Dario hysginon breeding project
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:07 pm
Hey guys,
I got these beautiful fish in May. Rachel sent them to me. They were in wonderful shape. Perfectly healthy.
They went in my planted tank.
I have been feeding them bloodworms, artemia and mosquito larvae. Last Sunday when I switched off my filter to feed them I noticed a weird behavior.
I saw my Dario male coming out from the bushes.. He will come out, go near a female and just touch her and will go back in the bushes (like he was taping on her shoulders). And if that female wont go with him, he will repeat the same with another female.
Finally a female went into the bushes with him. They did an embrace there. But soon the female came out and then again nobody else was ready to go in there with him. He was so damn territorial that time that he literally caught an oto with his mouth and smashed it far from those bushes.
It means they are ready to spawn. I am excited.
I knew that i will have to do some extra homework before trying anything. I had a lot of questions in my mind. I asked these questions to aVijendra. He answered them very nicely. Here are the questions and answers.
1. I have a spare 10G tank. (12x10x20) with a lot of moss. Will it work ?
Yes the 10 gallon with a lot of moss seems good, actually would be great.
2. How many males and females should I put in the breeding tank ?
These guys form temporary bonds so keep just 1 male and 1 female, remove the female right after the spawn as she has no role to play in hatching of the eggs.
3. I feed them bloodworms, mosquito larvae and artemia. Is that enough? Or do they need some special kinda diet in order to get conditioned ?
Feeding seems fine, continue the same 2-3 times a day.
4. How does it happen ? I mean they will embrace, eggs will fall and then what ?
Will they put the eggs somewhere or they will embrace at a place where they wanna place the eggs ?
The male will embrace the female with her releasing the eggs, the male will fertilize them as they fall, will happen in the territory marked by the male, they are substrate spawners so the eggs will either be scattered on the moss (as you are going to keep a lot of moss) or even on the substrate preferably under some cover, like a driftwood, broad leaves of any plant etc. The male will guard the eggs till they hatch.
5. I have seen you putting some earthen pots in your tanks. I have a similar cave and a few bamboo charcoal tubes but these bamboo tubes are open at both the ends.
The earthen pots that you saw were not meant for them, they will barely use any. The male coming out of the bush (his marked territory here) and touching the female and going was his way of inviting her into his territory to breed. The spawning process might even go on for days with the male depicting the same behavior.
6. Just one sponge filter will work right ? I have heard they dont like much water flow!!
Yes one sponge filter is perfectly fine.
7. Right now all the males have made their territories and female just wander in the open space. What does this depict ?
As I said that they form temporary bonds, so the males here have marked their respective territories but the females are free to choose anyone they like, so their wandering here and there is normal, when in breeding mood they will select their mate.
8. What temperature should I maintain ?
23-24 (73-75 F) works for me.
9. If they lay eggs, how many days will it take to hatch the eggs ? And from which day will I have to feel the babies ? and what ? I have banana worms and micro worms. I also have frozen BBS. Will it work ?
It takes around 2-3 days for the eggs to hatch and around 6-7 days for the fries to consume their eggsack. Darios are themselves so tiny so just think how small their babies would be, banana worms and micro worms wont work, you would need infusoria to feed them (is quite easy to culture, just google the ways of making some)
10. Will I feed the adults once they will go in the breeding tank ? Or is it same like the bettas that feeding in the breeding tank might provoke the male to eat the babies or the eggs ?
Feed them in the breeding tank as well, the male might consider the fry to be food after they hatch, so the best bet is to remove the male on the second day, you can remove him immediately after spawning as well.
11. When do you start doing WC in the breeding tank ?
Answer- I change 25-30% water a week, and target 10% WC every alternate day in the fry tank.
I cannot thank Vijendra enough for taking the time to reply all my questions is such great detail.
So I have started feeding them thrice a day with different food. Planning to order some live blackworms soon. Another challenge is to catch them. I have seen badis sp in their natural habitat and believe me they are one of the most intelligent fish. Catching them in a planted tank like mine would be like fighting a war.
This weekend I will setup their breeding tank and introduce a pair. Lets see what happens. I will keep you notified and updated on this front.
Wish me luck
Here are a few pictures of them that I took. Aren't they gorgeous ?
Males-
Dario hysginon13 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Dario hysginon 12 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
dario hysginon3 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Dario hysginon1 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
dario hysginon4 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Female-
Dario hysginon by sumertiwari, on Flickr
I got these beautiful fish in May. Rachel sent them to me. They were in wonderful shape. Perfectly healthy.
They went in my planted tank.
I have been feeding them bloodworms, artemia and mosquito larvae. Last Sunday when I switched off my filter to feed them I noticed a weird behavior.
I saw my Dario male coming out from the bushes.. He will come out, go near a female and just touch her and will go back in the bushes (like he was taping on her shoulders). And if that female wont go with him, he will repeat the same with another female.
Finally a female went into the bushes with him. They did an embrace there. But soon the female came out and then again nobody else was ready to go in there with him. He was so damn territorial that time that he literally caught an oto with his mouth and smashed it far from those bushes.
It means they are ready to spawn. I am excited.
I knew that i will have to do some extra homework before trying anything. I had a lot of questions in my mind. I asked these questions to aVijendra. He answered them very nicely. Here are the questions and answers.
1. I have a spare 10G tank. (12x10x20) with a lot of moss. Will it work ?
Yes the 10 gallon with a lot of moss seems good, actually would be great.
2. How many males and females should I put in the breeding tank ?
These guys form temporary bonds so keep just 1 male and 1 female, remove the female right after the spawn as she has no role to play in hatching of the eggs.
3. I feed them bloodworms, mosquito larvae and artemia. Is that enough? Or do they need some special kinda diet in order to get conditioned ?
Feeding seems fine, continue the same 2-3 times a day.
4. How does it happen ? I mean they will embrace, eggs will fall and then what ?
Will they put the eggs somewhere or they will embrace at a place where they wanna place the eggs ?
The male will embrace the female with her releasing the eggs, the male will fertilize them as they fall, will happen in the territory marked by the male, they are substrate spawners so the eggs will either be scattered on the moss (as you are going to keep a lot of moss) or even on the substrate preferably under some cover, like a driftwood, broad leaves of any plant etc. The male will guard the eggs till they hatch.
5. I have seen you putting some earthen pots in your tanks. I have a similar cave and a few bamboo charcoal tubes but these bamboo tubes are open at both the ends.
The earthen pots that you saw were not meant for them, they will barely use any. The male coming out of the bush (his marked territory here) and touching the female and going was his way of inviting her into his territory to breed. The spawning process might even go on for days with the male depicting the same behavior.
6. Just one sponge filter will work right ? I have heard they dont like much water flow!!
Yes one sponge filter is perfectly fine.
7. Right now all the males have made their territories and female just wander in the open space. What does this depict ?
As I said that they form temporary bonds, so the males here have marked their respective territories but the females are free to choose anyone they like, so their wandering here and there is normal, when in breeding mood they will select their mate.
8. What temperature should I maintain ?
23-24 (73-75 F) works for me.
9. If they lay eggs, how many days will it take to hatch the eggs ? And from which day will I have to feel the babies ? and what ? I have banana worms and micro worms. I also have frozen BBS. Will it work ?
It takes around 2-3 days for the eggs to hatch and around 6-7 days for the fries to consume their eggsack. Darios are themselves so tiny so just think how small their babies would be, banana worms and micro worms wont work, you would need infusoria to feed them (is quite easy to culture, just google the ways of making some)
10. Will I feed the adults once they will go in the breeding tank ? Or is it same like the bettas that feeding in the breeding tank might provoke the male to eat the babies or the eggs ?
Feed them in the breeding tank as well, the male might consider the fry to be food after they hatch, so the best bet is to remove the male on the second day, you can remove him immediately after spawning as well.
11. When do you start doing WC in the breeding tank ?
Answer- I change 25-30% water a week, and target 10% WC every alternate day in the fry tank.
I cannot thank Vijendra enough for taking the time to reply all my questions is such great detail.
So I have started feeding them thrice a day with different food. Planning to order some live blackworms soon. Another challenge is to catch them. I have seen badis sp in their natural habitat and believe me they are one of the most intelligent fish. Catching them in a planted tank like mine would be like fighting a war.
This weekend I will setup their breeding tank and introduce a pair. Lets see what happens. I will keep you notified and updated on this front.
Wish me luck
Here are a few pictures of them that I took. Aren't they gorgeous ?
Males-
Dario hysginon13 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Dario hysginon 12 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
dario hysginon3 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Dario hysginon1 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
dario hysginon4 by sumertiwari, on Flickr
Female-
Dario hysginon by sumertiwari, on Flickr