# Intrested in Breeding RBPs



## fishguy1313 (Feb 19, 2007)

What are the definite things you must have to breed RBPs?

1. Male/Female
2. Clean Water
3. Good diet
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?

Do I need to have a breeding pair seperate from their shoal? Is it just luck that you have a breeding pair? Certain plants? Rock? Gravel? Sorry for all the questions. Very intrested. It is a lot of fun watching all of your P's have little P's.

Thanks guys!


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## dalyhawk (Apr 30, 2007)

-Lots of people mess with their water to simulate the wet and dry seasons... i.e. don't do a water change for a little longer than you would normally do, and fill your tank back up with a little cooler water like it just rained.. Keep doing that. (I usually don't and just let it happen)

-Lots of cover. Give cover and places where they feel comfortable with one another. I use a natural "divider" in the tank. For instance, i put a large fake plant smack dab in the middle of my tank and 1 pair went to the left of it, and the other pair went to the right of the plant. Still access to all parts of the tank, it just gave the fish the impression they were alone. This gives them a sense of security and privacy for them to feel comfortable with one another..

-If people are having trouble breeding, i've heard of techniques where people maticulously set up their tank to promote breeding, i.e. trying to set up the PREMIER breeding ground. Then i've heard of the same people putting a blanket or sheet of some kind to make them feel more comfortable in the dark, like piranhas are.

I dunno, i'm tired... that's all i can think of off the top of my head

Went back and re-read your post, so i'll answer the other questions...

In my experience, i didn't need to remove the pairs from the shoal. Not sure which shoal paired up first, but obviously the other pair didn't feel too uncomfortable with the other pair breeding. So from what i know and have read, you don't need to separate them from your shoal. I can't remember when i introduced my baby red i raised in a separate tank from 1" into the shoal, whether it was after they established themselves as a pair or not... Anyways, he's just as big as them now and still the odd man out. Bet he feels like a loser without a babe









For me, it was PLAIN luck that i got not only 1 breeding pair but 2 pairs. I got my 3 originals from a lfs in town and bought 2 more from another pet store, but unfortunately one of the 2 i bought died shortly after i moved. So i'm not sure which pair comes from which b/c they all look pretty similar to me now. (I could tell you which pairs were breeding, but just not which exact ones came from where, if that makes sense)

Nothing i've read has been concerned at all with plants or gravel/substrate. It all depends on their environment they're in. I use plain white gravel with large fake plants i bought at hobby lobby with a large fake driftwood piece.

If you're truely interested in breeding and happen to get a pair by chance or purchase a pair, be prepared to spend a lot of your spare time messing with the fry tank. It takes a lot of cleaning and feeding. I mean a lot. I'm in college with a 18 hours of classes and i tried 2 batches of fry and gave up due to time constraints. All things said and done, without much maintenance after the first initial push of maintenance, i gave up. However, i managed to get about 15-20 initially live from the fry tank, but 2 made it out sucessfully. I also had 2 live to about an inch in size in my 90 gallon due to all the cover i had. I sold all 4 to a member here that lives close to me, but when he came and picked them up, one out of the big tank got gobbled up, so in all... i got 3 to successfully live with minimal maintenance everyday. If you have time to take care of them and move them to bigger tanks, you can get quite a few to live. (not sure how many, but i imagine quite a lot) StryfeMP can also help you out a lot if interested. He was the one who fed me all my information when i found a batch of eggs in my tank one morning.

Hope this answers some of your questions.


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## fishguy1313 (Feb 19, 2007)

Thanks Dalyhawk. Very informative.

I would like to hear others input/opinions/ideas/thoughts/etc./etc./etc.....


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