Accidental fry rearer - 01/27/2013
Hi Crew
<Gordon>
Sorry, hope I'm not bothering you too much, since I do seem to have too many questions.
<Is there such a thing?>
I have a 320L tank, that I was previously discussing with Sabrina, and have just stocked with Ctenopoma acutirostre. Prior to Ctenopoma there were 5 Danios, just as placeholders, not for cycling purposes. I put them in the Minnow tank and three days ago loads of Danio fry showed up in the 320 litre. Knowing that Ctenopoma would have them for breakfast, I got hold of a new 60 litre tank two days ago and transferred them to that. My problem is that I have no filter, nor any way to get a sponge filter in the local area.
<There are other choices... a box filter sans the lid... a fave>
I went up to Pets at Home and bought a block of sponge (and the tank).
Following instructions from the internet I attempted to build a filter but, frankly, it's crap. 
<As long as it works... you can build a box filter out of a plastic container... and a piece of plastic pipe, an airstone...>
I ordered a proper sponge filter which should be here tomorrow. It is an Interpet 60 and the specs stated that it has room to add activated carbon.
I was thinking of stuffing this space with wool from my external on the 320 litre and some biomedia from one of my Fluval U2 filters to seed it and hopefully it might cope with the (minimal) nutrient additions that are going into the tank. Would I be better biting the bullet and using zeolite instead, while maturing the sponge in another tank?
<I'd leave off w/ the Zeolite unless you actually detect ammonia. Move a good deal of the water, some mulm siphoned from the 320l tank to the 60l... this will do it cycling-wise. >
Now it gets even better (or worse). To seed my home-made filter I squeezed the contents of an established filter into the tank, before I realised how bad my DIY filter building skills were. (Two days ago). Today I measured 0.5 ppm NH4 and 0ppm NO2. I put this down to the gunk on the bottom of the tank from squeezing the filters out. I immediately did a 25% water change.
I did a 15% change yesterday. All debris on the (bare) bottom of the tank is now gone.
<Ok>
Since I'd been pulling the fry out of the main tank just as they became free swimming, I'd left room for more water additions in the fry tank, so the 60 litre was only filled 75% full. I filled the tank slowly to maximum capacity tonight for maximum dilution. I also took wool from the another filter and bound it round the airline, just above the sponge. I know it won't draw water through but I hope that the oxygenated water will at least keep bacteria going on the surface of the wool.
<All right>
I have a few nanos with Bettas in them. Don't shoot me for this, please, but my thoughts are to maybe use the new, seeded, sponge in a Betta tank and put one of the mature internals from a Betta tank, with tights over the inlet, into the fry tank. I reckon that Bettas are tough and are far more capable of getting through a fish-in cycle than Danio fry. Also, there is only one fish at stake vs. 40-odd. Still, despite the NH4 reading I still have loads of fry, for the time being, but I'm not confident enough to be in a situation where I have to choose like this.
<Either choice will be fine>
I know fish-in cycling flies in the face of modern fishkeeping practice but I wasn't expecting to have to try to save some very young lives from being Ctenopoma dinner.  Advice would be appreciated. Until I hear, I'm going to take whatever action I feel best tomorrow and run with that.
<Good>
Often there are other options available that I've missed and you guys are great at pointing them out. Sometimes even just writing to you helps me get the options I have into my head and clears my mind. It's maybe ambitious, but I'd like every one of those little guys to make it through, along with any fish I might have to nick a mature filter from.
Again, much appreciation for all the help in the past, present, and, I'm pretty sure, in the future.
Cheers
Gord
<And you, Bob Fenner>
Re: Accidental fry rearer - 01/27/2013
Hi Bob
<Hey Gord>
Thanks for that. I think I must have had my stupid hat on when I wrote in.
I got another small internal, the same as one in a Betta tank, and swapped half the cycled media in one for half the non-cycled media in another.
<Sounds good>
Running smoothly now.
<Ahh!>
Cheers
Gord
<And you, BobF>

How do I raise dwarf Rasbora fry? 1/25/11
Hi: I bought 5 dwarf Rasboras last summer and unfortunately lost two. The 3 remaining fish ( I know they like to be in bigger groups but I had to drive 120 miles to get these) are in a planted Nano tank (2 1/2) gallon. I do a water change and vacuum twice a week and yesterday I held the clear cleaning container up to the light and noticed some microscopic fry scooting around in it.
<Cool!>
What do I feed these fish? The smallest fry I've raised so far is Bettas and I don't have any Microworms.
<Ah, now that may be a problem. My guess would be that if you're seeing them swimming about the surface they've already passed the Infusoria stage they need immediately after becoming free swimming. An established, well-planted tank often has a modest population of Infusoria anyway, so sometimes a few egg-layer fry will survive in such tanks through those first critical days. Among Boraras spp. for example Infusoria are required for about the first week or so after becoming free swimming (which is about 3 days after the eggs are laid). Once the fry are big enough their next food will be brine shrimp nauplii. If you look up Boraras maculatus for example on the internet, you should find plenty of breeding reports.>
How do I keep the adults from eating them?
<You can't.>
How do I do water changes without catching the fish?
<Use a cup to scoop out water if the tank is very small.>
I have to get them out of the bucket with a turkey baster as they are way too small to net.
<Yes, a turkey baster will work very well. Alternatively, move the adults to a bigger aquarium. 2.5 gallons really isn't a sensible size for Boraras maculatus, which is doubtless why some of yours died. Fish populations in small tanks tend to die back to what the tank can support.>
If I put the adults in a 5 gallon planted tank would I have more success raising fry?
<Certainly rearing the adults in a 5-10 gallon tank, but spawning them in the 2.5 gallon tank, removing them after the eggs are laid, makes sense.>
Thanks for your help.
Marilyn
<Cheers, Neale.>

Baby Danio Fish 10/13/08
Dear WWM Crew,
I am raising four baby Danio fish in a three gallon tank with a sponge filter and a heater.
<Congratulations!>
The heater temperature set a 75 degrees. I feed them twice a day and change the water once everyday.
<Sounds good, but do try and feed more often, even if each meal is smaller: that's the secret of success with baby fish, and indeed baby animals of every kind.>
I have the following questions to ask you: Is 75 degrees a good temperature to raise them in?
<Just fine.>
How often should I change the water?
<Certainly 10-20% weekly, more frequently if you can. The main thing is each water change should be smallish, so that there are no sudden changes in water chemistry.>
How often should I feed them?
<Serious fish breeders often recommend at least 4 meals daily, and even 6 per day isn't unusual. Make the meals small, and have a pipette (e.g., Turkey baster) handy to remove uneaten food.>
Please give advice. Thanks ahead of time - Jean
<Good luck, Neale.>

Pregnant Zebra Danio 10/2/07 Hello, <Hi there> I have a 55 gallon tank with a 13 inch ?Plecostomus, <Yikes! Needs more room... or to be traded in for a smaller individual> 3 zebra danios(2 females, 1 male).? My? problem is with one of the female danios.? She appears to be very very pregnant.? She is huge.? Her skin appears to have cracks? running down the side and underneath her belly.? She is eating and swimming.? She will not release any eggs.? I am assuming that is what she should be doing. Do you have any advice on what I could do to help her out?? It looks like she is going to explode. Thanks, Julie <Likely some sort of gut blockage... what do you feed and how? Please read here re possible Epsom Salt treatment: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/saltusefaqs.htm Bob Fenner>
Re: Pregnant Zebra Danio... Lg. Pleco in small world  10/3/07 Hello, <Hi there> Thank you for your reply about my problem with my pregnant Danio. <Welcome> However, I was taken back by your response to me having a 13 inch Plecostomus in a 55 gallon tank. <Yes... the fish is as long as the width of this tank...> I don't have the tank over loaded with plants or decorations so he moves around easily. <Mmm... do you know which species of Loricariid this actually is? There are some that would/might be stunted here...> I see him swimming on his side, upside down, enjoying the bubble curtains - eating the algae all over the tank. He "appears" happy and able to move around freely. I have moved him from a 10 to 20 to 55 gallon tank as he has grown from 2 inches to 13 inches in the last 4 years. I am a novice at the Plecos and didn't have any idea of what I was getting into. Could you explain this to me in a little for detail please - this fish has become a part of my family - my husband thinks I love the fish more than him (haha)- as I sit and talk to the fish and just watch the fish's personality unfold daily. Thanks, Julie <Do take a look on Fishbase.org re the family... some of the species listed... This fish really does need more room still. BobF>

Keeping Fry Tank Clean 09/10/07 Hello, I want to commend you guys on your wonderful website. I am a relative newcomer to the hobby (6 months), recently I noticed that my pair of Zebra Danios were ready to spawn. I separated them into a spare 5 gallon tank and when they spawned I replaced them into the main tank. The eggs hatched and I have around 20 fry. I have a sponge filter running and on advice from my LFS I added two snails unsure what type), however I am still having difficulty keeping the water clear. I do regular water changes and 1-2 days afterward the water is cloudy again. Can you please help me out here? Thanks, David <Hello David. Congratulations on your new babies! No idea why you were recommended to put snails into the breeding tank, but they shouldn't do any harm. Anyway, if the water is cloudy, you may be overfeeding the baby fish. Feed multiple small amounts rather than one or two big meals. Typically, 4-6 meals is considered about right for the first few weeks. Siphon out any uneaten food. A turkey baster is a very useful tool for this because you can pipette out detritus very easily without sucking up baby fish. But any similar device, like a syringe or pipette, will work well. You also need to do regular water changes; 50% every couple of days would be appropriate. Any basic filter should work fine for keeping the ammonia levels low. Hope this helps, Neale>

Breeding my Zebra danios 8/10/07 I have a male and a female Longfin zebra Danio. I want to breed my danios and the female appears to be full of eggs, but she seems uninterested in the male. I have a breeding tank, but I am not sure how to breed them. Can you please give me some advice? Thank you. <Greetings. Breeding danios is not usually difficult. But as with any fish, you need to get the conditions right. You want slightly soft to moderately hard water, and the temperature must not be too high (about 22-24 degrees C) is ideal. Prior to spawning the fish, you should keep them cool, around 18-20 C, for a couple of weeks. Then warm the fish up, and start feeding lots of live or wet-frozen foods, perhaps 3-4 times per day. This is called "conditioning", and what you're doing is tricking the fish into thinking it is the breeding season. In the breeding tank, cover the substrate with glass marbles or small pebbles. What you want to create is a tank bottom where the eggs can sink safely out of reach of the parents. For spawning to occur, you need to add a small group of males and females, ideally slightly more males than females. It has to be a group, not a pair. These fish spawn in groups. Once they've spawned, you can remove the parents. The eggs hatch in about one day, but it's another 4 days or so before the fry are swimming about looking for food. Give them infusoria or commercial baby fish food (of the egg-layer, not livebearer, variety). The fry grow quickly and are basically hardy and easy to rear. Danios are among the best egg-laying fish for a first breeding project, so you should find them quite rewarding. Cheers, Neale.>

Pregnant molly/barb fry   4/3/07 Hi. First off, I want to say that I love this site. Every time I have a question or I'm bored and want to look up things on my fish, I come right here. Anyway, I have a small issue that I don't know how to address. I have a 10g tank with 4 cherry barbs (1 male, 3 females) and 4 mollies (1 male and 3 females). I  just recently got 2 Sailfin mollies <Mmm, these do get very large...> thinking it would balance out the ratio, before it was 1 male and 1 female, but the male is still constantly harassing the one female molly that is pregnant. <And there's not enough room here for her to "get away"...> He doesn't even go near the other 2. I found 1 cherry barb fry the other day <! Really? This is much more likely a Molly> and put it in a one gallon I have until it gets big enough that it won't get eaten in the 10g. I want to separate the 2 mollies because she is pregnant. My problem is this. I don't have another tank so that I can separate the male and female molly except the one gallon that the barb fry is in. Would it be ok for me to put one of the mollies in there at least until the molly gives birth? <Mmm, not really... trouble with waste processing mostly...> And also, which do I put into the tank? I don't know if either would eat the cherry barb fry but I desperately feel the 2 mollies need to be separated until she gives birth. I think she is very stressed out by the male molly. Thanks in advance. Laura. <Let's see... if it were me, I'd return the Sailfin Mollies... you don't have enough room for these... Perhaps trading these in for the equivalent money for a "breeding trap"... a simple "net" type one will/would do here, to hang in the ten... perhaps to give the male a "time out", place the females when they are close to giving birth. Bob Fenner>

Triggered Gold Barbs to Spawn... OOPS <Wait, "OOPS"?!?!> - 09/30/2006 Well, first off, I remember posting here quite some time ago when I first started keeping FW Fish and the advice I received helped a ton, so I'm hoping you guys can give me a heads up on this one too.  I have a 55 Gallon, planted, well established tank, in addition to a smaller 20 gallon, also well established. The 55 Gallon was overstocked, and the 20 Gallon contained a bunch of assorted mollies. I managed to find someone with a bigger new set-up looking for some fish and cut down the stock in the larger tank  down to my two turquoise discus, 4 silver dollars, <These would like a larger tank as they grow.> puffer, <.... what sort of puffer?  There are none that I know of that would be safe to house in this mix....> Bala, <A schooler....  will outgrow the 55....> and Plec. So it's pretty much at full capacity, considering all of those fish will get larger. (a bit bigger than the diameter of a coffee cup at the moment, Bala a good 3-4 inches) And all the fish are doing wonderfully. Lots of hiding place for the Plec and puffer, and higher cover for the discus. (Not your most usual community set-up, I know, but it's been working quite well. <Temporarily, I fear.> I will also be setting up a larger probably 120 Gallon in the next couple months, (will be moving shortly and want to hold-off until after, before setting up such a large system).   <Good to hear of the upcoming upgrade!> I also got rid of the mollies, and had just a smaller Plec and tiny dwarf puffer in the smaller tank. The tiny puffer was actually attacking the larger one so I had to take him out of the bigger tank. He seems to be a pretty happy little guy and didn't seem to mind the mollies. Well the mollies are gone, and I moved the 3 gold barbs previously in the 55g tank into the 20g when I downsized. In doing so, I seemed to have triggered them to spawn. <Neat!> And after noticing the splashing around last night (from racing around the tank) realized that my 20 gallon is now scattered with tiny eggs. <VERY neat!> I moved the barbs (now settled and done spawning) back into the bigger tank so they wouldn't eat the eggs. Now am I going to have to worry about the dwarf puffer going after the eggs or the Plec? <Both, or the fry.> I have a smaller 10 gallon, and though I don't see how I could move the eggs (being as they everywhere, gravel included) I could probably move the puffer and Plec to it if need be. <Not knowing how large the puffer and Plec are, I don't know if this would be an "okay" temporary solution or not.> Or will it be possible to keep all in the 20? <Highly unlikely.> My LFS will take the barbs if I find I have too many. How many should I expect, because of the substrate its difficult to see how many eggs.  Will they eat crushed flake or do I need to stop and get some fry food on the way home. <You'll likely need to start culturing baby brine shrimp for them, or infusoria.> How long before they hatch? <Not sure, off the top of my head.  A handful of days, perhaps.> Is there a good site with some background on egg-layers as this would be the first set of egg-layers I've had spawn on me. <Do take a look here for an account of breeding these:   http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/goldbarb.shtml .> Thanks! <Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Siphoning Babies - Danio Fry and Gravel Cleaning - 09/30/2006 Hi Crew, <Hi, Mike!  Sorry for the delay....  your email wasn't able to come through properly in our Webmail system; my computer was able to read/respond, but I've been out a bit.  I do apologize for this delay.> I spend far too long reading your website but enjoy it immensely. <Heh!  Me too.> I have a mature 240 litre freshwater community tank and over the last few weeks, every time I do my weekly partial water change, I syphon tens of baby zebra danios out with the tank cleanings. Obviously they are too small to net and I've tried various methods of separating them from the muck but, inevitably, I spend hours every week with my head in a bucket rescuing baby fish by whatever painfully slow method I've invented; dipping cup, air-tube syphon or pipette usually. <How about a brine shrimp net?> My problem is that I'm becoming increasingly fond of dumping the baby laden sludge directly into one of the fry tanks to save time. Although it's probably very good baby food, it does mean that I am building up waste in tanks that I can no longer syphon 10% of the water out of weekly since I'm back to square one - babies and muck. So what, if any, faster methods can you suggest of separating the babies from my siphonings please <A pipette and patience is probably the best/safest way....> and what is the best way of cleaning the gravel in the fry tanks?   <Best option here is not to keep gravel in your fry tanks.  Keep them bare-bottomed instead, if possible.> On a marine note, have you seen the new marine shop/website in Leeds?  www.reefranch.co.uk http://www.reefranch.co.uk/ ? <I haven't; I don't think anyone on the Crew right now is in the UK - but if I'm out that way, I'll have a look!> Fantastically well cared for fish and corals.   <Sounds great.  I like to hear of new, good shops opening up.> Best regards, <To you as well!> Mike Cursons <Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Zebra Danio Q   3/10/06 Hey Bob! <June> My fiancée and I are looking forward to seeing you at IMAC (we actually met at IMAC last year and are getting married this June). <Congrats!> Any way, I'm currently working for a research lab that is working with zebra danios <A fave test animal species in the sciences> (ophthalmology research) and I tend to keep the pH at about 7.2-7.6, but one of the ladies that works in the lab says that's too high and that their eggs are becoming coagulated (just with in the past 2 days).  She thinks that it's because of the pH. <Mmm, is possible... do you know the corresponding alkalinity? Might be better to blend more/some "just water" in the system here> Now, I have my degree in marine biology, and take my water chemistry results to heart, and to have someone double checking my results is insulting to me, so that is why I am e-mailing you to see what your opinion is.  The PI of the lab trusts me very much and hold me in high regard, but for some reason these ladies seem to not trust me.  Go figure. <They may have practical experience going for them here...> Any info you can give me would be very helpful as then I can have someone who has even more experience backing me up.  :-) Thanks again!! June PS:  Didn't know which e-mail address to send to, so I sent to both. <Ah, no worries. Bob Fenner>

Zebra Danio with strange caudal fin  1/16/06   Hello there! I've been breeding zebra danios for a while, and recently, after my fry matured into full grown adults, I noticed that a few of them have a different colored caudal fin. All them, except these few, have the lines going through their body, go into the fin, ending when the fin stops. However, for these few, it stops where this fin is attached to the body, and on the fin, it has blotches of like black lines and black dots all mixed up on the tail randomly,  that really sticks out, and sort of reminds me of a guppies tail. I tried to take pictures so I could attach it to this, to show you what i mean, but i couldn't get the camera to focus on the Danio and everything kept coming out blurry and unfocused so you couldn't really tell what was going on. I looked all over the net but i couldn't find anything about Zebra danios with tail fins like this, and I thought this might be something new going on, because I've never seen any other danios like this before until now. What do you think?            Thanks, Tyler Ross <Mmm, likely just part of the randomness of genetic mix... This is how the vast majority of sport mutations are "developed"... e.g. long tails... Bob Fenner>

Tiny Unidentifiable Fry  12/03/05 Hello WWM crew, want to start off by saying again think you for all the help and information your site provides. I wrote to you before and now want to say I have a sparkling clean tank that gives me lots of relaxing enjoyment.  I have included my previous emails to you so you will know what was going on before, so I wont need to retell you what my tank includes again. Only changes in livestock would be that I now have 6 Danios, 5 Guppies and 8 Neon Tetras. I have spotted several babies ( Platies and Guppies) swimming freely and it seems with very little danger of being eaten by anyone, except of course by "George" the Gourami. His hobby is looking for food. LOL  I  have not tried to catch any of the babies because I want the tank to be as natural as possible and hold fast to the thought that "The strong (and smart) will survive" besides I know if I try to catch every single one I will need to get another huge tank to house them in when they are bigger and I don't really want to do that.  Now for my question. I have spotted over the last week some other kind of fry in the tank, I would say about 15 of them. The thing is I have no Idea what they are. They are so small that I cant make out any shape or markings on them to match them with the other types of fish in the tank. I do not think that they are a platy or guppy because I know their size when they are born and these fry are so small that I think a platy or guppy fry could possibly eat them. Would you have any idea what they could be? My guess is either Danio or Neon Tetra but I wanted your thoughts. < In a well planted tank with plenty of food these fish could be reproducing.> The second issue though is that the only reason I was able to see them is because they are swimming around inside the lift tube of my underground filter. (Its turned off of course) I have not seen them any where else in the tank. Could be because they are so small. Only thing I can tell you about them is that they have large heads and skinny bodies they look like tadpoles only much much much smaller and they are dark in color. Any Ideas? Thank you, Jennifer < If you have an undergravel filter than the two species you have could be scattering their eggs in the gravel and the hatching fry are being pulled through to the undergravel filter plate and showing up in the lift tube.-Chuck> 

Taking Care Of Little Fry  12/03/05 Chuck, Thanks for responding. Do you think it best to let them be down there? ( I don't know about feeding them) I turned off the UGF about 3 weeks ago, I assume there is probably a lot of gunk under there. Or do you know of a good way to get them out and keep them safe from being eaten? I have a breeder net but I am not sure if the holes in the netting is small enough to keep them in it. Jennifer < Newly hatch egg scatters like tetras need very small food like infusoria. When they get larger they can handle baby brine shrimp and Microworms. Much of that infusoria can be found in the junk under the filter plate. If you try to catch them they will just go back down under the filter plates. You could try to replace the airstone and air lift the fry out of the tank while holding a brine shrimp net over the opening. Once you can see them you can determine if a breeder net will work. If it is even close then I would put them in their own container so they don't get sucked through by hungry fish.-Chuck> 

Pregnant Danio? - 09/08/2005 Hi, <Hello.> I have a school of 4 giant Danios. At least I am pretty sure they are giant danios. I tried to find out exactly before I wrote you. I know that they are danios for sure though and all of the photos I have seen suggest that they are Danio aequipinnatus. Anyway....  My boyfriend and I just noticed yesterday that one of the four has a much bigger belly. We assume that it is pregnant but we are not sure and if it is what do we do about it. We have a breeding separate (one of our gourami was misbehaving); do we put the mom to be in there for the time being? <No.  These are an egg-laying fish; if you wish to raise the young, the male(s) need to be present to fertilize the eggs.> Thank you so much for your I greatly appreciate it. <I recommend you try a Google search on "Danio breeding" and see what it yields.> Mel Green <Good luck with them!  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Tiger Barb breeding 7/11/05 Hello, I have a ten gallon freshwater tank that I'd like to breed tiger barbs in. Is this tank too small <Nope> and if so what other kind of barb can I breed in this tank and if not what does this tank require? <Many barbs that are too large to breed here... e.g. Tinfoils, T-Bar, Rosies... and some that are easier... Checkerboards, Golds, Cherries... Need to do a bit of studying re making a barrier to keep the parents from eating the eggs, conditioning to reproduce, growing foods for the young. I suggest going to a public library (or buying used on the Net) some of the old T.F.H. books on aquarium fish breeding. Bob Fenner> Red glass barbs Bob, I love working with the barbs, have raised cherry, gold, red glass, rosy, Odessa, and love finding others to work with. My next project is the checkerboard barb and the red ruby. <Both great fishes> Setting up tanks for these tomorrow. I keep a journal of all my spawns and write articles on them. <Ah, commendable> I was fortunate to breed and now am raising the Amano shrimp. I sent a copy of this article to the TFH magazine. I am building a web site which will have articles on my spawnings. If interested will send you the URL. Wilma <Please do. Will gladly post it on WetWebMedia for others use, link to you. Bob Fenner>

Re: red glass barbs <<Hello, JasonC here... you know, this just proves I know nothing about barbs and I apologize again I couldn't be more helpful. Bob should be returning from his dive trip some time tomorrow, and I'll save this message for him. I'm sure he'll reply as soon as he gets a chance. Cheers, J -- >> Bob, I love working with the barbs, have raised cherry, gold, red glass, rosy, Odessa, and love finding others to work with. My next project is the checkerboard barb and the red ruby. Setting up tanks for these tomorrow. I keep a journal of all my spawns and write articles on them. I was fortunate to breed and now am raising the Amano shrimp. I sent a copy of this article to the TFH magazine. I am building a web site which will have articles on my spawnings. If interested will send you the URL. Wilma

Re: red glass barbs Thanks, they could be, if you ever find any info on them let me know. Wilma <Will do so... do come across new varieties entering the trade on a constant basis. Many new barbs are gorgeous, hardy, more peaceful than root stocks. Bob Fenner>

Pregnant barb I am adding my address for a response.  t.k.lewis****.   I have what I believe to be a pair of gold finned barbs, and it appears that one is pregnant.  Now I want to try to let them lay the eggs and hatch out, but do I leave them in with the eggs?  I am going to put a divider in the 20 gallon tank so no one else will eat the eggs or hopefully babies, but will the parents? And this may seem like a silly question will a female barb produce eggs without a male in the tank with her? Thank you and hope to hear from you soon. Theresa <There's a good article on breeding gold barbs at http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/goldbarb.shtml and it should answer all of your questions. Ronni>

Tiger barbs I bought 5 tiger barbs in one shot about 2 months ago.  One now seems larger in the belly than the others.  I read that they are not easy to breed but should I isolate it in a breeder net to see what happens. <You could> If you actually look at the tank for a while you will see the noticeable difference.<oh>  It is still as active as the others so I don't think it is a worm or illness.<yea, it could be just a fat fish. and it also could be pregnant. I doubt that it would do any harm if you setup a breeding net inside the aquarium and placed the fish in it for a while>  What do you guys suggest.  I will be off this Thurs. to Sunday so will be able to monitor the fish and tank more.....Any Suggestions?<good luck, IanB>

Pregnant Tiger Barb I just bought 7 Tiger Barbs it looks as if one of them is pregnant.  I have a 10 gallon tank and do not want a bunch of baby Tiger Barbs.  If I do nothing will the baby's survive? or should I remove the pregnant one? any advice? Thanks, Maria <<Dear Maria; if you do nothing, and the tiger barbs mate, chances are that the parents will eat the eggs and whatever fry happen to hatch. If you want to keep the fertilized eggs, you can remove them with a siphon hose to their own tank, and when they hatch, feed them newly hatched baby brine shrimp. IF the tiger barb in question is simply fat, and her scales start to stick out like a pinecone, then she is sick with an internal bacterial infection and will require medication or euthanasia. Please test your water for ammonia (zero), nitrites (zero) and nitrates (try to keep around 20-40ppm with weekly water changes). -Gwen>> 

Tiger Barbs and Black Neon Pregnant Questions Hello. I really enjoy reading your site and I can only marvel at the dedication (and politeness) of your crew in answering questions to help out people like us. I wrote because I have a question on breeding. I am trying to get my tiger barbs to breed. I do have a separate tank and tried to follow what I have read on various websites on how to breed them but nothing seems to be happening. Is it absolutely essential to separate the male and female? Is it ok to leave the males in the main tank, put the female in the breeding tank, and when she's ready, that's when I put the male in? How do I even know if she's pregnant or just fat? I am also concerned about the female being kept too long in the breeding tank. When I first placed her there, she looked miserable. When I added two companions, she perked up. I also have black neon tetras. I think they are females and they look like they are going to burst in their bellies. I am not sure if they are fat or pregnant, or if that is even possible since I don't have male black Neons. They eat fine and I feed only once or twice a day. Do I leave them like that? They swim fine but I'm not sure if it is healthy for them to look/be that fat or pregnant. < When tiger barbs get ready to breed the female will fatten up and the male will be paying lots of attention to her. If you see the two side by side making runs at bunches of plants then they are getting ready to breed. The Neons do a similar motion but don't make the runs at the plants. To get egg scatters to breed I feed the fish heavily with live food for about a week and then heat up the tank to 80 to 82 degrees F. I clean the filters and do a large 50%  water change with soft to medium hard water. This usually gets them going but creates another problem. The eggs become scattered all over the tank and they now become a food source for the adults. To separate the eggs from the adults old timers lined the bottom of a bare breeding tank with marbles and allowed the eggs to fall between the pore of the marbles and then remove the parents from the tank. A coarse mesh suspended an inch or two off the bottom of the aquarium will do the same thing. It is nearly impossible to get the tiny fry out of an existing community aquarium. Females may become ripe with eggs without a male being present and will absorbed the eggs after awhile without spawning.-Chuck> Mei

FATS DANIO Hi! Ok, my Danio has a swollen belly. At first I thought she was preggers, but it's been at least 2 months and no eggs!  She doesn't seem like she's in distress or anything. She seems perfectly healthy. What do you think the problem could be? < Could be egg bound or have an internal bacterial infection. I would guess the latter and treat with Metronidazole after doing a 30% water change and servicing