# This is a little unexpected.......



## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

I've been attempting to keep some schooling fish with my piranhas and havn't been successful.I bought 7 scissortail rasboras and was keeping them in my 10 gallon quarantine tank before i put them in my main. Sadly after adding them to my main they only lasted 2 days.

Anyway i check my now empty quarantine last night before i went to bed and i have about 200-300 baby scissortails.... This definetly wasn't my plan. I'm down with free fish though so I need some help on baby fish care. They're about a mm long each right now. First thing i did was cover my filter inlet with some filter media to prevent them from getting sucked inside. Any care info i need to know about? What do i feed them?

Thanks for the help.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Yes, put a sponge over your filter intake to keep them out!

As for care, im not personally experienced with them... BUT



> Female Scissortails are slightly rounder when viewed from above. Pairs of fish make spawning runs through thickets of plants and the eggs that are scattered attach themselves to leaves. The parents should then be removed otherwise the eggs will be eaten. The fry will hatch after 28-30 hours but will not be free swimming until 3-5 days at which point feeding should begin, newly hatched brine shrimp and other small live foods are best.


You dont have to use live food, i used Hikari Cichlid gold pellets that i put in a food processor and ground them to fine dust (like mouth sized or smaller for them!) and then you just dip your finger 1/2" in the water (helps the food stick), dip it in the tupperware of pellet dust, and then dip it in the tank again and swirl a little. Every fry i have ever had picked up on it quick, and seemed to like it. As they get bigger, you can just crush a few pellets with your fingers, and grind them up.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

^^^ I have fed baby guppies, goldfish, platties, and cons the same thing. All of them took to it easily, and grew well as far as I could tell.

I run mine through a coffee grinder though


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Sweet thanks guys, they're free floating already so its been 3-5 days, wonder how many died while i wasn't paying attension.....

I've got a big thing of goldfish flakes, blood worms, and some betta food, which would be best?



Plowboy said:


> ^^^ I have fed baby guppies, goldfish, platties, and cons the same thing. All of them took to it easily, and grew well as far as I could tell.
> 
> I run mine through a coffee grinder though


MMMmm nothin like a steamin cup of fresh brewed hikari gold in the mornin to wake u up!


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## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

FretsOnFire00 said:


> Sweet thanks guys, they're free floating already so its been 3-5 days, wonder how many died while i wasn't paying attension.....
> 
> I've got a big thing of goldfish flakes, blood worms, and some betta food, which would be best?


I'd mix all 3 together and grind them up.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

are you planning on putting those fish with your piranahas,? i would just put them in there and let them fend for themselves cause i would bet that they wont last anyway in the piranaha tank


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Ground up food worked great watched them eat, how many times should i feed a day?


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2009)

FretsOnFire00 said:


> Ground up food worked great watched them eat, how many times should i feed a day?


At least twice, three would be better. With fry comes frequent water changes too, at least every other day, daily is best though.


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

How do i change the water without sucking out half of them?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

FretsOnFire00 said:


> How do i change the water without sucking out half of them?


Put a sponge over your hose, or just suck from the top of the tank where they arent swimming. I find that once you start the siphon, you can use your finger over either end to slow the suction down and just watch the end of the hose for fry.

The problem with water changes and fry is ANY slight difference in temp, hardness, PH etc will kill them. So, i would typically just run a good sized HOB filter with a sponge on the intake. And keep the same weekly routine with water changes, using water from the parent tank to replace what i took out.

Because you dont have a "parent tank" that the fry came from, you will prob have to let buckets of water sit overnight, with a air stone and heater or something to get it in check. And the main reason for these water changes, is the heavy feeding schedule fry require.

On some of my convict batches, i would never do water changes and had minimal losses... its the less hearty and more sensitive species of fish that require daily water changes and fresh hatched food.


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Well like i said earlier these are scissortail rasboras and the are dam hard to kill. Considering im nto really breeding them i think ill keep to my 25% a week. I'm running a 20 gal HOB right now that ill keep clean and that should be enough. Honestly if i lost them all i wouldn't be upset, i'm actually kinda stressed about what im gonna do with 100+ scissortails... Piranha food?? I've just been tellin my friend to come and take them and i've got a few people interested.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

FretsOnFire00 said:


> Well like i said earlier these are scissortail rasboras and the are dam hard to kill. Considering im nto really breeding them i think ill keep to my 25% a week. I'm running a 20 gal HOB right now that ill keep clean and that should be enough. Honestly if i lost them all i wouldn't be upset, i'm actually kinda stressed about what im gonna do with 100+ scissortails... Piranha food?? I've just been tellin my friend to come and take them and i've got a few people interested.


Uh... keep breeding them and adding them 100 at a time to your P tank. I would imagine you should be able to keep a small group in there between "top offs" with new spawns.

Get a couple 10 gals from walmart (like 9$ each) and some sponge filters to setup a breeding station.... cheap and easy


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

exactly how to i "keep breeding" them? Jus tleave 6 in the 10 gal at a time and hope for the best?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

FretsOnFire00 said:


> exactly how to i "keep breeding" them? Jus tleave 6 in the 10 gal at a time and hope for the best?


like i said earlier



> Female Scissortails are slightly rounder when viewed from above. Pairs of fish make spawning runs through thickets of plants and the eggs that are scattered attach themselves to leaves. The parents should then be removed otherwise the eggs will be eaten. The fry will hatch after 28-30 hours but will not be free swimming until 3-5 days at which point feeding should begin, newly hatched brine shrimp and other small live foods are best.


So, you could leave 10 or something in the 10 gal and grow them out. When you can distinguish male female pairs, you could separate them. into a single pair as your main breeders, or keep several pairs in 10 gal tanks... its up to you.



> Rasboras are not easy to breed, but if you are patient and give them plenty of attention you can expect to be rewarded. Sexing them is fairly easy - females are larger and more full-bodied than males, and the markings on males tend to be more angular. If you watch your shoal of rasboras carefully you will soon identify couples forming within it. Rather than stress them when they are just about to spawn, you should move a suitable couple into a separate spawning tank as soon as they start to become physical with each other (close swimming, chasing and nudging in the belly). The spawning tank should be heavily planted with a gravel substrate, providing plenty of places for sticky eggs to attach. Spawning will begin first thing in the morning and you should remove the parent fish immediately afterwards, as they will eat their own eggs.
> 
> Once the adult fish have been removed, their eggs should be kept in the dark to protect them from fungus. Rasbora fry can be difficult to rear. They will accept most commercial fry food preparations but should not be given infusoria, which can damage them. With luck, you can expect to raise about ten fry to maturity from each clutch of two hundred eggs.
> 
> Energetic and sociable as they are, rasboras can be great fun to keep. They're remarkably easy-going and simple to look after, and if you treat them well you'll be richly rewarded.


So maybe it would be better to get a pair of convicts? they are impossible to keep from breeding....

heres more reading: clicky


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks for all the help.
Well i've kinda got a mental dilema goin, my original plan was to breed cherry shrimp to put into my P tank to keep it clean. I don't really have room for another 10gal so this is it. SHoudl i eep breeding the rasboras or would shrimp be better?


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

I would stick with what's working, or try both. I would guess the rasboras would pick off the shrimp fry though.

Rasboras contain thiaminase. Worry about that if you want too.


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Plowboy said:


> I would stick with what's working, or try both. I would guess the rasboras would pick off the shrimp fry though.
> 
> Rasboras contain thiaminase. Worry about that if you want too.


Did a little research into that, is that really a worry for my piranhas? If it is then i have to get rid of these guys, I don't want them in my main tank.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

As long as its just a treat, I don't think it will matter at all, but that's just my opinion/guess. Honestly a lot of things contain thiaminase, and it's pretty much unavoidable. It's best to keep the intake of it to a minimum though, but i won't hold a couple of feeders containing thiaminase against you. At the same time, many people will argue against me, and that's fine. It's a viable argument, and if you want to be on the safe side, they would be right on not feeding this type of fish because of the thiaminase content.

As I said earlier, worry about the thiaminase if you want to. Just don't let feeding rasboras become more than a treat/dither fish.


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## FretsOnFire00 (Sep 10, 2009)

Mostly i'm hoping to keep these as a schooling fish in my main tank. The intended idea wasn't for them to be food. Of course i am a piranha keeper so most will be eaten but like i said they'll be fed their standard food and these guys will be just for looks to fill the empty space.


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