# Egg Scatterers in the Planted Tank



## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Russ dropped by this morning to pick up some Diatomecious Earth powder to combat his Pea Soup problem and we were graced by witnessing my Rosy Barbs spawning in my upstairs 75G tank in plain sight! Two males were competing for one female while 3 other females hid in the dense aqua-foliage. 

Do to the method that I use to spawn egg scatterers in a 5.5G, which mostly meets my work schedule, I have never witnessed the actual egg laying before. 

Just a few minutes ago, I flipped the light switch on and was staring at everything in the tank when something suddenly caught my eye. It was a baby Rosy Barb. There's no way it was a Neon Tetra, because the GH was well above 4 and the KH was probably around 5. Plant mass is medium-heavy. It could only have been a Rosy Barb fry. Since the fry are free swimming, there is no way that they could have been born this morning. It would have to have been born at least a week ago. 

I've had many a live bearers spawn in my bigger planted tanks with great success, but not an egg scatterer. More recently Albino Ancistrus have been a breeding success as well in a different hi-tech, 75G planted tank. 

A few minutes after I noticed the first one, I noticed a second fry, so there's probably more in there hiding. I'm ready to remove the RB parents to put some Glowlight, Neon, & Lemon Tetra juvies in there that I have tank spawned and raised which are still small. I have a 2.5G of 1.5 month old Rosy Barbs that I have tank spawned and raised as well that I'm about ready to dump into this same tank. I just need to pull the parents out first for safety reasons. 

Anyway, the planted tank is one of the better places to for your egg scattering fish to lay their eggs and raise the fry, because of all of the microscopic do-dads for them to eat as first foods and all of the hiding places that the plants create. 

Other predators in the tank will make a difference, but as long as they are small and/or in small numbers along with the separating of the parents from the eggs, there can be some level of success achieved. 

I hope the best of luck to the Apisto owners in the group who have ordered fish recently and have had pairings (Damon).

This is a pretty exciting development for me in one of my planted tanks, so I had to share it with the group.


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## Chris S (Feb 27, 2006)

Awesome! The 1st egg scatterrers that i have kept that have bred where rosy barbs. I had only one pair and they spawned every morning like clockwork last spring. They where in a 40 gallon community with alot of Tanganyika cichlids, so, needless to say i saw no fry from them in there. Once they got placed into a 10 gallon loaded with java moss, 2 fry survived. haha. 2 is better than none.I still have their young in a 20 gallon but i brought the parnest to auction and got retail for them. Don't they have super colouration when they are in breeding condition?


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## RTR (Oct 28, 2005)

My Cherry Barbs breed and some fry survive routinely in my planted tanks. My Dwarf Neon Rainbows do the same to the extent that I have a heavily plant tank downstream of their home just to improve fry survival and genetate trade goods.


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