# Harlequin rasboras- breeding questions



## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Glad to hear all the commotion was just them spawning! So they should be doing great!

I keep Espei Rasboras (practically the same fish in all aspects, just a bit different looking). Mine spawn in the community tank, but I have no interest in breeding them, so I just let them do their own thing in the tank and whatever happens, happens, and so far I haven't seen any eggs/fry survive even (heavily planted tank, but very overstocked so predation chances are higher than most). So I can't offer any advice really besides the fry food which is just the commonly used fry food (you can use golden pearls, crushed up hard boiled egg yolk, etc). And of course, the fish (even the parents) will eat the eggs/fry, so if you do want them to survive, it is highly recommended to separate (use a bucket/container if you have to). The hatch with a day or two (depending on temps). Pretty much the care of fry and eggs is all the same among fish, in regards to keeping the water/tank clean to prevent fungus and killing the sensitive fry with deteriorating water conditions.

As for this occurrence of this spawning happening, do know that it may or may not happen again without you personally triggering it. This sudden spawning may have just happened because of the sudden change the fish went through coming form one tank to another, or it may be they were already "conditioning"/preparing to mate off in their prior tank before coming to you. I too had a few scenarios where new fish would spawn within the first day or two of coming into the quarantine tank. So, treat this as if it is the only time they would spawn (without you doing anything special), and so, try and research to do the best job at successfully raising up the fry. It's a cool experience to add under your belt. 

Best thing to do is search and read up on all the documented breeding out there.
Trigonostigma heteromorpha ? Harlequin (Rasbora heteromorpha) ? Seriously Fish
Trigonostigma espei ? Lambchop Rasbora ? Seriously Fish
These are just the basics, I am sure there are more detailed articles out there. Pretty much it's simple though, since they are already laid, just separate the eggs (they will almost certainly not make it, if just left there, even if you cover them, they might survive as eggs, but after they hatch and swim around, survival is slim), and keep things clean and feed fry food until they are a good size. Another note is that you may not need to feed them for the first couple days after hatching as they will be absorbing their yolk sac and not eat additional food. Also keep in mind of fungus getting on eggs. Pretty easy.


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

martini5788 said:


> ... harlequin rasboras ... laying eggs. Atleast 20 so far ... don't have a separate tank that I can raise the fry in right now ... they have to stay in the main tank. Can I just put the leaves that they laid the eggs on in a breeder net? What should I feed them? ...


My experience with this species is limited to just one occasion many years ago. I obtained them for use as dither fish for Chocolate gourami. I wanted dither fish that could live in stagnant, non-filtered/aerated water, and rasbora fit the bill. (I later learned, through trial & error, that if mechanical aeration is not provided plants are required, but that's off-topic here.) 

If I were in your situation I would remove the leaves containing the eggs and place them inside a clean mason jar, along with water from the main tank and as many plants as possible. Ideally the jar should be so stuffed with plants than you can't see thru the jar. Screw the lid on the jar and plop it back into the main tank. As long as the jar has >1" of air at the top it will float. That's it, for the next week to 10 days, you're done. Because it's floating in the main tank it will remain at the same temperature as the water in there. 

The fry of egg-laying species are extremely small and need the micro-organisms present on and around live plants as their first food. (Their extremely small size is also why I wouldn't go with a breeder net.) The live plants will provide ample diffused oxygen. After about a week you can unscrew the jar to let some fresh air in. And then you can also have a closer look at the fry. 

Get to that stage, okay? We'll cross the next bridge when we get to it.


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Keep the eggs in a dark place. Fry also needs to be protected from the light so keep lights very dim or don't turn them on at all. They feed off microfauna and algae. Adults will eat the fry if they catch them.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

Well crap, I already put them in a breeder net. When I get home later today I will put them in a mason jar, hopefully they haven't hatched by then 


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> ... Fry also needs to be protected from the light so keep lights very dim or don't turn them on at all. They feed off microfauna and algae. ...


Fry are indirectly attracted to light, because many microorganisms are directly attracted to light and the fry follow them. (If you've ever used BBS you've see an example of this.) Moderate light, especially sunlight, will cause a higher production of microorganisms on/near floating plants. If fry find the light too strong they can easily use plant cover to protect themselves. Aquarists who want the fastest growth rates keep the lights on 24/7. I'm not advocating this, but it is practiced.


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

jaliberti said:


> Fry are indirectly attracted to light, because many microorganisms are directly attracted to light and the fry follow them. (If you've ever used BBS you've see an example of this.) Moderate light, especially sunlight, will cause a higher production of microorganisms on/near floating plants. If fry find the light too strong they can easily use plant cover to protect themselves. Aquarists who want the fastest growth rates keep the lights on 24/7. I'm not advocating this, but it is practiced.


By fry, I mean the new hatchlings. They do not like light and will swim away from it and hide.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

It appears that some of them have hatched. Or most of them actually. I can't really find the eggs anymore, only 1 or 2. I picked up the jar and saw one completely clear possible baby. I only saw one though, I'm sure there are more.








So I'm just supposed to leave them in there? I don't really have many more plants that I can add to the jar. Is that enough? Should I put some powdered egg yolk in there?


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

If you have some moss to add, there should be an abundance of microfauna living in it. When they are in their fully free swimming stage, then you can add egg yolk. This will be in a week or less time.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

Solcielo lawrencia said:


> If you have some moss to add, there should be an abundance of microfauna living in it. When they are in their fully free swimming stage, then you can add egg yolk. This will be in a week or less time.



I don't have any moss. I just started this tank a few weeks ago and haven't fully stocked it yet with plants 


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

I might be able to go to petsmart and get one of those Marino moss balls? Would that help? 


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

Not really. It needs to be established so that microorganisms have colonized it. You can rinse the filter sponge into the fry raising container since it will have plenty of microfauna.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

I guess I'll just leave it like it is and hope they survive. And then in a few days I will dump it into the breeder net. Would 5 days be good? 


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

They will have egg sacks at first so no point feeding them yet, I'd make the exception for liquifry no1. It is mainly a precursor for microorganisms...i.e. it is food that grows food, so there is a lag time in actual food availability.


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

martini5788 said:


> It appears that some of them have hatched. Or most of them actually. I can't really find the eggs anymore, only 1 or 2. I picked up the jar and saw one completely clear possible baby. I only saw one though, I'm sure there are more.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm surprised the jar isn't floating, that must be some very thick glass. This is a challenging situation due to lack of resources, i.e. more plants and a grow out tank. I would NOT put egg yolk, or anything that can quickly go rancid, in a small container. You risk poisoning the fry. You seem concerned that you can't see the fry. It's only been 2 days. Relax. These are not the live bearer fry that you got your breeder net for. These are so small that livebearer fry could eat them, really. Just leave them in there, eventually you will see them, just wait a few more days. Right now they are feasting on lots of microorganism invisible to the human eye. 



Solcielo lawrencia said:


> ... rinse the filter sponge into the fry raising container since it will have plenty of microfauna.


That's a good idea.



martini5788 said:


> I guess I'll just leave it like it is and hope they survive. And then in a few days I will dump it into the breeder net. Would 5 days be good? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 You don't have to hope. They'll survive, just relax. They may grow a bit slower because the jar isn't really crammed with plants and so has less live food in there than could otherwise be. But you said only 20 eggs, right? 20 should be okay with that amount of plants. Whether you wait 5, 10, or even 15 days, whether they're in the jar or breeder net, keep them with those plants. Consider the plants as their lifeline for at least the next week.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

If there is a small goldfish pond or green pool close, the green water inside is a good food.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

jaliberti said:


> I'm surprised the jar isn't floating, that must be some very thick glass. This is a challenging situation due to lack of resources, i.e. more plants and a grow out tank. I would NOT put egg yolk, or anything that can quickly go rancid, in a small container. You risk poisoning the fry. You seem concerned that you can't see the fry. It's only been 2 days. Relax. These are not the live bearer fry that you got your breeder net for. These are so small that livebearer fry could eat them, really. Just leave them in there, eventually you will see them, just wait a few more days. Right now they are feasting on lots of microorganism invisible to the human eye.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm not concerned I can't see them, I was only making the observation that the eggs appear to have hatched because they aren't on the leaves anymore. And I saw one fry, so I assume they have hatched I just don't see them. But yeah that mason jar is pretty thick glass but it's the only one I could find a lid for. While it would be neat if some of them survived, I'm not panicking about them surviving or anything like that. Just want to do everything that I can to help them along. I wasn't planning on putting egg yolk in the jar, I was talking about when I release them into the breeder net. 


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Even with large fry you'd be surprised at how well they hide.
Recently I had a batch of fry... I counted 8.... well few weeks later, turns out there were 40.


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

Currently I have counted 13, and that's only on one side of the jar, I'm curious to see how many I end up with! I can only find them because of their massive eyes haha. 


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

So apparently when I moved the leaves to the jar, some eggs fell off into the breeder net because I have fry in the breeder net too! I may have close to 30 fry, we will see when they get bigger I suppose. 


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## Tessa (Dec 8, 2015)

That is so awesome  I have a large mixed school of rasboras, there's lots of posturing and strutting and whatnot but so far no eggs.

Good luck with the babies!


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

Tessa said:


> That is so awesome  I have a large mixed school of rasboras, there's lots of posturing and strutting and whatnot but so far no eggs.
> 
> Good luck with the babies!



Thank you, when I woke up the next day I was worried about their behavior so I made a thread asking what was wrong with them hahaha. Then I finally figured out what they were doing. I'm not sure these will survive, I have some kind of infection in the tank that is rapidly killing off the adults. Trying to figure out what that is. 


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## martini5788 (Feb 26, 2015)

While I was out of town, the breeder net that the fry was in got knocked off the edge somehow and most of them got eaten. I have 8 left I think and they are doing well, they are all different sizes though so we will see what happens. Also, I think that they are getting ready to spawn again. Same behavior as last time, and one of them is looking extremely obese so we will see. 


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