Spawning Report: Notropis Chrosomus (Rainbow Shiners)

by Dave McGrew

These U. S. Natives have become a real passion of mine. I acquired a batch of ca. 30x from Blong Yang (White Cloud Dynasty) at the end of the year, 2020. He breeds them for color, using outdoor tubs in N. Carolina.

Mine finally began spawning on 07.28.2021...

They're egg scatters, spawning over stones in a glass dish. They like a bit of flow, and some direct sunlight all help to trigger them. The females lead the males, turning reddish-hue. The males follow suit, getting all "fired up." The goal is to get enough eggs dropped in the tray to then pull it and move the eggs to a more carefully prepared hatching environment.

I breed them in a 29 gal. tall. I place a sterilite container with a sponge filter inside of the cabinet. This is where I move the eggs to for hatching. I call it my "java box."

Here's my August 5, 2021 discovery of some hatched fry, and my moving it in...

Here's a video of me feeding vinegar eels to the fry. I'm also trying to count the fry for BAP...

The process from here was one of just slow and steady daily feedings of vinegar eels, then brine shrimp, sera micron, and eventually crushed flake foods. Fry were moved up to a breeding net eventually.

I'll mention that it's kind of hard to express how staggeringly beautiful the adult Rainbow Shiners are in spawning colors. Here's three photos of mine spawning that don't even do them justice...

When they drop their eggs into the glass tray, you can actually see the eggs. They look like this...

The fry were counted and moved to a breeder net on August 25, 2021...

From subsequent spawns, more than 75x fry total were spawned and raised up. Here is another hatching of eggs (Sept. 5, 2021), showing lively scooters in methylene blue...

Here's a video once all fry had been moved to a 20 gal long grow-out tank together, taken Oct. 13, 2021...

This accounts for several spawns between July and August, and a successful passage of time into October. I sold 60x fry, gave away ca. 12x to PVAS Club member, and still have ca. 17x fry. They are without a doubt my absolute favorite cold water fish.

Here's a close look at two of my females full of eggs...

I can help answer any questions that folks have. These are such easy fish to keep. Very undemanding. Quite peaceful. And utterly beautiful. No photos do them justice.