by Dave McGrew
04-15-2022
After five months, a small group of Southern Redbelly Dace I've kept in a 20 gal.-long with few darters has moved from winter to spring. Males have colored up spectacularly. Here are several recent photos of mine...
And here is my breeding set up:
A Rock Tray is placed right under the circular fan / powerhead flow (small Hydor) and somewhat pressed down into the substrate.
The Dace were spawning in the tray this morning (04-15-2022). Here is an illustrative video of their behavior (probably trying to eat eggs they'd spawned fallen down into the stones)...
Here is a (rather boring) video showing the deliberate process of me discovering the first batch of eggs...
And here's a very short video of the "gleanings" from this first pull...
I pull the eggs, and place them in a DIY floating / flow-through hatch tray, then replace the shoes tray for more spawning...
Here is a video explaining this all..
Later in the day (5:30 pm) I pulled the tray again... WOAH! BIG HAUL OF EGGS!
On 04-19-2022, the first wigglers were starting to become visibleā¦
04-20-2022 Wow! A lot more wigglers visible...
Eventually, there arose a problem with fry getting through the coarse foam in the flow-through. I saw this happening...
Decided to move the fry bin...
And then settle fry into a new 10 gal growout...
Fry really began to rise by 04-28-2022...
They were fed on vinegar eels and New Life Spectrum "Grow" Fry powder for a week or so until they could eat newly hatched baby brine shrimp.
Skip ahead to May 18, 2022...
Finally crossing the one month threshold, here is a look at these SRBD fry on May 29, 2022...
And here, May 31, 2022, catching loads of fry (I cannot count . . . maybe 200+) to ship out to a NANF wholesaler...
Here are the measured Water Parameters and Tank Specifics:
Spawning Tank
Size: 20 gal. long
Substrate: White inert sand-like fine stone
Hardscape: Creek Rocks, Piece of Moping wood
Plants: Pothos, algae, Java Moss, Water Wisteria, Money Wort
Filtration: Sponge Filters (2x)
Spawning Media: small multi-colored mandscaping rocks piled 2-inches deep in small glass bread-baking pan for SRBDs adults to spawn over top of
AVG Temp: 70-78 F (no heater, basement temp. increasing with season)
pH: 6.8-7.0
KH: Unreadably low (titration test drops started yellow)
NH3 (Ammonia): 0 ppm.
NO2- (Nitrite): 0-0.25 ppm
NO3- (Nitrate): 80 ppm+
Water Change Schedule: Infrequent -- ca. once every three weeks
Grow-Out Tank
Size: 10 gal.
Substrate: black generic Aquarium gravel (pea gravel)
Hardscape: Nothing
Plants: Assortment including Anacharis, Java Fern, Moneywort, Java Moss, etc.
Filtration: Two Small Sponge Filters
AVG Temp: 70-78 F (no heater / basement warming with season)
pH: 6.2-6.4
KH: Unreadably low (titration drops started yellow)
NH3 (Ammonia) / NH4+ (Ammonium): 0.75 (Ammonium, given the pH)
NO2- (Nitrite): 0 ppm
NO3- (Nitrate): 80+ ppm
Water Change Schedule: never changed
Here is a photo showing water parameters -- grow-out tank on the left, breeding tank on the right:
MISC. NOTES
The challenge with spawning many NANF is awaiting the arrival of Spring. As if on cue, these Southern Redbelly Dace transitioned from their drab winter colors to a brilliant display once (a) temperatures began to rise into the 70s, (b) photo period was lengthened to simulate spring, (c) water changes triggered spawning.
As with yarn mops for mop spawning species, adding rinsed-out stones acts like a stimulant. These fish tend to spawn actively at first light once the breeding season sets in.
They spawn over stones, fertilized eggs fall to the bottom of the tray amongst the landscaping stones (ca. 1-inch in diameter) beneath their reach, and should be retrieved same day as spawning.
Eggs can be moved to a protected hatching container with air and anti-fungal treatment. I used a float-in / flow-through fry container.
After a few days, fry become "scooters" moving around the bottom, especially when a light is shown on them. Another week, and they begin to rise. The fry are extremely small / thin, are attracted to any flow, and will pass through any available outflow regions in their container.
Fry were fed vinegar eels and New Life Spectrum GROW fry powder starter for a week or more. Eventually they progressed to freshly hatched baby brine shrimp. Once they have been on BBS a week or two, finely crushed flakes were added. Bug Bites Flakes -- Color Enhancing, and Spirulina worked well. Also Xtreme Krill Flakes.
As evident from their measured parameters, these NANF are not as delicate or demanding of parameters as some tropical species. Adults were fed a selection of frozen foods to bring them into spawning condition. Several young Rainbow Darters and a random Swamp Darter also share room in the spawning tank without any conflicts.
Very impressive!