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Spawning Steelcolor Shiner Cyprinella whipplei


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#1 smbass

smbass
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Posted 14 March 2016 - 11:48 PM

I have been wanting to produce some Steelcolor Shiners for a few years now and it has taken me some time to get a good group of them and get them into condition to make a good try at this. Last summer I gave them a try in an outdoor setup in my backyard but either I put them in too late in the year or they just did not like something about the set up.

 

I have not bred very many fish in aquariums, I have been much more successful breeding fish in outdoor ponds in my yard. That being said though Cyprinella species of shiners have been my one group I have had pretty good success with in aquariums. Actually my first aquarium bred species was C. spiloptera spotfin shiner back in 1999 or maybe 2000 while still in high school. Since then I have spawned Bannerfin Shiner, Tricolor Shiners, and most recently Red Shiner. So I thought why should Steelcolor Shiners be any different. I gave my group of 10 (6m 4f) their own 75 gallon tank back in late October when I brought them in from the outdoor setup. I began feeding them a lot (flake, blood worms, mysis shrimp) to fatten them up and did my usual Cyprinella spawning set up of a stack of some slate/flat rocks in front of a powerhead to provide crevices for them to lay their eggs in...

 

Cyprinella+whipplei+breeding+set+up1+by+

Cyprinella+whipplei+breeding+set+up3+by+

 

 

After a couple months of nothing happening I figured it was time to start making some slight changes. I added a few more spawning options including some left over pieces of tile from a recent bathroom remodel (Thanks Matt) and increased the temp from the 66-68 F my tanks naturally stay at in my basement to 72 F with a heater.

 

They definitely seemed to like the heat and I went from 2 of the 6 males being colored up to all but the smallest one showing off color(red/pink noses, yellow lower fins, and fluorescent blue/green/opaque white edges to fins), greatly enlarged dorsal fin, and tubercles on the head, smallest one quickly coming along. Pictures of the group but hard to get a good shot in this tank because no lights on it...

Breeding+group2.JPG

breeding+group1.JPG

Better photo from a previous display tank occupant...

 

Cyprinella+whipplei+male7+in+aquarium+by

 

and photo tank shots for good measure...

 

Cyprinella+whipplei+male10+by+BZ.JPG

 

Cyprinella+whipplei+female1+by+BZ.JPG

 

And not long after making these changes and the males getting more colored up I found a few eggs in between some of the original pieces of slate. My wife said well maybe they like the larger spaces between the slate better then the narrow spaces between the tiles. So I thought why not, and put a few pieces of gravel on one end of the tiles...

tiles+spread+apart.JPG

That was last Wens and Thurs morning there were hundreds of eggs between the tiles too. The nice thing about Cyprinella shiners is you can take the rocks/or tiles that you stacked up as spawning sites out of the spawning take and place them in a smaller tank with the eggs still attached in a smaller tank for hatching. I like to lean these flat rocks or tiles up against the side of the smaller tank to make the eggs easy to view and watch development. In this case the breeder tank is a 75 gallon tank and the rearing tank a well seasoned 20 long that I have intentionally let get a little dirty to allow algae and other tiny organisms to grow in and help be a first food for the soon to hatch fry...

20+long+hatching+tank.JPG


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#2 smbass

smbass
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Posted 15 March 2016 - 12:01 AM

As I move the eggs over to this rearing tank I put a single drop of ich treatment directly on the eggs and then quickly place it in the tank. This quick treatment of the eggs helps prevent fungus on the eggs and increases the hatch rate. Now 4-5 days later the eggs are pretty far along and maybe even a few beginning to hatch...

 

eggs2.JPGeggs1.JPGEggs+begining+to+hatch.JPG

 

Hopefully with a little luck I am able to raise a good number of these eggs into decent sized young fish and start selling them off through my website in a couple months.

 

A couple things that were a little different with these compared to the other Cyprinella species I have bred... They definitely proffered a wider gap between tiles/flat rocks for placing their eggs compared to the others I have bred. Also much more space needed to keep these guys happy, the previous species I have worked with all spawned in much smaller tanks without a problem. Also like warmer temps than all but the Red Shiner compared to the others I have bred. These and Reds are large river species and probably warmer waters than the others. They may also just more naturally spawn later in the year than the others. In conclusion though if you have not aquarium reared any fish I would give a species of Cyprinella a try!

 

I'll try to continue to post some follow ups as the young grow.


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#3 mattknepley

mattknepley
  • NANFA Member
  • Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 15 March 2016 - 05:23 AM

Congrats, Brian! Well done- and props to the wife for her observation. Was surprised to see the cray in there. It doesn't mess with eggs?
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#4 Evan P

Evan P
  • NANFA Guest
  • Knoxville, TN

Posted 15 March 2016 - 07:32 AM

Great to see this post up, Brian, thank you! It's pretty incredible to me that these guys don't need a winter period or photoperiod change. If only I had a spare tank big enough to spawn my Bluntfaces year round! You've just given me some ideas.


3,000-4,000 Gallon Pond Full of all sorts of spawning fishes! http://forum.nanfa.org/index.php/topic/13811-3560-gallon-native-fish-pond/page-3 
 

#5 Doug_Dame

Doug_Dame
  • NANFA Member

Posted 15 March 2016 - 11:31 AM

Tiles with a v-configuration lets the fish pick whatever gap size strikes them as [Goldilocks] just-right. Brilliant! Thanks for sharing. 


Doug Dame

Floridian now back in Florida
 


#6 Josh Blaylock

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  • Central Kentucky

Posted 15 March 2016 - 02:12 PM

Man, nothing like a breeding Cyprinella, how fortunate you are to get to watch this from the comfort of your house.


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#7 Isaac Szabo

Isaac Szabo
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  • Marble Falls, AR

Posted 16 March 2016 - 05:41 PM

Great information and photos Brian. Thanks for sharing.



#8 smbass

smbass
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Posted 24 March 2016 - 01:27 PM

Hatched in exactly 1 week and are feeding well with about 50 fry being fed twice a day frozen rotifers. I plan to try to collect more eggs once things are consistently warm here and I can hatch and immediately move fry to outdoor pond for easier care on my part. For now just stick with this small group of fry. Also getting eggs from tricolors right now but not ready to make much an effort at raising the fry. waiting for a little warmer weather to use the same process on them.


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#9 smbass

smbass
  • Board of Directors

Posted 03 April 2016 - 03:20 PM

I gave these fry to a friend while on vacation last week and will get them back tomorrow, maybe I'll try to get a photo and post it of their current size.

 

In other news the tricolor shiner eggs I set in a separate tank just before leaving hatched while I was gone. Not a whole lot of them but got a few. Probably in a month or two I'll start offering some extra young on the NANFA trading dock to members. Also had a group of rainbow shiners set up with a fake chub mound in a 20 long for a while. I thought they were doing some spawning but wasn't sure. Figured the week of vacation was a good reason to give the adults a break in a larger tank and turn off the power head and see if anything hatched while I was gone. Found probably 75-100 fry in the tank yesterday when I returned. These are surprisingly large fry compared to either or the cyprinella sp. at least twice the size just after hatching, should make the fry a lot easier to feed and raise. They took to crushed flake food for their first feedings last night and this morning...


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#10 smbass

smbass
  • Board of Directors

Posted 10 April 2016 - 09:39 PM

I have about 20 C. whipplei fry left from the first spawn. They have been growing but painfully slowly compared to the rainbow shiner fry that are 10-15 days younger. Cleaned the Steelcolor Spawning tank a couple days ago and set it back up for another spawn. Cleaned all the tiles and pieces of slate off and stacked them back up with varying sized crevices.Turned the heater back on and the males are really getting fired back up. No more eggs yet but should be a matter of days at this point. Here are some new photos that I took the time to clean the glass off and set up some flashes for better shots. Took some patience but I like the results...

Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing1+by+BZ

Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing2+by+BZ

Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing3+by+BZ

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Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing7+by+BZ

Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing8+by+BZ

Cyprinella+whipplei+males+sparing9+by+BZ

Cyprinella+whipplei+spawning+group+by+BZ


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#11 Isaac Szabo

Isaac Szabo
  • NANFA Member
  • Marble Falls, AR

Posted 10 April 2016 - 10:33 PM

Wow, great photos!



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