# breeding barilius bakeri *breeding journal*



## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

well, here it goes. my first tank journal. normally i don't do these kind of things, but for this particular situation i would like to think it is necessary for the greater good of the species!

so a quick intro...

barilius are a small minnow like fish that inhabit most waterways in India. they are also known as hillstream trout.

a few years back i stumbled apon images of_ barilius _ on the internet. i don't remember exactly where i found them - or how.but as soon as i did, i really wanted some! the problem?

nobody had heard of them. the internet brought up few sites on caring for them and a few videos on youtube - it seemed they were non existent in the trade. after a lot of emailing and asking around.. i didn't think i would come across these fish. Luckily our good friends at canadian aquatics were doing a Indian order - and there supplier had them on the list and Patrick ordered them in for me. a week or so later i had my fish. of the 50 that were ordered, only 13 made it. i happily took them all.

so what are the fish like?

well, if you took a Coho salmon, and painted it with pastels... you would get a barilius. hands down the fastest fish i have ever owned. being a avid fisherman i have always looked for a fish that resembles a salmon. the barilius i got are just that. there personality and the way they swim is just like a salmon. they attack anything on the surface that moves... there endless appetite has caused them to grow dramatically!

so i asked myself... why are these not more popular? there beautifully colored, hardy... and for us B.C'ers, the perfect salmon substitute. with nobody shipping them (i assume because of D.O.A rates) and nobody having them to breed.... im going to put a profound effort into breeding these fish. i have bred many fish before, but breeding these guys will be a guessing game. with no books, only assumtions and some small leads, i will try many different methods to get these fish to spawn, and update this thread accordingly. and hopefully help other people who want to breed this fish.

heres a briefing on them: Barilius sp. '2' | Features | Practical Fishkeeping

my fish are identical to the ones in the picture. - the photos a bit touched up, but its the only shot on the net that has a barilius with colored dorsal and anal fins. i will upload some pictures of the tank and fish tomorrow and maybe a video as well as a detailed write up on the "plan" to breed them. heres the stats of the tank right now.
90 gallon tank

13 barilius - ranging from 2-4 inches.
9 red line torpedo barbs
a colony of marbled crayfish

ph is running high at 8.1 (well water is naturally high ph) will get that down to the 6. range after i move the other fish out.

Rena xp3 for filtration, and a big old powerhead for current.

till then questions, comments, conserns and advice?

cheers. please, do bug me to put pictures up! by any means!


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Nice looking fish!
Got any pics?


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

This sounds really interesting. I will be watching for updates... and the photos of course


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

well its been a busy week and i have not managed to get the fish moved out that i wanted too. tomorrow is the day i will be moving all the other fish. will get some (good!) pictures up by saturday evening.

anyways, my plan for breeding is going as follows.

being a low PH fish, i plan to use rainwater and R/O to get the desired Ph. of the 6-7 range. 

since they are native to many small creeks all over india, i assume they go through a pretty drastic wet/dry season. during the dry they go through low water level, higher temperature, clear water and good amount of food. in the wet season, faster, o2 rich colder water with a tad less.the most fish like to spawn pre/after the dry season. so i plan to try to replicate these conditions. apparently these fish actually go through a transition similar to salmon as well - the males get a red belly and white spots on there nose. so i will keep my eye out for that. 

im going to start with a dry season to wet season transition over a 6 week period.
my plan is 
-to increase feeding to 3 times a day; one feeding of pellets, one feeding of blood worms or krill, and one feeding of live insects ; whatever i can catch ( i have many local ponds, and i have some mosquito buckets out)
-lower the water level to half; use bio sponge for filtration. do water changes only with heated water, probably twice a week to keep the quality up.

try that for 3 weeks and see if i notice a behavioral or physical change... 

after the three weeks, if nothing is happening, bring the water level up over two days; lower the tank temperature with colder water and keep at room temperature for two weeks with a stronger current, if nothing for a couple weeks, i will repeat the "warm season" for a longer period.

my guess is that there spawning is similar to danios,so there eggs will be non adhesive, and there parents will eat the eggs if they can get to them. i have large river gravel (about the size of golf balls) as the primarly substrate, so a lot of eggs should be safe. i will provide some breeding material -who knows what they will like to spawn on. lastly if i have a good size yield of eggs, i will remove the parents...but we will get to that hopefully later!

if you have questions, suggestions, comments, let me know. it would be much appreciated!


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## thefishwife (Apr 21, 2010)

Sounds like a very interesting project! You'll be kept busy. Looking fwd to seeing your pics. Going to the link you provided, they are beautiful looking fish.


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

well. after awhile of procrastinating... i managed to keep up to what i said i was doing - minus the updates. fish have been fed a high quality live food and pellets, as well as a increase in temperature. result?

the two largest fish have begun to change color! the males ( i assume) belly's are turning red and there fins a even darker orange- red. they are fighting non stop. chasing like chiclids really. my other tank srung a leak and i had to move the other fish back in... but low and behold... progress!

honestly the whole uploading picture thing i cant figure out through picassa.... so heres a link. only three pictures, there pretty bad. very hard fish to photograph. but it gets the point across.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105283295177039060893/BariliusBreedingProjectMarch24th?authuser=0&feat=e%20mbedwebsite%22%3Ebarilius%20breeding%20project:%20march%2024th


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

VERY cool! I look forward to updates on this as well.

Here is a cleaned-up link to your photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/105283295177039060893/BariliusBreedingProjectMarch24th?authuser=0&feat=e mbedwebsite">barilius breeding project: march 24th


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

thanks for the link! will add it above. im going to bring home some more live food today from the local pond. the males (who are fighting constantly) seem uninterested in eating. i assume that's normal spawning behavior.

did a ph test. despite rain water, my ph is still unnaturally high - 8.0 on the dot. so im giving up on trying to drop it... as its working regardless.

now the question is - should i remove one of the males? or let them work it out?


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## Sweetpea (Nov 7, 2011)

Interesting project. Good luck!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

If you're trying to breed them, shouldn't you take out the other tankmates so that nothing eats the eggs/fry?

Cool project and looking forward to more updates & PICS!!!:bigsmile:


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> If you're trying to breed them, shouldn't you take out the other tankmates so that nothing eats the eggs/fry?
> 
> Cool project and looking forward to more updates & PICS!!!:bigsmile:


yea that was the plan initially. the tank was leaking so i had to move the fish and a few others over. i have a spare 45 im putting everybody in tommorow


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

moved all existing fish out but the barillius, temperature is stable at 80F... what a difference in behavior. judging from the colors and sparing of the group i have 3 maybe 4 females. im guessing this because 3-4 fish don't have a colored anal fin, and seem fatter (i hope with eggs) and the males if they are not sparing are chasing the females, but they don't seem interested. the females are all half the size of the alpha male, so they are looking pretty stressed. 

anybody who has experience with danio breeding now is the time to speak up. should i remove the females for a couple weeks to condition? or should i just wait this all out. 

thanks in advance


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