I'm really wanting to breed my pair of Greenside Darters I've had since May. The male is now 3" and the female is 2". They're in a 20H (24"x12"x16") with a bunch of minnows and a few other darters now and they get 14 hours a light a day in the summer and I plan on giving them 10 hours in the winter but if I bred them I'd give them their own 10 Gallon (if you guys think that's big enough). How would I go about breeding them, what kind of parental care do the show, and how do I care for the fry?
Thanks!
Breeding Greensides
Started by
Sean Phillips
, Sep 25 2014 08:28 PM
4 replies to this topic
#1
Sean Phillips
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- NANFA Member
- Allegheny River Drainage, Southwest PA
Posted 25 September 2014 - 08:28 PM
Sean Phillips - Pine Creek Watershed - Allegheny River Drainage
#2
Guest_Ken_*
Guest_Ken_*
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- Guests
Posted 26 September 2014 - 12:51 AM
I have been trying to breed these also but so far have had no luck but they may have been too young when i got them. Besides a reduced light cycle they will probably need to go through a chilling cycle also (below 50f). They lay their eggs on plants (I use moss) and there is no parental care once hatched. I have been using a 20gal to try and breed them but will be moving them into a 33gal before spawning season starts. As afr as feeding the fry I wish I could tell you but I always keep various live foods from green water, worms, moina etc... so I am prepared for the different sizes of my fry, not to mention the plankton that already exists in my system. I had some Headwater darter fry show up this spring and they were almost an inch before I realized they were even in the growout tank. Since I didn't know they were there I never added any food to their tank but they were eating whatever was available in the system.
#3
Sean Phillips
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- NANFA Member
- Allegheny River Drainage, Southwest PA
Posted 26 September 2014 - 06:11 AM
Below 50?! Well that's not doable for me, not now anyway. The coldest my tanks to in winter is 66 but I am putting in a basement fishroom and since it'll be focused on natives it may go down to the lower 60s. Are there any smaller natives that are easier to breed?
Sean Phillips - Pine Creek Watershed - Allegheny River Drainage
#4
Sean Phillips
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- NANFA Member
- Allegheny River Drainage, Southwest PA
Posted 26 September 2014 - 06:16 AM
I also read on an older thread that someone successfully bred rainbows by catching 2 wild males and 2 wild females and putting them in an established tank. They left them in there for a week then removed the parents and said in another week there was fry. I'd be willing to try this in the spring but at what water temp should I take them home because they said they got them in the weeks before spawning season for them and I'm not sure when that is.
Sean Phillips - Pine Creek Watershed - Allegheny River Drainage
#5
Ken
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- NANFA Member
Posted 14 May 2015 - 11:38 PM
Sorry I didn't see your reply Sean. I saw my first fry 5/8 which was larger than it's siblings. It had to have been in the growout tank a couple weeks before spotting it. That should give you at least some sort of time frame.... Looking at my records I'd estimate temps were @ mid 50's when the parents had spawned. I know it's too late now (sorry), but for next year I'd get them before water temps reached mid 50's.
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