Article by John Stoller
Puntius conchonius (Rosey barb)
As fellow Circle City Aquarium Club (CCAC) members, I have developed a friendship with Greg Issacs. He and I often exchange ideas on various fish we are breeding. Greg, knowing that I am pursing “Master Breeder” status with the club, loaned me a group of 6 rosey barbs. These were gorgeous fish, very bright red, visible from across the room, and completely like the bland, reddish specimens that I have often seen aquarium shops.
The fish look so good that instead of placing them in a tank to condition them, I placed them directly into a tank setup for spawning egg scatterers. The tank had a breeding screen, secured by two pieces of ½” PVC covering the bare bottom of the tank. On top of the screen, I added Java Moss as a spawning media, and a small sponge filter. The temperature was set to 78F. All six adults were placed in the spawning tank. This was done early in the evening. A black piece of foam from a Hamburg Matten Filter was placed on top of the tank to minimize light into the tank.
The next day, I was able to see eggs under the mesh. Once I noticed the eggs, I pulled out the adults and placed them back into their own tank. At the same time, I also pulled out the screen too. The day after I found eggs, I noticed little fry bouncing on the bottom of the bare bottom tank. I could only see the fry using my cell phone camera with a highly magnified video.
About 3 days after hatching, I began to feed the fry Hikari fry powder. This is a very fine, green colored food. To feed, I fill a shot glass with water from the tank. I then added a pinch of the food and stirred vigorously to mix it up. I then sucked the green water into a turkey baster then gently squirted the mixture into the tank, near the fry. Since l work from home, I was able to do this procedure 3-5 times per day.
About a week after hatching, I began adding BBS to the feeding routine. At the end of the 2nd week, I discontinued feeding the Hikari mix. During the initial grow out, I did 10% water changes 2-4 times per week. Once the fry were about ¼” long, I moved then into a 20 gallon tank. At ½” they were moved to a 40B for final grow out.