Rasboras are certainly popular aquarium fish. Many people think that these fish are some of the best that you can own as a beginner.
They’re easy to care for and most people wind up falling in love with how pretty they are. It’s fun to watch them in the fish tank because they’re so active.
Being easy to care for is great, but what if you want to breed them? Perhaps you want more rasboras and you’d like to breed your own rather than buying more from the store.
Are rasboras easy to breed? What do you need to do to make it happen?
Read on to learn all of the details. This will help you decide if you want to try to breed these fish or not.
Are Rasboras Live-bearers?
No, rasboras are not live-bearers. There are many types of fish that are live-bearers, but these fish lay eggs to reproduce.
Do Rasboras Lay Eggs?
Yes, rasboras lay eggs when they reproduce. They lay their eggs on broad-leafed plants such as the cryptocoryne plant.
To get these fish to lay eggs in a fish tank, it’s important to give them plants that they will feel comfortable using. You can buy cryptocoryne plants from many places that sell aquatic plants.
Other broad-leafed plants can also work out fine as well. Give your rasboras an ideal environment and you should be able to get them to lay eggs when the time is right.
Do Rasboras Eat Their Own Eggs?
Sometimes rasboras will eat their own eggs. Many fish are known to do this, but rasboras don’t do it as much as others.
Even so, they will sometimes eat the eggs when they feel the need to. Fish do this for many different reasons and sometimes it might occur because the fish feel they need the energy.
If you’re breeding rasboras in captivity, it’s best to remove the parent fish from the breeding tank after the eggs have been laid. You don’t want to run the risk of any of the eggs getting eaten.
The parent fish don’t need to be there for the eggs to hatch. You can handle the rest of the process on your own and then care for the rasbora fry.
How Many Eggs Do Rasboras Lay?
Rasboras will lay quite a few eggs when they’re spawning. The numbers will vary a bit based on certain factors, though.
Harlequin rasboras are known to lay between 25 and 100 eggs. They don’t lay them all at once.
The rasboras will go through their mating rituals and deposit eggs in batches. They might deposit them all on the same leaf, but this isn’t always how it goes.
You’ll see the rasboras keep going through the mating process until all of the eggs have been deposited. There’s no way to tell the exact number of eggs until the rasboras are finished mating.
Other types of rasboras are a bit different. They’re egg scatterers so they don’t lay their eggs on plants like the harlequin rasboras.
The number of eggs that will be scattered by other rasbora species will depend on the type. You can expect the rasboras to lay dozens of eggs or more at once, though.
How Long Do Rasbora Eggs Take to Hatch?
Typically, rasbora eggs take around 24 hours to hatch. The rasbora fry remain attached to the egg sac for the first few days.
On the third day, the rasbora fry will become free swimmers. At this point, you’ll need to start feeding them.
The rasbora fry will need to be fed liquid fry food or infusoria while they’re very small. After a week has passed, the fry should be large enough to start eating freshly-hatched brine shrimp.
You can also buy dry fry food from pet stores. When caring for harlequin rasbora fry, expect it to take three months for them to reach adult size so long as they’re being cared for and fed properly.
What Do Rasboras Look Like?
There are many different types of rasboras out there. Different types of rasboras have different looks.
Harlequin rasboras are among the most popular and common options. These fish are very popular aquarium fish.
They have a dark triangular patch on their bodies that goes all the way from the front of the dorsal fin to the back. The rest of the harlequin’s body is silvery and sometimes contains yellow or red markings.
There are other types of rasboras that are even more colorful. For example, the galaxy rasbora is a spectacular fish that will look very showy in an aquarium.
What Does a Pregnant Rasbora Look Like?
The term “pregnant” isn’t totally accurate when it comes to female rasboras carrying eggs. Regardless, it’s a term that many people use.
A rasbora that is carrying eggs will often look bloated. You can tell the difference between a bloated rasbora and one that is carrying eggs by looking to see if the eggs are visible on the body.
Also, the behavior of the fish will change. You’ll notice mating behaviors in both male and female rasboras.
The female rasbora will likely start eating more than usual during this time as well. This should be an indication that the rasboras are going to mate sometime soon.
How Do Rasboras Breed?
Most types of rasboras are egg scatterers, and that means that they lay their eggs in various places. Harlequin rasboras are different because they lay their eggs on the underside of broad-leafed plants.
Harlequin rasboras mate underneath these plants and they do so upside down. They typically start mating in the early morning hours.
The male rasbora will start going through a dancing and fin-flaring routine to attract the female. The two fish will begin swimming together until they move to the underside of the plant.
Once they’re in position, the two fish will turn upside down and start depositing eggs. They deposit a small group of eggs and then go through the mating routine again.
These fish can lay between 25 and 100 eggs. So they might go through these steps several times until they’re done mating.
Often, the fish will keep sticking their eggs to the underside of the same leaf. Sometimes they might use another leaf as well.
Are Rasboras Easy to Breed?
Harlequin rasboras are much more practical to breed in captivity than other types of rasboras. If you wish to breed rasboras in your fish tank, it’s recommended that you choose harlequins.
Since harlequins lay their eggs on the underside of broad-leafed plants, it’s easier to figure out what to do. Other rasboras are egg scatterers, and that makes things much trickier.
Many people have a tough time trying to breed other rasboras in captivity. This is why it’s hard to find many types of rasboras in fish stores.
There are still many people catching wild rasboras and selling them as aquarium fish. The difficulty of breeding rasboras in captivity makes many people shy away from trying.
How to Breed Rasboras
Breeding harlequin rasboras is fairly straightforward. You do need to get the conditions in the tank right, though.
You need to put together a separate breeding tank for the two rasboras that you want to mate. Put a male harlequin and a female harlequin in the breeding tank.
The breeding tank should be between 77 degrees Fahrenheit and 83 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH level in the tank must be low and it’s recommended to keep it between 6.0 and 6.5.
Ensure that the water is very soft, too. The GH needs to be between 1 and 5.
You must have broad-leafed plants in the fish tank. Cryptocoryne plants work nicely, but you can also use Amazon sword plants.
Start feeding the fish brine shrimp, tubifex, bloodworms, and daphnia. You’re feeding them protein-rich foods to coax them to breed.
Put the two fish in the breeding tank in the evening when the conditions are right. Commonly, the fish will start spawning in the morning.
These fish breed upside down and they do so underneath broad-leafed plants. The eggs will be stuck to the underside of the leaves.
Remove the rasboras from the breeding tank when they’re done mating. You don’t want them to eat any of the eggs that they’ve deposited.
Now you just wait for around 24 hours for the eggs to hatch. Once the eggs have hatched, you’ll take care of the rasbora fry as they grow.
Final Thoughts
You should have a better understanding of what it takes to breed rasboras now. Harlequin rasboras are the only rasbora fish that are considered to be somewhat easy to breed.
The others are fish that scatter their eggs and they’re tough to breed in captivity. So it’s best to focus on breeding harlequins unless you’re an experienced breeder.
Harlequin rasboras are among the most popular rasboras out there. They’re pretty fish that are hardy and easy to care for.
You should have an easy time breeding them if you set up the breeding tank properly. Take care of the fry as best you can and you can enjoy having more rasboras in your tank soon enough.
Jeff has always enjoyed having pets, but as a child, he was drawn to his family’s fish tank. Being able to maintain a small ecosystem and observe the behaviors and interactions in the underwater world peaked his interest early on and has kept him hooked until this day. On Avid Aquarist, Jeff shares everything he’s learned about helping aquatic life survive and thrive in a home aquarium.