Raising 112 souls (and counting)

By the time they have reached about 5cm they should be good to go. Unfortunately all these are spoken for. Will defnitly be keeping some of them for further breeding.

What I have learned so far is that the first 2 weeks is critical. Best food you can give them. Live foods are better. If you have green water let them live in it. Food 24/7. Keep water as clean as possible. Hope that helps

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Really awesome @pierreschoonraad

Its amazing, they have actually grown a lot faster than you would think considering how tinny they were

 

Day 87. Starting to finaly see Kutubu markings showing on the fry. Can't believe that it is almost 3 months into this mission. Feels much longer.



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That is awesome stuff, cant wait to get a batch going. How often do you feed the fry? And how often do u do water changes?

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Thanks.

Feeding is done 3 times per day. 6am, 6pm and again at 8pm. Over weekends the feeding is upped to 4 time, more evenly spaced through the day. Doing wc 20% on sunday and wednesdays.

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They are looking amazing @pierreschoonraad ... now they look like rainbows!!

 

Thanks @MariaS. They are extremly slow going but defnitly worth it in the end.

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Time flies when you having fun ... but man those results look so worth the effort and care.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks @f-fish. Defnitly worth it in the end.

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Wow really stunning Pierre, that is lots of money in the tank
it is a pity they are so expensive :-(

 

Dont do it for the money or it becomes a chore. Do it for the love of doing it.

 

That is very true!!

 

Very true guys. At the moment I'm doing this for the novelty of it. Only other fry I ever raised was guppies and peppered cories. And then of cause I wan't more people exposed to rainbows

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Day 96. Moved 27 fry, lost another 2 in the past few weeks, to their new 2ft growout tank.

Actually planned to use this tank for spawning rainbows but in hindsight it won't work as the tank has been drilled on the back pannel, which is for a diy wet/dry sump behind the tank. All fry whould have been sucked out this way. Future breeding will be done in a 1.5ft. Adults removed after spawning and eggs left in tank. Believe that having the eggs and fry in the same tank and conditions willl greatly increase the fry quantities.

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@pierreschoonraad do you think a 1,5 foot will be big enough for spawning?
are you putting 1 pair in or 2females to 1 male.

@hviviers75 you are right about the price of rainbows, for such an easy fish to breed, I dont understand why the prices are so crazy.

I know they take long to show their true potential, but at least allow us to buy them young at a fair price and for those that want mature, full color rainbows pay the price...

 

@Ammar I'm only using 1 male and 1 female to spawn. Ideal whould be to put them into a 2ft but the 1.5ft should be ok for the week that I have them in there.

I believe that the biggest reason for the high price on rainbows is due to their slow growth rate. If my calculations is anything to go by they will need to be at least 6 months old to reach selling size. They are only 3cm at the moment, at just over 3 months. Lfs won't take the risk of importing them at this size as it is just a silver fish, at the moment, and they will have to feed them and keep them until they start to color up.

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I'm sure that is the reason yes, although i did buy mine at that size, maybe 4cms, they were being sold as boesemani, but ended up with half kutubu half boesmani, which im not complaining about..
and they were 65 bux at that size.. the red rainbow adults I got were R180.

quick question.. did you get spawning on your first attempt with your pair?

 

Spawning egg scatters is easy. Just put a pair in a tank with moss for a few days. Feed live food. Once the pair has been removed fry will appear within a week later. Its the raising of the fry that is the challenging part.

 

The biggest spawning challenges are to a) identify a pair and b) stop them from eating the eggs.

 

First time luck. Although this male wants to spawn on wc days when I open the curtains.

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