Breeding Dianos

[Tooj]

Hi there, question about breeding dianos.
i hear that they are relatively easy to breed. Condition them and let them do their thing...basically. But i also hear that they mate for life. Does that mean that if they picked a mate in my LFS and got separated, they wont mate in my tank? Also...If i choose to set up a separate tank in my room (for the purpose of holding eggs) , place 1 male and 1 female in it, they wont mate if its not the right pair?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I have set up spawning tanks for zebra dianos many times. Healthy mature fish will spawn readily. They probably spawn frequently in your community tank. They do eat the eggs so some method of keeping them away from the eggs is needed. I think I posted some digital photos of a zebra breeding set up on this forum some months back. You might do a search of my postings and find them. I may still have the photos on my computer if you do not find them. They scatter their eggs and the eggs are not sticky, so they fall thru a screen .

The notion that they mate for life is a new one to me. I use to place two or three pairs in a breeding setup with no regard to the pairs with good results.

 

[Tooj]

thanks for the reply. i wasnt able to find the pictures that you posted. you have ALOT of posts! i got to page 8 before my eyes went fuzzy. I have a general idea what a breeding setup should look like (from searching on the internet), but theres not alot of detail about other things i need to know. maybe your experiance can help me out.
Ive been conditioning them with blood worms for the last 2 weeks or so (maybe longer). I can telll apart the females from the males alot better now. I have a spare tank...is a 2.5g....which isnt that great for dianos long term. I want to keep fry in that tank so they dont get eatin in my main tank (tierd of my gf saying im cruel - lol). SO......is it possible to have them lay eggs in such a small tank without stressing them to death? and if so...how big do the females have to get before theyre actually ready to lay eggs?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I will get back to you with a description of my breeding setup and look for the pictures.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I have raised zebra danio fry many times. I made a breeding setup that fits in a 20 gallon long and allowed the water level to be low (about 1/4 to 1/3 full) in the tank during the actual spawning. The eggs fall thru the screen to the bottom of the tank and the adults are removed. The day before or on the day of a successful spawning I put some lettuce leaves in a gallon jar and add just boiled water and set it aside open to the air. By the time the fry hatch out and are able to feed there should be lots of tiny critters in the jar (I have always known this to be called an infusoria culture.) I pour a small amount of the infusoria culture into the breeding tank each day for while. (You can add small amounts of hot water to the culture if you wish.) (Note- the infusoria culture will stink after a short while.)
I also prepare some finely powdered food by running dry fish food (shrimp pellets and what ever is on hand) thru an old coffee grinder which is too weak to grind coffee beans any more. I can adjust the settings down to very fine. (What ever you use to grind it, go slow so as not to burn the food.) (A mortar and pistil can be used by hand) Less than half a 35mm film can is more than enough for a fairly large spawn.
I will attempt to photo and post the breeding setup .

 

[Tooj]

thank you very much for posting those pictures for me, and thanks for the tips
ive placed 2 ripe females in my breeding tank with a mesh screen at the bottom of it.
i was advised to keep the females separate from the males for a day or 2. so ill add the males in the breeding tank in a little bit.

once everyones in the breeding tank, how do i encourage spawning? i hear raising the temperatures is a good way. something like 2 degrees every day until it gets to 80. Water changes is another.
is there anything else that have worked for you? or do they just spawn on command? haha

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I always put the pairs in at the same time, but it likely will not make any difference. I believe the spawning could take place most any time, but had a feeling that early in the morning was the most common. I usually left them in the spawning trap for no more than two days (Maybe no more than several hours the first time might be wise untill you see how many eggs you get.) in order to keep the number of fry down to something reasonable and to keep them close to the same size. I also have a couple of survivor tanks with a black slate bottom. The dark slate makes it easier to see the eggs. I do not put any substrate in the breeding tank.

When I set up in a classroom, the students would draw up the eggs with glass tubing and observe the stages of development of the eggs. The eggs and newly htached fry could be placed in a dished slide and clearly seen using a microscope. The blood could be observed flowing thru the transparent fry. The eggs and fry were put back into the tank and raised to an inch or so.

I left mature adults in a breeding trap a little too long once and wound up with over two hundred fry. I had a 125 gallon tank at the time. Even after giving away a lot , I had well over a hundred. That shoal of zebras was a sight to behold.

Good luck

 

[skjl47]

Hello; About the temperature. As I recall, I set the breeding tank near the same temp as the community tank at around 78 or so. As I was only going to have them in the breeder set up for a limited time, it made moving the adults into and out simpler. Raising the temp a bit may induce spawning and is not a lot of extra trouble. I do recall that it has been known to trigger spawning in other species. Go for it if you do not mind the extra acclimation time.

Keep us posted.

 

[Tooj]

lol
ok so. that was easier then i expected.
at around 8pm i put in 3 females into a 2.5 gallon tank. at about 9:30 i put in only 2 males because i couldnt catch anymore then that! so i gave up. 5 total
i woke up at 6am the next morning and there is at least 50-100 eggs at the bottom of the tank. Not quite sure how many are actually fertilized, but well see in a couple days! hope ies not 50-100.... Some i can see are just eggs. clear round balls. some are clear round balls with a while spec inside it. im assuming those are the fertilized eggs. looks like 70% at the moment.
i didnt expect things to get moving that quickly...that must mean that its occuring almost ALL the time in my community tank? because i have quite a bit of danios in there.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Good deal. At one time I had a quarantine tank below a community tank. I got in a habit of draining water from to QT to discard and then siphoning waer from the community tank into the QT. On a few occasions when the QT was empty a few unexpected fry would show up. The eggs must have been in the muck drianed from the community tank. Some of the chasing you see in the community tank is when a female is expellling eggs and the others are eating them.

Good luck with the fry.