How do you breed daphnia?

How can i breed white cloud mountain minnows?

• So i have 2 females, 1 male, and one that is a bit large, but body like a male and is rich in colour (is this old?) the other are a bit lighter on colour, why is this? Anyway i see my male chases the females but female runs away. He is obviously chasing them 2 to breed but they just run away and do not respond. How can i get them to breed? what temp should i have? How shall i place the moss? they are all alone in a fluval edge 25L and i have brought a heater but do not use it as its at a temp of 20-23 degrees. What am i doing wrong? are they too young? obviously not as the males chasing the female to breed? please advice me, (no links to read because ive read them and they dont help) also Please answer my questions all and in detail (i know its a lot to read answer and ask but seeing as i got only 4 i really want to breed them) (please give me step by step instructions what to do day by day and not big words as im a beginner. the tank is established.

• Answer:

  1. Your brighter fish is probably older than the other three. 2. Get them to breed? They probably are breeding. You described how they do breed. Running is how the white clouds respond to the males. There is no physical contact when they mate. The female(s) lays her eggs while running from the male(s). The males discharge sperm as they chase the females and everything gets mixed around. The eggs fall into cracks and onto plant leaves. It's long distance sex, with no pair bonding or parental care. Generally they breed in the spring because of lengthening daytime and warming temperatures.. 3. They are cool water fish. If you have an outside wall that is cold to the touch in the winter, that is a good location for these fish. The cool water, even down into the 50's Fahrenheit (10 % centigrade) will cool them so that they are sure to become sexually active when they grow up They might be young, These fish sometimes have practice runs before full maturity. To breed them, have them in a tank, just the four white clouds, no other fish. 4. Have lots of fine leaved live aquarium plants. Java moss all over the bottom is great. Use a large sponge filter. Once you see a lot of running and chasing, remove the four fish soon after. You can set them up in a similar tank. Keep the first tank, now empty, running as normal. In a few days you will notice tiny blue swimming streaks. As they grow the blue streak fades into the color of the mature minnow's body stripe. 5. Twenty five liters is small and four is a small number of breeders. Sixty liter tanks and ten to twelve breeders would work better. We have used tanks about 80 liters (20 gallon Highs) when breeding these. You can set up a row of these tanks and then keep moving the breeders down the line until your tanks are full of fry (baby fish are called fry). Additional: White clouds may lay eggs any time but mostly early in the morning just as it is starting to get light. If by mating, you mean a male and female connecting together and transferring genetic material, that does not happen with this species. The fertilization of the eggs is done on the run. The female(s) run, releasing clouds of unfertilized eggs. The male(s) chase, releasing clouds of milt - male genetic material - a second later in the same place the eggs were released. The two mix together in the water. The now fertilized eggs settle on plant leaves or on the sand. White clouds don't eat all of the eggs so it's not as critical with them to remove them right after spawning. When a female's eggs are ready, she will release them soon. You would not want to somehow force the eggs to stay inside her. If both males and females had big bellies and lost them at the same time, it would be food. If only the females had big bellies and lost them, that would mean they scattered the eggs around the tank. If there were any male white clouds in the tank, they would have fertilized the eggs then, but it would not affect their girth. The eggs are almost too small to see and tend to stick to plants or substrate making it even more difficult to notice them.