get more fry by setting up a separate spawning tank.

Pristella are a very easy Tetra to breed. The fact that a couple of color varieties are common in the hobby should make this evident. Again, a commonly bred fish in Florida for a long time. These I bred in 1983 as pairs, but the sexes needed to be separated for conditioning. It was one of the earliest Tetras that I bred, so I had little experience prior. I have not heard of community tank fry, so I would guess that the adults are very good at finding their own eggs and fry. Unlike many Tetras, they do not require darkening of the breeding container, nor do the eggs need to be kept in the dark.

I suspect that the breeding lines of Pristella may have originated from the Guianas back in the 1950s-60s. Those countries were exporting many fish back then but put a moratorium on exporting when they realized that their natural populations were being decimated. Only in the last few years a few fish are being shipped again, and some species originated from private collecting trips. But it is likely that many of the breeding lines in Florida have been around for over 60 years.

I would expect that most European stocks originate from the Far East, and therefore are not as adjusted to hard water as those raised in Florida. Certain European wholesalers are also known to import wild stocks and breed them.

Thanks for sharing! This makes me feel a lot better. I try so hard to provide a good home for my fish. And I believe they are doing well. I've wondered if I will ever have a baby appear. My goal is to have a heavy planted tank, and I have seen them drop eggs. Oh, and what are you feeding your cherry babies? And would you expect a lot or a few survive?

 

In a planted community tank, I would expect to see very few survivors. They will usually find enough microorganisms living on the plants to survive, and eventually may get large enough to come out and feed with the adults. In a breeding tank I fed live baby brine shrimp once the fry started swimming, and you could end up with many more. At least 50, even over 100 if the females are big.

 

In a planted community tank, I would expect to see very few survivors. They will usually find enough microorganisms living on the plants to survive, and eventually may get large enough to come out and feed with the adults. In a breeding tank I fed live baby brine shrimp once the fry started swimming, and you could end up with many more. At least 50, even over 100 if the females are big.

Thank you!