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hey everyone, new to the forum, thought i'd say hi and just mention what i noticed in my tank this morning...

my rummynoses breed regularly (every 3-4 days) and as i was watching the usual egg-laying, egg-eating frenzy, i noticed half my school of diamonds herding a female rummy up toward the surface, butting her sides and belly like the rummy boys do, and being rewarded with a nice batch of fresh eggs to eat!! they've always eaten falling eggs, but i've never seen them be so proactive in their acquisition of them - quite amazing to see!

makes you wonder what else they get up to while we're out of the house...

hope to be able to learn more on this forum,

justin

Mail that one to Practical Fishkeeping for their "Intelligent Fishes" series!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

ya that it pretty ittlegent have you ever tried to raise any of your rummy tetras! eggs????

Shows that fish aren't stupid. They probably observed the Rummy's for so long that they learned how to get the eggs to come out and which ones carry eggs. Very neat that they would learn like this. I would give anything for my Rummy's to breed.

Tetra Fan, Rummies are considered a problem fish, but are mot impossible.

Step 1 : condition breeders heavily with live food such as Daphnia, Brine Shrimp and Bloodworm.

Step 2 : make sure that the breeding aquarium is sterilised beforehand, as Rummy eggs seem sensitive to bacterial attack.

Step 3 : Use soft, slightly acidic water, with a hint of blackwater tonic/peat extract added.

Step 4 : Rummies like it warm when breeding, usually around 82F. If that fails, they can go as high as 84F without too much trouble.

Step 5 : acclimatise the breeders carefully. Rummies are e to transport shock, and the less disturbance they experience, the greater your chances of success.

Step 6 : it might be advisable to keep the aquarium in a shady and secluded spot because Rummies like peace and quiet when spawning. They might not need the aquarium darkening like Cardinals or Neons, but it might be useful to give it a try just in case.

Step 7 : Rummy fry are TINY. They NEED infusoria for a prolonged period of time, because their growth rate is slow. This is why some Singapore breeders 'hot house' them at a whopping 40C and bubble pure oxygen into the tanks to hasten their growth. You'll need to set up several infusoria cultures in advance before you start, arrange them to produce infusoria in rotation, and be prepared to feed the fry infusoria and the tiniest, microscopic sized baby flake particles for - wait for it - up to TWELVE WEEKS. Sometimes they take that long to grow to the point where they can take newly hatched Brine Shrimp!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Ah thank you Calilasseia. I might try this, but have the fry survive on there own and if they get eaten, o well Infusoria...don't you make that by putting lettuce in water? My Severum would have a lot of tasty treats if they spawned and if some fry made it, then i would have more for my school Might not try it now, maybe sometime when i feel i want to try breeding tetras again. First attempt was a major failure.

hey fish 1 -

never tried to raise the eggs - would have to keep them in their own tank for that, and i'm afraid my partner would kill me if i introduced another aquarium into our little flat!! there's no chance of them surviving in a community tank.

the rummies lived with discus for over a year, so the conditions were just as Calilasseia said - warmer than usual, soft, humic, lots of varied foods. they seem to have just kept on with the idea, even though now the discus are gone, the temp is lower, and there's a whole stack of other tetras now. but all the other parameters are the same.

when they started breeding i mused on the idea of becoming australia's premier rummy breeder, but started looking up info and realised it would be a long and intense procedure

who knows, maybe when we buy a bigger place i'll give it a go - they are such beautiful fish!

justin

ok your water must be pretty good for them to breed congrats!