I am frequently asked about my breeding techniques for this fish. My fishes' bloodline has been rarely crossed with anyone else's. In the twenty-five years I have been breeding this fish, I have only added new blood on three occasions. In every case, the new blood came from prize-winning fish purchased at the AKA conventions.

For spawning I use large sunken mops made of brown or green dacron (homemade). My water contains a teaspoon of pure salt (sodium chloride, no additives) per gallon and has a natural hardness of approximately 50 ppm. I find that good egg production is only accomplished after the fish are about a year of age and the water has a pH of 6.0 - 6.8. A typical setup is a securely covered five or ten gallon tank containing the mop and an uncovered, half-filled inside box filter containing only coarse sand or gravel. I usually breed pairs or trios. I feed almost exclusively frozen brine shrimp. The water is rarely changed (25 - 50% every month or so). If the tank gets dirty I usually use my diatome filter to clear the water. The breeders are fed daily and the eggs are harvested several times a week.

The eggs are placed in a hard plastic (polystyrene) tray containing the same water as the breeders. Note that this water is used over and over with the occasional addition of breeders' tank water to make up for evaporation. A few days before introducing the first eggs, I add a few drops of a dilute Acriflavin solution which imparts a pale green color to the water. The tray has a cover and is painted black on the exterior to eliminate light. All eggs collected for perhaps five days are placed together in the same tray. Any eggs which turn white up to three days after collecting are removed and discarded. The eggs usually are fully embryonated in one month at 70°F. I place the eggs in a small screw cap test tube (15 ml) filled to the top with new (aged) water and seal it. Since the eggs naturally respirate, the increase in carbon dioxide in the water will cause them to hatch. The test tube is placed into a one gallon tank containing one inch of the same new (aged) water to avoid shock to the newly hatched fry, caused by temperature or water chemistry differences when the fry are released.

The eggs usually hatch within ½ to 1 hour (don't forget about them….they will suffocate)! If the eggs are well-developed and still don't hatch by this technique, I add a touch of microworm culture to the test tube water. This usually results in a full hatch. A small amount of java moss is added to the tank for the fry's protection. The fry are fed live baby brine shrimp beginning the day after hatching. The tank is gradually filled with new (aged) water over a period of about one week.

Tanks and good luck!

Bob Schwiegerath