Silver Dollars

[Peter McFarlane]

I have a shoal of 7 adult silver dollars in my community tank.

They are coloured up and I have seen signs of breeding behaviour for the past few weeks.

I'm going to move them to a seperate tank to stop the eggs beaing eaten.

Can anyone suggest the sort of setup the tank should have? Regarding gravel/sand/bare bottom.

Also temperature and any specific foods to enduce spawning.

I've read that these guys don't eat their own eggs/fry. Is this true for other silver dollars or just for the actual parents? (as i'm thinking of moving the whole shoal into the breeding/species tank)

This is my first time attempting to breed this species so I'd be very greatful for any input.

Thanks

Pete

 

[Enoid]

From what I have read, You need to have some sort of Broad Leaved Plant(Probably a fake one, with them being vegetarians) The only recommendations I've ever seen for substrate is "Darker Colored", So I don't think it really matters all that much. I personally would go Bare bottom, just for maintenance purposes. I also happen to know that the eggs will do better in softer water. I've also read conflicting things on weather or not they will eat the eggs/fry, so after spawning, I would separate them to be safe.
It's not a lot of info, I know, but I hope that it helps.

 

[Peter McFarlane]

Thanks for the input enoid.

They've been moved into a 4x2x2 with dark grey gravel substrate.

Lightly planted with plants that cover the bottom of the tank rather then grow upwards (hoping the eggs will fall safely into this..)

Temp at 82 F.

I haven't setup any lights in the tank as they are in the bedroom where they get enough light from outside of the tank, it's illumianted enough for them to eat and me to see them ok, without it being over illuminated as to bother them.

There definetly displaying more breeding signs then they were in the community tank, lots of fish chasing each other and bodies quiverring against each other.

Out of the 7 I look to have 2, possibly 3 females so the balance is nice.

Fingers crossed there will be some eggs pre Christmas

 

[Weylin]

I have a similar thing going on in my tank... But i have just 2 of them...? Possible breeding pair ?

What do u mean by breeding colours..?

 

[Tom500]

GL with the breeding that will be a really interesting project keep us posted

 

[Tom500]

Pics?

 

[Peter McFarlane]

I have a similar thing going on in my tank... But i have just 2 of them...? Possible breeding pair ?

What do u mean by breeding colours..?

If you got two, then you'd be lucky to have one male and one female, but it is possible. When mine were in my community tank they had light colouration but since seperating them some of them have really intense black and orange colouration (specifically the caudal fin) but also dark black dots on the body, kind of between the lateral line and the pectoral fin.

GL with the breeding that will be a really interesting project keep us posted

thanks tom, i'm quite new to the breeding side of trops so this is my first serious breeding project.

Pics?

Here's soem pic's of the SD's when they were in the community tank (so you get an idea on size etc) *warning: taken with camera phone=crap*

The tank they've been moved to now is just a SD species tank. It's pretty dark in there, no artificial light so makes them very hard to get pictures of..

I'm going to try and get some video footage when my friend comes over with a semi decent camera. From the pic's above you can kind of see the female in the middle being chased by males on either side of her. There quiverring a lot and swimming very erratically

I haven't witnessed this before and I've had them for quite a while so I'm convinced it's spawning behaviour.

I'm hoping someone who's bred these before will step up and help out a new guy

 

[Yanbbrox]

I used to have 6 dollars and never saw any behavior like this, interesting read. I'm subscribing and bumping at the same time to see if anyone has any input

 

[Weylin]

Mine looks like urs... Dark colour on the tails...

 

[peaches1984]

I have a shoal of 7 adult silver dollars in my community tank.

They are coloured up and I have seen signs of breeding behaviour for the past few weeks.

I'm going to move them to a seperate tank to stop the eggs beaing eaten.

Can anyone suggest the sort of setup the tank should have? Regarding gravel/sand/bare bottom.

Also temperature and any specific foods to enduce spawning.

I've read that these guys don't eat their own eggs/fry. Is this true for other silver dollars or just for the actual parents? (as i'm thinking of moving the whole shoal into the breeding/species tank)

This is my first time attempting to breed this species so I'd be very greatful for any input.

Thanks

Pete

I posted a similar thing a few days ago and have not yet had any input, i have been trying to breed my s.d's for quite a while now and they have been doing what you describe - swimming closely and shaking against one another, this is definitely signs of trying to breed, and they do it more regular and there colours come up when the lights are off in the tank, about 4 months ago i moved a pair into a seperate tank and the female layed eggs twice but the male did not fertilize, neither of them attempted to eat the eggs and i ended up syphoning them out, i eventually moved them back in to my big tank as they were becoming too skitish and nervois in there smaller surroundings, so i now have 5 adults 2 females 3 males sectioned off with a texas and severum as the other side is sectioned for my breeding midas! And my original post was weather or not they would bother laying with these other fish in the tank? Im actually amazed if they havnt layed and have somehow just been eaten overnight? - they are now far too large to move into my smaller tank but are showing breeding signs non stop!!

Sorry for such a long post!!

And as some earlier posts have said best breeding conditions for s.d's = subdued lighting, planted surroundings, dark substrate and background, low p.h and they love there spirilana or algae pellets as food.