Although rosy barbs have traditionally been a less commonly kept species within the fish keeping hobby, they have seen a steady increase in their popularity over the last couple of months.
Unlike some of the other species of barb that are independent, rosy barbs are a shoaling fish with many people opting for rosy barbs due to being able to watch the school swim in formation in their tanks when viewing them.
With the popularity of rosy barbs increasing right now, more and more people are looking to breed their rosy barbs to help meet the increased demand.
Due to this, we have decided to publish this article going over how you are able to rise your rosy barb fry to improve the survival rates of your rosy barb fry to maximise your yields.
Rosy barb survival rates can be close to zero in some tank setups but if you implement our tips and tricks below, you can usually expect the survival rates to spike above 75% consistently.
This can drastically improve your rosy barb breeding operation and help you make sure that you get the most fry possible in your tank direct from hatching while also making sure the survival rate also sky rockets!
Use A Breeding Tank If Possible!
If you have the space to set up a separate breeding tank for your rosy barbs, this is always going to be the best option as it will help to increase rosy barb fry survival rates.
This is due to a couple of reasons with the biggest being that rosy barb fry are able to hide much easier in a breeding tank that is setup specifically for fry survival.
Most people will look to remove the parents of the rosy barb fry as soon as the eggs are fertile to remove all predators from the tank.
Theres no need to get an expensive tank for this either as a cheap 10 gallon tank will usually get the job done for the majority of people making it an excellent options.
An old aquarium tank that you no longer use can also suffice as a rosy barb fry breeding tank if you do not have the money to buy or do not have the space to setup an additional aquarium in your home.
If You Can’t Use A Breeding Tank, Use A Breeding Box!
A decent breeding box is going to be the next best thing if you can not use a breeding tank for your rosy barbs. This is a clear plastic box that you can place in your rosy barb aquarium that has small slits or holes cut into the sides.
You will then want to put some plant life inside of the breeding box as rosy barb fry will then be able to hide from their parents and any other potential predators inside of the rosy barb aquarium.
Although this offers minimal practical benefit due to the breeding box offering protection, the rosy barb fry don’t know this so the plants offer a psychological benefit to reduce stress and anxiety in the fry.
A breeding box should only ever be used for rosy barb fry until they are between four and six weeks old.
After that they will usually be too large for the breeding box and have to be placed back into the community tank with the other fix.
In some cases, they can still be small enough to become a quick and easy meal for a fish so a separate breeding tank will usually be the better option in most cases.
Offer Plenty Of Places To Hide In A Community Tank!
If you are not able to setup a breeding tank and have to place rosy barb fry into the community tank, there are still plenty of things that you can to do help improve rosy barb fry survival rates. This includes adding more places for rosy barb fry to hide along with making sure that you feed them often so they can get the food that they need to grow.
One of the best things that you can do is add more plants into the rosy barb aquarium but other great options include cholla wood, fish fry hides, and breeding grass.
This will help rosy barb fry feel more secure and offer them plenty of places to hide when they feel threatened. Rosy barb fry are very small and vulnerable when they first hatch so offering them plenty of places can be a quick and easy win to increase survival rates.
Still, in any community tank that is close to maximum stocking, you will usually be expecting less than 50% of the fry, often less than 25% to actually survive even if you do offer these hiding places due to so many of the fry being eaten.
Offer Your Rosy Barb Fry A Suitable Food Source!
One of the most important things that you can do to help rosy barb fry survive is to offer them a good food source.
This is because rosy barb fry are extremely small when they first hatch and need to be able to eat as much food as possible to help them grow but their tiny jaws prevent them from eating most types of food.
In our opinion, microworms or fish fry starter food are the best options for rosy barb fry until they are around one week old, sometimes two weeks old.
After that, you can offer them other foods such as crushed upmysis shrimp before moving them onto daphnia and bloodworm when they are larger before finally letting them eat the normal food you feed your adult rosy barbs.
Some people can just crush the normal fish food flakes that they feed their adult rosy barbs up in their hands to make the flakes small enough for their rosy barb fry to eat but this is not always efficient.
You will often find that you will still not be able to get the flakes small enough for your rosy barb fry to actually eat.
Select Bright Male Rosy Bars And Fat Female Rosy Barbs For Breeding!
If you want to have the best possible chance of rosy barb fry survival, it is important that you select the right rosy barbs for breeding.
This means choosing bright males that have long fins and fat females with big bellies since this can help increase the number of fertilized eggs produced.
This works due to the brighter male rosy barbs having a higher chance to trigger the female rosy barbs to spawn all of their eggs.
A fatter female rosy barb usually contains more eggs too give the male more work to do for the fertilization process that in turn can produce the maximum amount of fry once the eggs hatch.
If you don’t have any particularly bright males or fat females then there is no need to worry, you can still breed the normal rosy barbs but the fertilized egg count can be much lower at the end of the breeding process.
Remove The Female Rosy Barbs As Soon As They Have Spawned!
Rosy barbs can and will eat their own eggs and fry so many people choose to remove the parents once their jobs have been complete if you are using a breeding tank setup.
This usually means as soon as you are confident that the female has spawned all of her eggs, she will be returned back to the community tank.
Many people new to breeding fish think that this is a cruel practise due to viewing the process through a human lens.
Your rosy barbs are not humans and they have a totally different view on their own eggs and fry and will commonly eat them so you are working towards the greater good.
Remove The Male Rosy Barbs When The Eggs Have Been Fertilized!
As soon as the male has finished fertilizeing the eggs spawned by the female rosy barb, you will usually want to start removing the male rosy barbs from the breeding tank and return them to the community tank.
It can be difficult to workout if a rosy barb egg is actually fertilized for the first few days though so factor this in.
Due to this, some people will leave their male rosy barbs in their breeding tank for a number of days to try and increase the number of fertilized eggs in the tank.
Once you can see the eggs developing that were fertilized earlier, it is often safe to remove the male rosy barbs from the breeding tank as their job is done and the rest of the eggs will start to develop over the coming days.
Feed Your Rosy Barb Fry Three To Five Times per Day!
Newly hatched rosy barb fry need to be fed between three and five times per day to encourage optimal growth rates and healthy development in the fry.
This can be done by using a small amount of live food such as microworms or vinegar eels as well as specialty fish fry starter food that is available to purchase online and in pet stores.
The microworms and vinegar eels will usually need you to manually feed your rosy barb fry but the stater food mix will often work with an automatic fish feeder making your job much easier.
You should start to see your rosy barb fry grow quickly if they are being fed regularly and have plenty of space to swim around in their tank.
If you notice that your fry are not growing as quickly as they should be, consider increasing the number of feedings per day or the amount of food you offer during each feeding.
It is usually better to overfeed rosy barb fish fry than underfeed them as underfeeding can lead to stunted growth or health problems further down the line.
Maintain Stable And Consistent Water Parameters!
To ensure that your rosy barb fry grow up to be healthy and strong fish, it is important to maintain stable and consistent water parameters in their tank.
This means regular testing of the water quality using a reliable test kit such as the API Master Test Kit and taking action to correct any problems that are found.
Common problems that can occur include high ammonia or nitrite levels which can be remedied by doing partial water changes and ensuring that the filter is working properly.
It is also a good idea to add a small amount of aquarium salt to the rosy barb fry tank as this can help to reduce stress and promote healthy growth in some situations but this is usually an advanced tactic that is not recommended for beginners.
Temperature, pH, and gH levels can also fluctuate in an aquarium and these changes can have a big impact on the health of your rosy barb fry. It is important to keep a close eye on these parameters and make sure that they remain within the optimal range for rosy barbs fry.
Daily Water Changes Are Often Essential!
So many people over estimate the important of daily partial water changes for fish fry but the truth is that rosy barb fry often benefit greatly from them. This is especially true if you are feeding your fry a lot or if they are producing a lot of waste.
By doing regular water changes, you can help to keep the water quality in the tank high and reduce the risk of problems such as ammonia spikes or nitrite poisoning. Just remember to use a water conditioning product if you are using tap water as chlorine can be lethal to young fish fry no matter the species.
Keep Vibrations To A Minimum!
One of the reasons why rosy barb fry often fail to thrive is because they are very sensitive to vibrations and light changes.
This means that you need to take care when moving around the tank or doing anything that could potentially cause vibrations including your TV, sound system, telephone, and even areas where you walk regularly due to your foot steps causing vibrations.
Not All Of Your Rosy Barb Fry Are Going To Make It!
Sadly, not all rosy barb fry are going to make it no matter how well you take care of them. This is just the nature of raising fish fry and something that you need to accept before you start.
The best thing you can do is to focus on the fry that are doing well and giving them the best chance possible to thrive. This means not over crowding the tank, providing them with plenty of food, and maintaining stable water conditions.
By following these simple tips, you can give your rosy barb fry the best chance possible to survive and thrive in their new home.
Don’t Think You Can Sell Your Rosy Barb Fry For A Profit!
It is very difficult to sell your rosy barb fry for a profit unless you have a lot of them and they are all healthy and free from defects.
Most people who buy rosy barb fry do so with the intention of raising them themselves so they are not going to pay top dollar for your fry and the market is already over saturated with sellers so don’t start to breed your rosy barb fry simple to make a profit as the chances of it happening as slim to none.
