>but I am not woried about that. I was somewhat concerned that I hear
>various suggestions for water conditions that are optimal for keeping them,
>I hear 7.6 pH w/ shell grit to medium soft and pH of 6.5-7. I think the
>Atlas of Freashwater tropical fish said soft water and it was a difficult
>fish. Any ideas? I have looked at Adrian's page for info and chatted with
>our local experts. Chuck Nishihira said it should be an easy fish to take
>care of and breed. They are cute little fish, but seem right now to be a
>bit reclusive. I hope whenthey aget adjusted they will be a bit better at
>being social.
Chuck is right, this is an easy fish to breed. The fry are like
raising any other small fry, if you can do bows you can do these.
Water conditions do not seem that critical for spawning or keeping. I
keep mine in colonies of about a dozen for spawning. Usually its only
a few dominant males that get to spawn. I've never found any need to
separate them into pairs for breeding. I provide pvc tubes for them to
spawn in. When a male is sitting on eggs and I want to keep some fry I
just grab the tube with my fingers over both sides and move them, male
and all. When the eggs begin hatching I pull the male. I've heard of
folks getting fry growing up right with the colony, but never had any
luck this way myself.
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