# So I heard rasboras were tough to get spawning...



## jeffro0050 (Apr 4, 2010)

Woke up today, turned on my fishlight, made my coffee, turned around and was shocked to see all the female harlequin rasboras in my tank were swimming upside down and laying eggs all over the bottom of my plant leaves! Even got lucky enough to catch the males wrapping their tails around the females that were laying. Very very cool!

Also, the males all look like little sharks, mock battling over the females that are still really plump with eggs. Kind of reminds me of Zoidberg during mating season


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

Congrats!


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## jeffro0050 (Apr 4, 2010)

Thanks! 


An interesting side note. It seems its tough to tell the gender of the fish when you're at the fish store. I went back to buy some tubing and took a look at their stock..

The males in my tank are BRIGHT red and slender, with very pronounced black tail triangles, while the females are very plump and more orangish than the males- all the specimens in the pet store were a dull orange. Also, the males seem to carry their fins upright and the coloration is very bright on those as well. You can look at our stock and tell the difference immediately. I'll try and get some pics, but they have a tendency to make sure any photo I take of them is blurry 

In the hour since I posted I've seen the Tail wrapping happen much more frequently.


Water conditions- about 76 F, PH = 7.0, ammonia was a little high, nitrites were moderate(still completing a cycle), water hardness in both categories was moderate (sorry, I got it tested at the LFS and forgot the exact numbers) and they seem to prefer laying their eggs on my Hygrophila(?) over my egeria. 

One thing to note is that I made a lot of changes to the tank yesterday. I think the abrupt changes might have triggered their spawning instinct, although their coloration has been very very pronounced since we took them from the pet store two weeks ago. Also, plant growth is currently insane and all my plants are pearling.


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## jeffro0050 (Apr 4, 2010)

additional observations:


It seems that the Harlequin rasboras tend to want to spawn when I do a water change right after I turn on the light for the day. My Temp average is now 78F- within the limit most breeders of this fish recommend.

I have a problem for experienced breeders: It seems my males all want to spawn as often as they can- the reason I'm not getting a tank full of eggs is because most of the time, the females take refuge near the filter where the water is the fastest since they can get away from the males in the current. This is making me worried since some of the females that are more stubborn literally look like they are about to explode with eggs and I don't know that that's very healthy for them.

Anyways-

This fish has been a very easy gender read. When sexually mature the males are way more colorful and way more aggressive than the females. The two males in our tank are extremely colorful and very aggressive toward one another when they are trying to spawn.

The mating ritual as observed from 10 mins of turning the filter off so the males could catch em is as follows. 

Males straighten all fins and swim circles around the females until one breaks away, they then try to lead the female away to the heaviest planted/decorated area of the tank(also keep in mind I did a lot of pruning today before the WC- this could also be a factor, as the females tend to "hide" in plants) the female then goes bottoms up on wherever she has deemed worthy, and the male fertilizes via the "tail wrap" that many fish do. The last part can happen several times before you can visually tell that both the female's body has gotten more slender, and that there are eggs on decoration. I don't have the time or resources for fry raising, sadly, so the cory cats get an extra treat ><


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## tbirdie (May 3, 2010)

Whoa, I found this thread while searching about their spawning behaviors and it describes my morning completely (minus the coffee haha). I just got my fish on Friday, and they are spawning ALL over my tank right now. I have 9 HRs, 2 ottos, 2 amano, and 1 bolivian ram. This is a newer planted 20 gallon long tank that I just started a couple of weeks ago from transferring over my old 6.5 gallon long. The HRs and the Bolivian Ram were recent additions from this last weekend. 

I don't think I've ever seen fish spawn before in my life. I woke up, turned the lights on, fed them, and then lo and behold... here we go. They prefer my hyrdo to my other plants as well. 

Did you actually see yours... what is the correct term... "hatch"? I left them be for about 2 hours, and then I went about my scheduled maintence of adding some water to the tank. I think that probably killed the mood, oh well, rookie mistake.

Oh, and you're right, suddenly it is VERY easy to tell their genders but it was impossible at the pet store.


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## jeffro0050 (Apr 4, 2010)

tbirdie said:


> Whoa, I found this thread while searching about their spawning behaviors and it describes my morning completely (minus the coffee haha). I just got my fish on Friday, and they are spawning ALL over my tank right now. I have 9 HRs, 2 ottos, 2 amano, and 1 bolivian ram. This is a newer planted 20 gallon long tank that I just started a couple of weeks ago from transferring over my old 6.5 gallon long. The HRs and the Bolivian Ram were recent additions from this last weekend.
> 
> I don't think I've ever seen fish spawn before in my life. I woke up, turned the lights on, fed them, and then lo and behold... here we go. They prefer my hyrdo to my other plants as well.
> 
> ...


Congratulations- Pretty fun to watch, eh? And unfortunately no I haven't seen any hatch- likely because I haven't been separating the fish after spawning so the eggs are likely being eaten by my cories. I know for a fact that there are eggs indeed there, as my normally Fat females have all slimmed back down after the furious spawning. And no, Water changes do NOT spoil the mood- as a matter of fact- I have found that adding cool water to the tank stimulates the behavior. The best data I have found is that most tropical species like to spawn during the cool rainy season,(especially corydoras) and for HR's they like to spawn in the morning. so I'd venture to say that the best way to jumpstart them spawning is prepare water for changing and change your water as soon as you turn the lights on. Miraculously my lights keep my tank at that prime 78F which all my tank mates seem to like.

Best of luck on babies! I'd like to add that since I posted this they have spawned at least 3 more times, almost always as soon as the lights go on during a water change.


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## tbirdie (May 3, 2010)

Yeah, all of the females seem to be slim except for one. According to what I've read, I think my water should be "too hard" for this to all be happening. So, I don't know if I'll end up with any fry or not. I don't have any cories in my tank or anything, I was just starting the stocking. I do have a bolivian ram though, and who knows what he'll be up too lol.


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## jeffro0050 (Apr 4, 2010)

Indeed. My biggest worry when I was considering trying to go for fry was that the eggshells would be bad due to the water's hardness... Supposedly my water is good though... who knows.


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## tbirdie (May 3, 2010)

No clue, I guess we will see what happens over the next few days :X


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