Spent some time looking at the Cherry shrimp in my 40 Display tank. Mostly bring to see if any of the girls were berried. I noted something small moving fast. Way to soon to be a Juvie shrimp as I just added the young adult Cherries two weeks ago. Them I see it again a baby CHERRY BARB!
I had my colony of Cherry Barbs outside all summer in my Whiskey Barrel pond. I brought 2 - Trios into this tank. When they came in both females were gravid with eggs. I had no plans for them. We plan by Darwin rules in that tank.
I figure that between the adult Cherry Barbs, Neon Blue Goby, SAE, Amano Shrimp, Cherry Shrimp, MTS & Ramshorn emails no egg would survive to become a fry let alone a baby fish.
I have a patch of about 45 C. Becketti in between two pc of driftwood. Among the leaf stems a lot of Taiwan Moss has collected and started to get rather thick. I'm guessing it was a great place for an errant egg(S) to develop away from a lot of hungry mouths.
That's pretty cool, wonder how many more are in there? I have some baby least kilifish and they are almost impossible to find, can only spot one now and then.
Anyones guess? I'll be keeping a close eye on it for the next few days. It's funny I have a Trio of Rams I'm trying to get to breed in another tank they are not cooperating :icon_roll
I think lots of most and plant cover to hide in is the answer. The great thing about a mature planted tank is how close to a natural environment it can be. This is the 2nd sp. of fish that has spawned in this tank. I had Celyon Combtails pair off and Spawn in there last April. That of course was not a surprise.
The old school way to breed barbs was a bare tank with the bottom covered with marbles, or round stones marble size. The female(s) were placed in and conditioned with lots of food & w/c until they were gravid. Then the boys were added. After they spawn the adults are pulled out. Filtration was a sponge filter.
I saw the baby again last night. It's getting a bit thicker, easier to spot. Still hiding around thick cover of the Taiwan moss on the driftwood and tangles of Java roots. But the little guy/gal is getting a little more bolder.
Both of the females are getting gravid again. I'll be adding more Taiwan boss to the Crypt patches to hop full provide a spot for a few eggs to develop.
I am sitting here enjoying this happy story and the thought occurred to me that most of us probably maintain tanks that induce spawning and I'll bet that quite a few of us never even know it is happening or has happened.
I noticed my 3 white cloud minnows acting strangely one day and 2-3 weeks later sure enough a very tiny minnow is sighted. Lots of shrimp in that tank so maybe it is happening all the time and this one got lucky - who knows?
Anyhow, this kind of surprise is a huge reason to have densely planted tanks. We deserve it.
... the thought occurred to me that most of us probably maintain tanks that induce spawning and I'll bet that quite a few of us never even know it is happening or has happened.
....
I agree, our only real influence is creating the correct environment for our fish/inverts. Once that is done you really can't stop them from reproducing.
Having fish spawn is something I expect in my tanks at this point in my hobby life. What surprised me is when fry survive with so many threats present. When I bred cichlids my goal 90%+ survival rate. Funny, now I'm excited about a sole surviver. She does fit in well with my Darwinian approach to my tanks.
:smile:
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