# dario dario breeding



## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Well I have lots of dario dario. I have 3 definite females I got today. I have 15 males in my community tank. Although at least one of the paler striped ones in that tank is a female as it laid eggs inside the driftwood hole where a lot of them like to nestle into. Of course there is a shrimp in there eating the eggs. The male scares away the other dario, but not the shrimp. Damn shrimp.

Has anyone had any luck breeding these little fish? I was thinking of setting them up (the 3 females and 1 male) into one of my empty 10 gallon tanks. Putting in some eco-complete (thank you chibs!) with some clippings from my large tank and loading it up with plants and a piece of spare driftwood. I was also thinking some salvinia minima (thank you duff!) for extra shade.

Should I skip the stem plants and just put in a sword in there so they can scatter eggs there? I can later just chop that leaf off and move it into another tank with air flow for them to hatch. Or should I plant both to give them more shade and hidie holes? Should I put small clay pots in there instead so I can take them out instead of the plant leaves? Assuming they'd even scatter eggs in a clay pot. 

How do you scrape eggs off of something, or do you leave them as is and just move the whole object?

My fish are currently eating daphnia and krill, anyone else have a food that they prefer to eat during spawning?

Should I pick my brightest male to spawn with the females, or would it matter? I have red ones with dark stripes and white ones with red stripes. 

I read to keep the temp towards the latter end of their spectrum. Anyone have any other temp they've had luck with?

Also, what kind of water parameters has anyone done well with? I'm guessing just to hit for normal community tank numbers? Or should I go for tannins in the tank?

I'm not going to use excel in the tank or fertilize it. Or should I at least give half doses of excel for the plants? I'm going to put an air stone in there also for them along with the HOB on there now.

Hmm, I think that's all the questions I have for now. If I'm totally over thinking this, apologies. I just want the fry to have the highest chance of survival that I can provide.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Keep doing what you're doing. Skip the excel. They've done studies on glut and fish fry. It's not a pretty combination.

I think all you need to do is fatten them up with live foods. Here's some breeding info
http://seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Dario&species=dario&id=41


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Well, I just finished rescaping their tank and put them in. I fed them a little bit of frozen daphnia and turned off the lights. I saw the male nibbling on some as the light went out. I put in a small amazon sword in there also. I was tempted to put in a root tab lol. Habit I suppose. But I didn't. All that's in there is a piece of driftwood and eco-complete and plants. Crypts in the front and pennywort with hygro sunset in the back.


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)




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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Aww. They sound cute.  I'm glad to hear they're doing well.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

What kind of shrimp are eating the eggs? Most dwarf shrimp will only clean eggs, not eat them (unless they're rotting)


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

First dibs on progeny


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

They're just large cherry shrimp. The eggs were only a day old I think. I'll have to check on them today. I'll try and snag pics also. They like hiding under the driftwood cave I made them. Today I gotta find them a new heater since I forgot my last one got tossed into my shrimp tank. 

In my 60 gallon, they didn't mess with the large shrimp. But baby shrimp were probably devoured. Some juvies I've seen hanging out in all the moss. 

These will have to do until I can find my camera again. 






















Him, one of his chicks, and a quick one of him and 2 of his harem as they swam away from me. 


-Val


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Sadly, I woke up to one of the females dead. Either she got stuck or did a death dive under the driftwood. 


-Val


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

A better picture of the male









The females however still refuse to stay still for a moment. There I stand like an idiot waiting in front of the glass with my camera and they just keep zipping by right in front of me. They're doing it on purpose... I know they are.


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

Very nice! I love the males coloration when displaying for the harem


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

very nice imma subscribe to see your progress  

also have u tried feeding them frozen or all live foods? and keep us updated on the shrimp eating eggs situation... as i am to understand cherry shrimps shouldn't be eating eggs


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

The shrimp left them alone... but the tetras didn't. I moved them from the pictured tank to the Petco bookshelf tank. The healthy female is freaking huge. I don't know if that means she's knocked up or just round. I need to gather up lots of java moss for them. I'll take a pic of her tomorrow. The wild dario female I put into my community tank. She hangs around the bottom with the other fish down there. The dario in that tank haven't bothered her. I don't know if it's because she's maybe young or that she's wild and the males aren't. 

I have fed them micro worms, white worms, scuds, and copepods. I purposely over fed the tank before I put them in there to there to help get some copepods and nematodes going. I sucked up the ones I could find from other tanks and dumped them in there. I also got golden pearls off of ken's website. I'm going to give those a try tomorrow when I install their new hydro mini sponge filter. 


-Val


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## zoragen (Nov 3, 2009)

Beautiful male! And the female was a lovely blur:biggrin:

I can't get good pics of my fish even w/ a tripod set up & me sitting there just snapping away.

sigh...


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Well, they don't like golden pearls. They looked at them and then proceeded to swim away. They seem to have a liking for nematodes. I dot know of those are good for them to eat or not. I'm going to give frozen daphnia a try. They somewhat touched the live stuff. I might try and vacuum the substrate the walls in my tanks to try and get some copepods. The 5 gallon is empty now. I might put some food or a bit of green water in there to get them going. 

The male is being a total jerk. He has made his home in a part of the tank with moss. Any time she comes near, she is chased away. He lets the shrimp nibble on the moss though. What a male. 


-Val


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

No one is allowed in the mancave huh? Silly fisheous.  Maybe they'd like some of the borneowild food I got for the CPD.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Psionic said:


> ...The male is being a total jerk. ... What a male.
> -Val


Maybe he needs instructions.


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

OVT said:


> Maybe he needs instructions.


You are just unruly!


-Val


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

My Dario H. are the same way. Two males had my 75gal on complete lockdown. Once a female lays eggs in their territory they will feverishly defend pretty much everything they can see. Even oto's aren't safe from their prickness. 

I ended up moving those two males out and now its just one male and two females. Remaining male is pretty cool. I have been trying to catch one of the females for weeks but they are quick little paranoid fish. 

I have a 10 gal set up for spawning if I ever catch her. Or if the two males don't kill eachother waiting for her.


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I had to corner mine and then hold the net behind them. I'd wave the net to make a current and once they were pushed off the wall, I snatched them upwards and pulled the net straight up as fast as I could. 

My males have gotten used to each other. Sometimes they even look like they school and 3 will be hovering on a plant together. 

Some of my PFR in the tank are going to pop soon. I wonder how many of them will be dario food. I might try to catch one soon and put it in a tank on its own. Have some shrimp babies actually survive. 


-Val


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I'm too tired to whip out the camera, so the phone will have to do. Here is a pic of my big fat female. I don't know how they look when pregnant or how long they stay that way for. But here she is. 










-Val


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Before I left town, I had fed and watched my dario for a little bit. The male seems other really ticked off or really frisky. He just keeps chasing after the female while he's flared. He'll literally swim fast circles around her like he's a shark. She darts away, he wags his dorsal and goes after her. Then she lays down on the gravel and eats some worms or cyclops. That seems to be her favorite thing to do. Maybe that's why she got so pudgy. But he swoops in to do the same thing over and over. 

Normal or not? 


-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

How're your dario dario doing? Any updates?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Well I just watched him wrap around her 5 times. They are on opposite sides of the tank now. Him waiting impatiently and she's eating. 

Today he was following her around everywhere, but not chasing her away. He'd look like he was jabbing her to pay attention to him. He kept brushing up against her and shoving her into a corner behind the heater. She's just chowing down on food. They get too close to each other in the middle of the tank and then flee in opposite directions. 

Her stomach also seems to have squared off like that of a guppy










-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Cute lol, I had just gotten a trio of boys in the mail today (would've been four, but one died from bad shipping). Psionic, where did you get your girl from? Any successful breedings so far?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I got them from wet spot tropical. They sent me 3 wild females. 1 died the day after I got it, 1 I have in my community tank. But she is still little and not fully grown. This one was the largest and fully grown. No eggs yet that I have seen. I bought some more java moss from h4n. I'm hoping that will help even though they seem to like behind the heater. I may even switch him out for others I have in my community tank or shrimp tank. 


-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Those 3 are in my 5g with 20 RCS, 2 tiger shrimp and a few b. brigittae. Took a gamble with them, the shop owner who "sexed" them said they were females, but I suspected dominance or stress played a factor in throwing off the analysis. 

I've tried to do a hornwort & anacharis forest with two tall columns of java moss on the sides of a large lava rock in the tank. In the middle there's a banana plant, so that area is quite crowded and the little guys love it. I've got a nice copepod & pond snail/mini ramshorn population going too-have you noticed if yours have taken to snails yet or at all?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Mine haven't touched any snails. But there aren't many in there. I saw them going at it today. But nothing came of it again. I added in a large mass of java moss as well. They seem to prefer squeezing into moss I have on a small piece of mesh. 


-Val


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## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

I have produced fry from mine, I have yet to have visually seen any eggs but I assure you they have probably already produced for you. 

They will spawn, male will turn into a total prick guarding eggs.

Once eggs hatch out he will defend for a bit longer and then start chowing down on any fry he can find.

Few days later he will start flashing her and trying to lead her back to his territory. Rinse and repeat.

Got a few fry pics down in my dario breeding signature.


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

He hasn't turned into a jerk yet. Mostly all they do is follow each other around all the time. The egg scattering does not help. Or the fact that they are such good micro predators. I also don't know the interim between eggs being laid, as in one ever couple of weeks or once a month, anything like that. 


-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Any updates?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I'm convinced my female is on birth control. Cause they just get busy, but no fry yet. I'm tempted to toss her into my community tank with lots of males. Or put another in her tank. 

My husband's idea was to tie her up with moss until she gets pregnant >.< bdsm dario


-Val


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

Let me tell you, I'm having the exact same problem with my durned apistos. Lay, eat eggs. Lay, eat eggs. I agree on the birth control thing. Softer water, maybe?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I'll try a little bit of soft water tonight. It can't hurt to try. The only other thing in there are 10 pfr shrimp culls.


-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

It seems like as soon as you want something to start breeding, all sorts of roadblocks pop up along the way . Trust me, I know the feeling lol. 19 cherry shrimp, not a shrimplet yet smh. 

I went away on vacation for two weeks, came back and my juvie trio of dario turned out to be 1 dominant male, 1 female & the last is a gamble. Dom & his girly hang out quite a bit, even noticed some chasing around the other day. I purposely let the tank overgrow to see if that would give any shrimplets or dario fry a chance for survival, so I bet in the next month or so we'll see. 

Strangely, I wouldn't mind if they start eating eggs as long as they're well fed. At some point the plants would grow up enough for nice hidey holes lol, just want a self-sustaining tank in terms of food, at least.

Keep us posted!


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

matiller said:


> It seems like as soon as you want something to start breeding, all sorts of roadblocks pop up along the way . Trust me, I know the feeling lol. 19 cherry shrimp, not a shrimplet yet smh.
> 
> I went away on vacation for two weeks, came back and my juvie trio of dario turned out to be 1 dominant male, 1 female & the last is a gamble. Dom & his girly hang out quite a bit, even noticed some chasing around the other day. I purposely let the tank overgrow to see if that would give any shrimplets or dario fry a chance for survival, so I bet in the next month or so we'll see.
> 
> ...


I had thought about putting one of my berried pfr in there lol. But they have enough food. They get grindal and micro worms. There's also copepods in there since I fed the shrimp to get it started. I do love watching them eat lol. How they just stare at the glass/substrate and stop moving before they dive bomb it. 

It is also a mass of java moss in there also. Plants also. They seem to like sleeping in the moss. But they also get frisky in it. Nothing has come from it that I've seen. Or not survived anyways. 

I had contacted someone about getting more females. I was told that their "breeder" in New York sold red ones. That she told them all males and females grow up to be bright red. I sent him pictures of the females I've had to show them that they aren't bright red. He never replied back. 


-Val


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Aw. Dario dario need to have babies for Psionic. >_>


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Have you tried the Playboy channel yet?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

OVT said:


> Have you tried the Playboy channel yet?


Twice. 


-Val


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

How about Barry White? :O Man, they owe it to you to spawn at this point. You've been awesome to these lil dudes.


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Any luck so far Psionic? 

Was doing some research on sexing scarlet's, and I've probably run into a game changing problem: my "female" may instead be a bottom rank sub-dominant male in the tank hierarchy. I've noticed the 2nd male has wonderfully red & blue fins, but a pale pink/white body like the females you posted on the first page of this thread. The ventral fins are just as long as the dominant & sub males', with a faint blue shimmer to them. I began to wonder if 3 males share the same territory, would the bottom male have a pale pink/white body and clear fins as a sign of submission? 

Have you noticed anything like this in your larger tank with the 15 males?


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

matiller said:


> Any luck so far Psionic?
> 
> Was doing some research on sexing scarlet's, and I've probably run into a game changing problem: my "female" may instead be a bottom rank sub-dominant male in the tank hierarchy. I've noticed the 2nd male has wonderfully red & blue fins, but a pale pink/white body like the females you posted on the first page of this thread. The ventral fins are just as long as the dominant & sub males', with a faint blue shimmer to them. I began to wonder if 3 males share the same territory, would the bottom male have a pale pink/white body and clear fins as a sign of submission?
> 
> Have you noticed anything like this in your larger tank with the 15 males?


Do you have a pic of your female/sub male? How large is your tank with them in it? I had 2 sub dominant males in my large tank, they ended up dying from starvation I think. The others are doing ok. They were pale almost like a female, but had more color to them and stripes going down. The stripes weren't as bright and predominant as a male though. The females I've had and seen have been milky white with no stripes and this lighter translucent with barely any stripes. It sounds like it's a male though. A picture would help a lot. My males in my 60 gallon will flare at each other a lot, so they're bright red most of the time. They do swim around and don't actively defend territory much though. They also swim together almost like shoaling. I'll try to keep putting up more pictures.

Some people are also able to tell by how they swim. I'll see if I can snag some video of the differences in my female and male swimming around. The male tends to jolt around in short movements. The female will swim more like a normal fish and not go in bursts. She also won't randomly flare her fins at stuff, even while eating.


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

To be honest, every camera in my possession is HORRIBLE at trying to capture anything in my tanks smh. I have a 5g, and was told that I was purchasing 2 males & 2 females. The previous dominant male arrived dead, so the current one now took over. They were juvies back then, though. I hoped I had 1 male and 2 females, buuuut that's definitely out the window now. Your males probably have enough space to establish multiple territories since they're able to color up so nicely. Probably not enough space in my 5g for two different territories =/

The fish in question looks the exact same as a male, but white/pink with no fin coloration. I see your female has more of a grey/green tint to her dorsal/back area, and has a pretty broad stomach area, almost like a mini silver dollar fish. That alone makes me think it's just a male on the lower end of the hierarchy. I'll try to post pics of the fish later today, though. Thanks for the help, btw!


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Actually, it looks EXACTLY like this fish here: http://www.future-digital.com/aquar...e_scarlet_badis_badis_bengalensis_640x480.jpg


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

Yup that is a female for sure


-Val


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## matiller (Apr 20, 2012)

Hmm, are you certain? I'll just have to monitor them some more-I do see some chasing going on though, but the dom male would do that to a male as well. 

I'm starting up a daphnia culture that I'm going to try to get established inside the tank (huge mass of riccia they could possibly hide in) & I'll continue to feed frozen BBS and hopefully frozen cyclops also. If the daphnia can get started, then maybe the live food will help condition the potential female & male.


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