breeding pacific blue eye

[pacific blue eye breeder]

Hi,

I am currently working with Pacific Blue eyes in a school aquarium for science.
It has been around 10 weeks that I have had to provide 5 blue eyes with their natural habitats, good comforting food and at the same time try and breed them
Two of the fish are males and three are females- is this a good enough ratio between the genders?

I have been trying to breed them since day 1, however my team members and I have only seen small progress.
We have done the following though, and Im asking whether you could offer me with any other different alternatives or solutions to have a succesful breeding.

Since mid-february I have:
1. done regular water changes of about 20-30% of a 60 litre tank.
2. fed them with a variety of food including quality flake food, blood worms and brine shrimp- they tend to enjoy eating the bloodworms most.
3. Provided them with a spawning mop
4. change the light settings so that they get light during the day and darkness throughout the night
5. the tank is near a window, but it is not so near that there is direct sunlight
6. I have made sure to keep the nitrate levels between 7-8, and the ph level under 20
7. I have added valve, and eloda weed as the plants
8. lots of rocks for hiding places

Is there anything that I could include in what Im already doing, or can I change anything that I am currently doing to the aqaurium do you think?
Since they first arrived in the tank the pacific blue eyes have turned from semi-transparent to a silvery - grey colour. I know that when their colours get
stronger they are more likely to breed, is this true?

Well, thank you for your time.
If you have any information regarding successful breeding of pacific blue eye, that would be gladly appreciated :-)

Thank you,

[Lady Hobbs]

According to the male/female ratio, the rainbow forum will tell you that you should have more males than females. Like 1 Female to 2-3 Males or 2 Females to 4-5 Males. Rainbows are egg scatters, so more males will get more eggs fertilized. Also, rainbows can be very aggressive at spawning times. Additional males in the tank will take the aggression away from the female who can become pretty beat up during spawning times. This is a different ratio than we normally see in fish which is generally more females than males but I tend to agree with this article because I have 1 female and 7 males in my tank and this explains why the female is never beat up.

They generally always spawn in the mornings and the others will eat the eggs almost immediately. Bows tend to prefer a bit cooler temps than the average tank with temps a bit on the lower side.....closer to 72-74 than 78-80.

I have to admit I've had a heck of a time spawning bows when I move them to a breeding tank. I have much better luck sticking some java moss in their current tank and just removing the moss. They just won't cooperate for me in a breeder. They are group spawners so guess they like all the other company with them.

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/ Good rainbow info here.