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I have a 55g with 2 kissing gouramis, one GAE, 10 cories, and 7 harlequin rasboras. Either 3 of my rasboras are the only obese fish in the tank, or they are heavily gravid. So now what do I do with them?

They've been eating well, I admit. (I have been crushing the little snails in an effort to get rid of them, and the rasboras seem to enjoy the crushed snails as a treat.) The color of the whole school has deepened to a lovely dark cherry, still with silvery undersides.

Should I put the fat ones in a breeding box and see what happens? Or does anyone have any other suggestions? I don't want the eggs to scatter in the tank, as the cories would find this to be a special treat, I'm sure.

Nope - don't bother putting them in a breeding box. They don't quite work like guppies or mollies

Those are very likely females as they can get more plump when filled with eggs. Obviously, they like your tank and are getting good food

Rasboras will lay eggs, but a little differently than other fish. The male and female will dance a bit, then the female will invert upside down under a broad leaf, if you have a real or fake plant with such broad leaves. Then, the male wraps his tail over the top of her and squeezes her plump belly until some eggs fall out. They are suppose to stick to the bottom of a leaf, but my experience has been that they usually fall down, right into the mouth of another rasbora waiting for a snack .

If you want to breed, you need to move two of the females to a separate tank with a male. If you are interested, we can provide you with more info.

thanks forthe help - this is my first school of rasboras; hope i'm doing everything right by them. -sigh- guess i need to go out and buy some silk amazon swords for my hospital tank

and yes! i'd love some more info - if for no other reason than future reference. should have majored in biology, i guess. but noooooo, had to get a liberal arts degree.....

Harlquins are among my favorites. They breed regularly in my tank, but the eggs never develop. At least they are happy . Here is more on breeding. Our profile section is lacking the breeding info - hmmmm, I may need to do a write up for that

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/cyprinids2/p/harlequin.htm

Their mating ritual is one of the most amazing things I've seen. It is so graceful. The first time I saw it I had stopped home for lunch and went in the basement to sit in front of my tank for 10 minutes. That's when I witnessed it. It was truly amazing. I've since seen it many times. I don't care to breed them because I know they are siblings and would prefer to breed non-relatives to make a stronger line. Serious breeders will seek out good specimens that are not related, imho.

Diane