Ok Im Ready With My 180 Tank To Breed Barbs

[taybarbs]

Ok i need help with breeding my barbs i love barbs ive got the space so there for no worrys and i could say i know what to do except for when to remove the female barb from the cumunity tank or do i put her into the condition tank any time and wait for her to fill with eggs.

[Dave66]

Ok i need help with breeding my barbs i love barbs ive got the space so there for no worrys and i could say i know what to do except for when to remove the female barb from the cumunity tank or do i put her into the condition tank any time and wait for her to fill with eggs.

You can use the 180 for a good-sized school of your chosen Barb, say 72 of them. The tank will need to well planted with real plants. Tiger barbs like to spawn on/in fine-leaved plants. If you have driftwood well covered with Java Moss, you'll often see a few barb eggs in it, as the fish are great at eating their own spawn, but they usually miss a couple here and there.
To condition the barbs to purposely breed them, you'll need to feed them live food three times a week. Daphnia pulex will do for the live food, as well as wingless fruit flies. Little shrimp, white and grindal worms . . . .there's lots of little live food that's fairly easy to culture yourself. If you feed them live a few times a week you can see the females visually fill up with eggs. It'll take you a while to be able to spot ripe females easily.
You'll need to set up a breeding tank for them; a half-full 20 is fine. Lots of breeders, myself included, carpet the bare bottom of the tank with synthetic grass or lots of Java Moss (preferred by the fish). Some use synthetic nylon mops. You'll need a place for the tiny, tiny fry to congregate under when they are free swimming; some floating water sprite would do.
Introduce a couple loaded females with a lively male. The action should happen within a few days. Keep an eye on them, as they'll breed really quickly then turn on the eggs and eat them, so you'd have to remove the parents in a big hurry when they are through spawning.
Feeding the fry is the tough part. They need the tiniest kinds of live food; baby brine shrimp will be too large for them for more than a week. You'll need to get two or three Infusoria cultures going for at least 10 days BEFORE the fish breed, as the cultures will need to be ripe so you can feed the fry immediately when they are free swimming. You'll need to give them at least 10 ml of culture water five times a day. Don't worry, the Paramecium in the culture won't pollute the water. If you see the fry's little bodys curling and striking at invisible things, they are eating the Infusoria. Start introducing small numbers of baby brine shrimp after a week to 10 days. When ALL the fry start to take all of the BBS, you cease with the infusoria and start scaling up the food as the fry grow.
The fry need lots of food, warmth, cleanliness and space to grow.
Using the above method you should get forty or fifty fish after each spawn.

Dave

[bluekrissyspikes]

i'm not a breeder and i've never bred anything on purpose, but i just wanted to say good luck and i hope you get lots of babies. i can't wait to have enough room for some breeding.

[Lady Hobbs]

Good advice already. I just wanted to say we just gotta see that tank when it's done.