Rosy Barb Breeding Guide

How to breed Pethia conchonius: sexing by colour and breeding tubercles, an egg-safe spawning tank, and rearing the several hundred eggs a female scatters.

Overview

Pethia conchonius is a hardy cyprinid from southern Asia, ranging from Afghanistan to Bangladesh in subtropical freshwater that naturally sits around 18-22 °C. It is an egg-scattering free spawner with no parental care.

Sexing

Males are smaller, slimmer and more colourful than females and develop tubercles on the head and snout during the spawning season; their fins also carry black colouration that the females' fins lack. Females are plumper, especially when gravid.

Conditioning

Condition the adult group together until the females appear gravid before moving them to the spawning tank.

Breeding Setup

Use a very dimly lit tank with slightly acidic to neutral water and a temperature towards the upper end of the maintenance range of 16-24 °C. Cover the base with mesh, plastic grass matting, glass marbles or fine-leaved plants such as Taxiphyllum or spawning mops so eggs fall out of reach, and add an air-powered sponge filter or air stone.

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

Spawning usually occurs in the early morning and lasts several hours, producing several hundred eggs scattered among the plants. Spawning typically takes place the morning after a gravid female is introduced.

Egg & Fry Care

The adults will probably eat the eggs given the chance and should be removed once spawning ends. Eggs hatch in 24-48 hours and the young become free-swimming around 24 hours after hatching; some accounts give about six days from spawning to free-swimming. Offer infusoria-grade food for the first few days, then microworm, Artemia nauplii or similar.