Praecox Rainbowfish Breeding

I was looking for some fish to put in my 75 gallon with my Electric Blue Acaras. I bred them and had a over 100 and used the 75 gallon as a grow out tank. Now that I'm down to about 20 EBA babies, I wanted to stock it with some other fish and decided on some Praecox Rainbowfish. I picked up 8 from a LFS, 3 males and 5 females. All 3 males died within 2 days but the females were fine. I eventually got 5 males in 3 purchases so 5 males and 5 females have been doing great for the last couple of weeks in QT. I also have a L128 Blue Phantom and L201 Snowball plecos (both under 3") and 2 Otos (started with 6). I have a small piece of driftwood and some spare java moss in there. I know the tank is overcrowded but I've been doing 50% water changed every 3-5 days to keep nitrates below 40 (usually under 20). QT should be done by next week.

A few days ago, I noticed what looked like an egg on the java moss. There are a couple of females that looked gravid but they're under an inch so I wasn't sure. I made a breeding mop from some acrylic yarn I bought last week intending on breeding in a month or two. I put the mop in the tank a couple of days ago but couldn't see any eggs so I thought it was just taking up space and was going to pull it out tonight. I squeezed it out and was going to put it away but looked for eggs for the heck of it. I found and plucked about 30 eggs! They're currently in a small bowl with tank water and a drop of meth blue. I put the mop back in the tank as I read that they can lay eggs for a week or more. Hopefully this thread won't end quickly.

Here's 5 males. I was trying to take a pic of the L128.



Full tank pic.

 

Looks to be about 34 eggs and 1 unfertilized one.

 

They will spawn continuously, as long as the males don't drive the females too much and stress them out. The fry go straight for the surface when they hatch, without cover plants they will get eaten pretty quickly. They've probably been spawning in the Java moss all along.

 

I don't really have any information but would love to follow along lol

 

They will spawn continuously, as long as the males don't drive the females too much and stress them out. The fry go straight for the surface when they hatch, without cover plants they will get eaten pretty quickly. They've probably been spawning in the Java moss all along.

I've read they'll keep spawning every morning until the female runs out of eggs. Usually about a week. I have 5 males and 5 females so the females shouldn't be too stressed as 2 males are pretty small. I've been checking the java moss for eggs and only saw the 1 so I figured I'd put the spawning mop in. I left it for 2 days and couldn't see any eggs so I planned on just pulling it out but after lightly wringing it out and looking in the strands, I started seeing lots of eggs. I plucked the eggs and put them in a container and put the mop back in.

The EBA breeding was totally unexpected and I wasn't expecting so many to survive. This pushed back my stocking plans quite a bit as they took over a 20 gallon tall, 40 gallon and 75g. I was lucky enough to have a few LFS buy groups of them. It saved me from posting online and shipping. I wouldn't mind having a bunch of praecox rainbows in the 75 gallon and 40g. Maybe even a few in a 20 gallon long .

 

Picked out another 50-ish eggs tonight.

I started 2 infusoria cultures yesterday and put an extra sponge filter in my snail tank to seed.

 

I've been doing a lot more research but not getting a lot of info on care of the eggs. I had over 100 eggs easy but a lot of them started getting fungus so I set up a new container with fresh dechlorinated water and picked out and separated each egg. Some of the eggs have eyes or what look to be eyes. I have about 70-80 eggs so far and I'm planning on changing at least 50% of the water with fresh dechlorniated water every other day as recommended by Gary Lange (that rainbowfish guy). They're in about 2 cups of water and I put 3 drops of hydrogen peroxide (3%) to help control/eliminate fungus spores.

I have a LOT of BBS eggs and HikarI First bites from when I raised EBA fry but they might be too big so I ordered some Golden Pearls 5-50 micron. HikarI First Bites were getting mixed reviews for newly hatched fry. I also have 2 - 1 gal jars of infusoria cultures that should be ready in a few more days.

PetCo has their DPG sale and I'm tempted to get another 10 gallon for them but I have a 20 gallon tall that I'll probably use even though it might be too big. I could swap my 10 gallon snail tank with the 20 gallon and use the 10 gallon for the fry. Hmmm.

 

Moving the eggs to another container with fresh dechlorinated water prevented any more eggs getting fungus. Not sure if the H2O2 helped or not. Most of them have eyes now. I haven't checked the mop for more eggs in a couple of days.

You might have to click on the pic to see the full sized pic.



I shuffled some tanks to make room for a 20 gallon tall for the fry.

 

That's great! Did you do anything special, or did it just happen. How do you sex them?

 

Just added a mop once I saw an egg on the java moss. I gave them some frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp when I was feeding my other tanks so that might've conditioned them to spawn but I thought they were too small at 1-1.5".

Males are larger with red fin tips. Females are shorter height wise but fatter (with eggs) and yellow/orange fin tips. The first post in this thread shows 5 males and a female (on the far right). I think the eggs are from 2 or 3 females as I've read that they lay 25-50 eggs per spawn and I have way more than that.

The 20 gallon tall fry tank is up and running with a sponge filter and heater. I only filled it with about 15 gallon of water and will have to lower the bubbles once I introduce the fry into the tank. Temp is currently set at 83°F.

 

Wow, now that you point that out, I can see the difference. I might have to pick some up tomorrow...

 

They look even better when outside light hits them. They have a blue sheen to their scales. Mine are in a QT tank with little vegetation and a light substrate. I just moved them to my 75 gallon and they're looking better now.

This was yesterday. Light is behind them so they don't look good.



I checked the eggs this morning and I have 6 fry swimming around .

 

They look even better when outside light hits them. They have a blue sheen to their scales. Mine are in a QT tank with little vegetation and a light substrate. I just moved them to my 75 gallon and they're looking better now.

This was yesterday. Light is behind them so they don't look good.
View attachment 458766

I checked the eggs this morning and I have 6 fry swimming around .
View attachment 458769

Too cute!

 

2 more hatched but I found 2 fry in the big tank. I moved the java moss from the spawning tank to the fry tank last night but didn't see any eggs. I wonder if there's any more in the moss. The 2 were swimming right next to the 2 containers floating in the tank. 1 container has the eggs and the other has the little fry for easier feeding.

Full tank shot. Moss on the left was in the QT/breeding tank. The moss on the right was in a tray with tank water changed every week but not a lot of light.



Eggs



Fry. Can you see 10?

 

2 more hatched but I found 2 fry in the big tank. I moved the java moss from the spawning tank to the fry tank last night but didn't see any eggs. I wonder if there's any more in the moss. The 2 were swimming right next to the 2 containers floating in the tank. 1 container has the eggs and the other has the little fry for easier feeding.

Full tank shot. Moss on the left was in the QT/breeding tank. The moss on the right was in a tray with tank water changed every week but not a lot of light.
View attachment 458854

Eggs
View attachment 458855

Fry. Can you see 10?
View attachment 458856

I think I see them all!

 

No pics but There were 7-8 fry in the big tank so I dumped all the fry into the big tank. I have about 40 fry so far with a few more eggs that should hatch in the next day or so. I've been feeding them Golden Pearl 5-50 micron fry food. It's like dust and perfect for rainbow fry as it stays on the surface. The infusoria is still brewing and smells pretty nasty. I'll start hatching brine shrimp this weekend depending on how big the fry get. They seem to like the Golden Pearl food.

 

These guys are so tiny it's hard to get pics of them. This is just after putting some food in so the surface is covered in fry food dust. There is about 30 fry in this pic if you can believe it.

 

Following!!! I got dibs on the frys when they get old enough for u to sell!

 

Following!!! I got dibs on the frys when they get old enough for u to sell!

I was guessing about 50-60 but it could be as many as 70. They're getting noticeably bigger and more active every day. I'm planning on keeping about 20-30 of them for 2 other tanks so I'll keep you in mind when they're ready.

 

It's really hard to take pics of these guys. I tried with my phone (S9+) and dslr (Nikon D5100, 35mm lens).

They're starting to swim around the top more rather than hiding toward the back of the tank so I took a top down shot.



I know Lchi87 likes pink bellies so here ya go. They're filled with Golden Pearls and not BBS (too big for them now).

 

I think I might've miss a bunch of eggs in the moss. I went to check on them this morning and it looks like I have at least 100 fry in the tank! Definitely way more than the 50-60 I initially thought.

I've always been a firm believer in adding plants to a fry tank, especially java moss. They have micro-organisms that can feed the fry if you don't have or run out of fry food. I have noticed a some detritus worms and copepods a few days ago and they seem to be multiplying since the fry are still too small to eat them. It might be a couple more weeks before the fry are big enough to snack on them though.

 

Great photos! I do love seeing babies with nice full bellies. Nice job capturing their development so far, I know how hard it is to get decent photos when these babies are dang near microscopic!

 

The oldest fry is 7 days old so I thought I'd start hatching some bbs but it's still way too big for them and they ignore it. My other small fish appreciate them. I'll have to wait a bit more. They're still eating the Golden Pearls and I have HikarI First Bites too.

 

Meh.

 

They're getting bigger but still too small for BBS. The heater has algae because I took it from my QT since it didn't need it and it's been staying steady at 79°F. The fry tank is set to 83°F. Someone posted a link to a $10 off $30 coupon at Petco so I picked up a 100w Aqueon Pro for $25 and 6 otos for $15 so $33 after tax wasn't bad.

 

They seem to group up on either side of the filter output. I added about 2 gallons of fresh water to raise the water level a bit more.






I also added 5 baby mystery snails to clean up the bottom.

 

Here's a few closeup shots. I need to get better lighting but you can see in some of the pics they have blue eyes.









Grumpy?



You can almost make out the 2nd dorsal and analfins unique to rainbowfish here.

 

Just made a small batch of BBS to see if they are big enough to eat them. Only 8-9 are big enough. And really fat now .

It's interesting that some are still so small like they just hatched and others are big enough for bbs. I think they all hatched within a week of each other so 10-17 days old. I've had 2 little ones die and I was worried that it was the start of a massive die-off I've read about but that was a couple of days ago. I think I'm gonna wait a couple of more weeks before I do a water change.

 

I have 11 that are growing faster than the rest and can almost sex them by fin color. I have 15 little fry for a total of 26 left from the batch. Turns out the bigger fry might/will eat the smaller ones which explains why they've grown so fast and the batch was thinning out with no bodies. I caught the 15 surviving little fry and put them in a fry floater and have been feeding them infusoria and BBS.

The 10 praecox in the 75 gallon were going nuts every morning so I put a spawning mop in there a couple of days ago and picked out a bunch of eggs this evening, maybe 30+. There was probably a lot more but the other fish in the tank probably got to most of them. I'm not sure if I want to do the Gary Lange method again or use a new Cobalt egg rocker I just got. They're currently floating in a container a la GL method.

My EBA also spawned. I was able to grab 8 before they were lost to the tank (or mom). They're in with the rainbow fry and eating BBS already.

8 EBA fry in the lower left corner.

 

 

I had 8 eggs hatch so I put the fry that were in the breeder box into the main tank and put the newly hatched fry in the breeder box. Unfortunately, the slots in the box are too big and most of the little fry escaped. I saw one in the main tank and before I could scoop it up, I saw one of my 1/2" fry eat him. I have about 30-ish eggs that should hatch in a few days and after seeing the fry get eaten, I was thinking of just waiting to raise another batch in a few months when the current batch of 26 get big enough to move to my other tanks. So I went to pull the mop out of the 75 gallon and checked it for eggs. There were about 80-100 so now I have over 100 eggs again.

I need more tanks :/.

 

Following! We want to add a large school of Praecox to our 125g when we get a chance. I'm enjoying living vicariously through your posts and can't wait to see how things turn out. Good luck!

 

Following! We want to add a large school of Praecox to our 125g when we get a chance. I'm enjoying living vicariously through your posts and can't wait to see how things turn out. Good luck!

Thanks! I was a bit dejected when I saw the newly hatched fry get eaten and was going to just let the current group of 26 grow out before trying again but the group of 10 I have in the 75 gallon are like rabbits. They were going nuts because they didn't have a place to spawn but after dropping in a breeding mop, they seemed much more relaxed.

 

Lol! If they keep it up, I'm guessing that you could make a decent amount if you choose to sell them. I don't blame you for being bummed about the fry getting eaten. I would have too. Have you tried putting pantyhose around the breeder box? That might not allow enough flow, though, so it might not work. I will say that if you get to the point that you want to sell some, and you're willing to ship, let me know. I don't know how many can fit in a 125g, but I'm thinking it would be a fairly decent amount. Also, did you end up getting another tank or two from Petco for grow out tanks?

 

I bred some EBAs and got $5-8 ea (store credit) from a LFS. They're selling for $15-20 ea. With all the tanks and equipment to raise them to 1.5-3", I'm pretty sure I still lost money but I'm not breeding to make money. Praecox are $5-10 so I'd be lucky to get $2-3 ea so even less profitable and they're more delicate and take longer to grow out. I'm mainly trying to breed fish I like and keep. Extras will be sold just to make room for other fish . I haven't shipped fish yet but I'll keep you in mind.

I went to PetSmart to pick up a breeder net that should keep these little guys in and still allow good flow. I have 9 tanks running and an empty 40 gallon terrarium that could be filled up 1/2 way if needed but I'm running out of space so no new tanks for me. I guess I could put the bigger ones in my 10 gallon snail tank if I really need more space.

 

I went to PetSmart to pick up a breeder net that should keep these little guys in and still allow good flow. I have 9 tanks running and an empty 40 gallon terrarium that could be filled up 1/2 way if needed but I'm running out of space so no new tanks for me. I guess I could put the bigger ones in my 10 gallon snail tank if I really need more space.

Time to buy a bigger house! Lol. That's what I keep telling my husband. "I want a bigger tank, or tanks, so it's time to buy me a bigger house." He doesn't agree with me, the party pooper lol

 

I'm good with the tanks I have now. Any more and it'll feel more like work than a hobby.

I just fitted the breeder net to the tank. I have a lone survivor that freaked out when I tried to scoop him up and shot out of the breeder box. 6 of the bigger fry immediate came over to see what was going on and I was trying to shoo them away while scooping the little one up so he doesn't get eaten. He's is tiny and almost translucent so its really hard to see him.

Here's pics of the breeder net but couldn't focus on the little fry.

 

I just found 2 more newly hatched fry in the main tank so I have 3 in the new breeder net

 

How are the fry doing? Have you found any more?

 

I have about 15 in the breeder net and about 50-60 eggs that should hatch within a few days. There were about 6 that hatched but lifeless until I tried to suck them out with an eye dropper so I put them in the breeder net to see if they bounce back but it doesn't look promising.

 

How many survivors does that make, now?

 

How many survivors does that make, now?

Too early to tell. The ones that are on the bottom that I think are dead come to life when I try to siphon them out. There were another batch of 10 or so that hatched this morning. Most are swimming near the surface which is a good sign.

I'm not a fan of the breeder net. It does its job well but it's really hard to see the fry.

 

Looks like I have over 20 fry in the breeder net. The ones that were at the bottom are gone so I'm guessing they revived and joined the group at the surface.

 

Nice! I'm glad they seem to be doing well for you

 

Nice! I'm glad they seem to be doing well for you

Thanks but I'm not quite so optimistic yet. I had over 100 fry from the first batch and only 26 left. Half of them are still only slightly bigger than when they first hatched while others are at least 1/2" long.

 

I can understand that

 

Scooped out another 10-15 fry from the egg container. I've been feeding infusoria to the fry but I don't know if they're eating. They seem to be doing well in the net and the ones on the bottom are gone so I'm assuming the early hatchers just needed a bit more time before they could swim. The biggest downside to the breeder net is that I can't see them except from the top. With the floating breeder box, I could see if they're eating and how they're doing in general.

 

All but one egg has hatched and they all seem to be well in the breeder net. Looks to be 40-60 new fry. I've been feeding them infusoria and Golden Pearls every 3-6 hrs. There are about 15 older fry that have already colored up and easily identified as M or F by the red or yellow fins. The other 10 or so are still pretty small and don't look like Praecox yet.

I also have 8 EBA in the tank and they're doing great. I forgot how cute they are when they're this small. If I wasn't raising Praecox fry, I probably would've left them in the 75 gallon where they would've been eaten. I have 6 CW061 cories in QT that I might want to breed too.

 

I can't believe that they color up that quickly! At least, it seems quick to me. Maybe I'm wrong. Sounds like you've got the breeding bug, just like I do lol.

 

The old group is almost 2 months old now and only half of them look like Praecox. I thought it was pretty quick too since rainbowfish are slow growers.

I had plans to breed the Praecox but I didn't think they'd breed in QT. And then again in the 75 gallon with all the other fish. I bred a clutch of EBAs and that was a nightmare. I got a breeding pair from Lchi87 and they bred in less than a week. I grabbed 2/3rds to raise and left 1/3rd with the parents. I wasn't expecting most of them to survive so when I saw a new 75 gallon on CL, I grabbed it and it was my grow out tank for 6 months. Praecox are smaller and I want them in a few tanks so breeding them is ok. My LFS is interested when they get big enough too so getting rid of some isn't an issue now (they bought most of my EBAs). I also want more cories for my tanks so I'm breeding the fish I want to keep in my tanks and selling/giving away the rest. It's also fun and sometimes challenging/frustrating trying to raise fry to full adults.