>caryho at ix.netcom.com wrote:
>
>> P tenellus are one such species (that breeds on its own and > tolerates fry), and P gertrudae have been know to do
>> the same. Just give them a planted tank with a bit of broken cover on
>> the surface. Like plants that grow all the way to the surface or a bit
>> of ricca. Enough fry always seem to survive and grow up on there own
>> to maintain the colony.
>
> This thought snipped from the "first Blue-eyes and gudgeons" thread of
>a couple of weeks ago keeps intriguing me. The only experiences I have
>had with this is an almost perpetual cloud of small M. praecox fry in a
>twenty gallon tank with a trio of adults and the few fry in a similar
>sized arrangement with Bedotia geayi. The Madagascar fry amazingly
>cruise along inches from the power filter intake presumably snarfing up
>food! This was great because they can be simply left alone until they
>put on a little growth.
>
> In other set-ups of rainbows there would sometimes be fry along the
>tank sides, raised by the surface tension, in the early AM, but they
>would be gone later in the day. I'm sure that reproducing rainbows in a
>"natural" set-up is partly a function of space, food for the adults,
>plant cover for the youngsters, the "personality" of some species and
>even water quality among other things.
>
> Probably if I sealed and filled the living room I could set up a
>natural set-up even for large cichlids. The current adminstration might
>beg to differ.
>
> What rainbows especially lend themselves to this sort of propagation?.
>Which have been successfully reproduced that way? Are there any "tricks
>of the trade" which rainbow people use which might differ from what
>killie or livebearer people would use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott Davis
The real trick is to keep the adults hanging out in an area away from
the fry. As the fry tend to hang out at the top, you need to keep the
adults in the middle to bottom area of the tank. Of course they do
need to get to the top during feeding time, but the comfortable
swimming area should be away from the top. I will also mention I have
fry of the previously mentioned species growing up in bare tanks and a
sponge filter with the parents. If the parents are well fed, the fry
get enough food and have cover to hide, you can get this to occur with
many bows and blue-eyes.
Cary Hostrawser
My Rainbowfish Home Page
http://pw2.netcom.com/~caryho/home.html
Rainbowfish Study Group Web Page
http://home.stlnet.com/~gwlange/rainbowfish.index.html