I just thought I would post this up for anyone who keeps Cherry barbs and is interested in breeding them. Recently I noticed that the female barb's underbelly was particularly swollen. I had read somewhere that this usually means she is carrying a lot of eggs. The behaviour and colouration of the male also backed up this theory.
Because I do not have a breeding tank, and there are few safe places in my tank for the eggs, I moved them into a breeding trap to see if she would lay any. I put them in for about half an hour but then removed them as they appeared to be getting stressed. After I put them in my tank I watched the male following the female, chasing her into the plants, and yes, she started dropping eggs and he fertilized them. But... they didn't last long as one of my platy came along and ate the whole lot (thanks for that!).
Anyway when i looked back into the breeding trap i noticed that she had scattered eggs in there too. I was a bit unsure if she did this on purpose or whether it was the stressful experience of being in there, and also whether the male had fertilized them or not.
well, i've been keeping an eye on them throughout today and i've noticed movement! Some of the eggs have what appears to be tiny grey slivers sticking out of them. I studied several of these for some time and noticed sudden rapid movement so I am pretty convinced that these are the fry. Its less than 24 hours on and already they have begun to hatch.
I've posted a picture on here for you all to see as I was looking online for images of the fry emerging from the eggs but couldn't find any. The eggs and fry are pretty tiny too, so if you think that your cherry barbs have dropped eggs or there are fry in your tank then you'll need to look very carefully indeed!
The red ring shows a cherry barb fry emerging from the egg sack. It remains motionless for most of the time but if you are patient you will see movement. Hope this picture helps you guys so you know what to look out for. sorry the quality is low but its the best that i can do with what i have to work with!
cheers,
Andrew
Because I do not have a breeding tank, and there are few safe places in my tank for the eggs, I moved them into a breeding trap to see if she would lay any. I put them in for about half an hour but then removed them as they appeared to be getting stressed. After I put them in my tank I watched the male following the female, chasing her into the plants, and yes, she started dropping eggs and he fertilized them. But... they didn't last long as one of my platy came along and ate the whole lot (thanks for that!).
Anyway when i looked back into the breeding trap i noticed that she had scattered eggs in there too. I was a bit unsure if she did this on purpose or whether it was the stressful experience of being in there, and also whether the male had fertilized them or not.
well, i've been keeping an eye on them throughout today and i've noticed movement! Some of the eggs have what appears to be tiny grey slivers sticking out of them. I studied several of these for some time and noticed sudden rapid movement so I am pretty convinced that these are the fry. Its less than 24 hours on and already they have begun to hatch.
I've posted a picture on here for you all to see as I was looking online for images of the fry emerging from the eggs but couldn't find any. The eggs and fry are pretty tiny too, so if you think that your cherry barbs have dropped eggs or there are fry in your tank then you'll need to look very carefully indeed!
The red ring shows a cherry barb fry emerging from the egg sack. It remains motionless for most of the time but if you are patient you will see movement. Hope this picture helps you guys so you know what to look out for. sorry the quality is low but its the best that i can do with what i have to work with!
cheers,
Andrew
