55. Our Top Five Cyprinids 5
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Cyprinidae can be a difficult family of fish to really wrap your head around. It contains danios, barbs, rasboras, some loaches, and other associated species. While it can seem like a catchall, many of the most popular aquarium fish belong to this diverse group. In this episode: Ben, Amy, and Charles discuss their favorite cyprinid species.
Hey gang,
My name is Tristen, I enjoy a lot of the cyprinid fish and livebearing fish. I live just a bit further north in Northern Ontario Canada. Just wanted to chime in on the Espei Rasbora breeding as they were one of the first fish I bred. The Espei aka Lambchop Rasbora I found when well fed would breed in the morning within the first 3 hours of the lights coming on, the males would start by sparring and flaring for each other and then the females. The fish would then form small pairs and move around the tank finding large leafed plants, in my tank I had aponogeton crispus, anubias coffeefolia and cryptocoryne undulata. They would then do a shimmy under the leaf of the plant to signify it was a good spot and then flip upside down and lay eggs under the leaf and then the male would follow and fertilize, in some cases they would do practice runs first as well. It was very fun to watch and honestly I think they prefer an anubias type leaf that’s large and wide, they would often breed under the Betta leaf hammock I had suction cupped to the side glass as well. Then weeks later I would notice thin little eyelash size fry darting in and out of Java moss I had along the driftwood in that tank. I believe started with a group of 12 and over a 2 year period had the group fluctuate in size from 12 all the way to 21. They lived with a female Betta, yellow and black striped khuli loaches and Amano shrimp. I’m certain they could egg scatter in clumps of plants as Ben suggested however I couldn’t help but share my experience with them laying on the under side of leaves not only because it’s interesting but it may also help you in your breeder lab or with your customers.
All the best,
Tristen
Thanks for listening and sharing your experience! Since most of our time spent with these fish is in the shop, we sometimes miss out on some of their more private behaviors. This is great information to have and pass along. We assumed they scattered because they spawned in a tank with only stem plants. There was some Ludwigia peruensis in there which has particularly broad leaves, so its possible that they were using those. Those must have been some pretty crafty fry to avoid a betta and kuhli loaches in your tank!
Tristen, you are correct, espe’s rasbora (Trigonostigma espei) spawns beneath leaves or other similar surfaces. In fact, the Trigonostigma genus exists because of this behavior. All five species in the genus spawn in this way.
For others interested, here is an old video of a female waiting for a male to join her. Normally the male will wrap around her, coaxing her to release eggs and fertilizing as she does so:
https://youtu.be/bA1Lo2s_zJ8P
I find they lay batches of around 6-8 eggs at a time, but a female can lay many eggs, I’ve collected nearly 100 from a female in one day! Most of the time the eggs adhere to the leaves but sometimes they don’t stick and fall to the substrate. They are free-swimming in 7 days and despite their small size will actually gulp down freshly hatched brine shrimp as soon as they are ready to eat.
And Amy is correct, they are the best cyprinid 😉
Great footage, I can’t believe how prolific yours have been! Thanks for joining in with your experience, we’ve been learning a lot from our listeners.