Breeding Blue Eyes: 4 Species 4 Ways

I've gotten into blue eyes (aka rainbowfish) in a big way over the past couple of years. They are incredibly beautiful and easy to breed. This video describes how to breed blue eyes in four different ways amongst four species: Pseudomugil luminatus, Pseudomugil furcatus, Pseudomugil gertrudae and Pseudomugil ivantsoffi. There is also a sneak peak of my Pseudomugil mellis.
Paramecium is available from FishEZ • How to easily culture ... . It's a great food for starting out blue eyes. I highly recommend it.
My water parameters are: Water temperature 76F for breeding (70 - 76 for luminatus) 70-74 F. for raising fry PH = 7.8 Total Hardness (mg CaCO3/L) = 250 mg/L

[@FishEZ]

Thanks for the shout-out! I love your video and wish I had space for all of the blue-eyes. Now I concentrate on the luminatus because I love red fish but I think I'd like to try some of the P. mellis as well. That would be nice. Wow! I hope yours produce for you because I want some. Thanks for joining my live-streams on occasion. I appreciate it very much.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

No problem, your paramecium cultures saved me a lot of grief. My infusoria cultures that were started with tank water were only 50/50 successful and really stank! Now I permanently have tiny live food! Great job on your paramecium video, made it easy to culture. The mellis didn't adjust to indoor life and I lost them all within a couple weeks for no discernable reason. It was really weird, basically the exact same conditions as outside, except they were in a smaller 13 gallon tank. Next time I will try them in a larger tank and cross my fingers! Your livestreams are great; no bs, just useful fishkeeping stuff. Thanks for keeping it real!

[@FishEZ]

@@AguabonitaAquatics aaaaawwwwweeee, that's too sad that the Mellis were lost. We'll have to keep our eyes open to find them again in Canada.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@FishEZ I have a friend who got some from the same batch I did, so hopefully she will be successful breeding them. I'll keep you in the loop.

[@vikkirountoit497]

This was great to watch as I've been interested in making some room for a furcatus or luminatus tank. Also appreciate the link to FishEZ vid on paramecia. Still loving your cory geryi that made an appearance in this video - one of my goal fish:)

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks, glad you liked it. Do the blue eyes for sure, you won't regret it, they are a showy group of fish, easy to keep and breed. The geryi are something else. If you get Amazonas magazine I have an article on breeding them in the Sept. 2023 issue which my friends tell me is currently in my LFS! Going to sell them out! Follow this link for the spawning video kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnW7c31rh8drnM0 Make sure to turn off the sound, eesh, sounds like a pump is rattling against something.

[@dfwlurking123]

Thanks again for the great video. I have them breeding off spawning mops as well and have removed eggs to a floating methylene blue Tupperware container in another heated tank. Question! Do you perform water changes on the tupperwear or air rate it? Is it as simple as leaving it be for several weeks?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

I don't change the water after adding methylene blue if it is a single batch of eggs (up to 50 or so), but if I am collecting eggs on multiple days I pour out almost all the water (careful not to lose unhatched eggs) about every two weeks or so and replace with tank water and a drop of methylene blue. I'm doing this right now as I have only been able to collect between zero and 10 eggs daily from my luminatus. They are getting old. Doing the change just gets rid of waste like old egg shells and plant matter which could increase ammonia levels if left unchecked... I've let it go and have had poor hatchling survival in the past. My bad! I don't aerate, but have never had more than 50 in a single container. If I have lots of eggs I just use another container, I have about 8 or so kicking around.

[@Auntyfishy]

Watched on replay and really enjoyed all your tanks and information. Thank you. Just subscribed to your channel and I am sure I will enjoy future videos. I am from Cold Lake AB so it is enjoyable to learn from a fellow Albertan. Krista Belisle

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Nice, a fellow Albertan! Thank you! Glad you like the videos! You should try to make it to the Edmonton Aquarium Society Auction this fall, if you have never been. Not too far from Cold Lake. Lots of cool stuff and a great place to gain fish keeping knowledge! www.aquariumclubedmonton.ca/meetings-auctions/auctions/

[@adampits3938]

Fighter Town!

[@manticore387]

I've been intending to set up a pseudomugil breeding group for a while, but got delayed a few years due to house reno and young children. Anyway, I'm coming back to getting things set up this year. If you had to pick one species between the luminatus and the gertrudae, which would you pick? I'm really torn. I believe they max out around the same size, so I'm leaning towards gertrudae because I think they would contrast better with chili rasboras or cherry barbs. Thoughts? It's just really hard to tell from videos and pics online which are more striking.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

I would say the luminatus are more striking, but the gertrudae, I have, display way more and are less shy. I like them both, a lot. Basically a tie. For your tank though with Chilis and cherry barbs the gertrudae would be a very nice contrast and would bring a lot of life to the tank as chili's and cherries are pretty sedate.

[@devvoedm8_802]

I absolutely love the Pseudomugils… great video: thank you for sharing! I have been searching around for a way to find mellis here in Canada, and no luck yet! Did you get them from a store or another hobbyist? Best of luck with their spawning, and I hope to see a follow-up video!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Pseudomugils are beauties, such a fantastic genus. My dealer, lol, hunted them down in Montana. They aren't cheap, but arrived young and in great shape. Talk to Curtis at Common Sense Aquatics. commonsenseaquatics.com/

[@devvoedm8_802]

I appreciate the lead! Looking forward to seeing some footage of yours growing and hopefully turning into a big school! @@AguabonitaAquatics

[@IndoorEcosystem]

Man I love it when the males are showing off!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Yes, very cool. They remind me of butterflies.

[@IndoorEcosystem]

@@AguabonitaAquaticsThey do a little bit

[@StarlightBettaGamer]

I've got 5 spotted blue eye rainbows in my 40 gallon ( 2 males 3 females ) that i got about a month ago, haven't seen any fry in there but i had moved some floating cabomba into an empty 10 gallon from that tank just to get it out of the way and couple weeks later found 5 fry in the tank, they must have spawned on it without me realizing haha. fry are doing good, looks like they're a few days apart in size so probably 2 different clutches, just put the cabomba back to see if they'll spawn on it again.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Nice, my red neon blue eyes do pretty well colony breeding. It's a relaxing way to acquire more fish... no pressure and it works!

[@StarlightBettaGamer]

@AguabonitaAquatics I ordered another group of spotted blue eyes should be here Tuesday, 6 females 1 male to make a 1/3 male to female ratio, plus genetic diversity. 5 in a 40 gallon looks like nothin Haha. Hoping they'll breed prolifically in a group that size. now just gotta get to Michael's and grab some yarn to make spawning mops for easier egg collection.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@StarlightBettaGamer To get the numbers up quicker, collecting eggs and raising them separately is a a good call! I found the spotted blues to be pretty slow growing, but worth the wait!

[@StarlightBettaGamer]

@@AguabonitaAquatics I found the rainbow fry about a week ago and I've noticed decent growth on them already with only a couple bbs feedings so slower than bettas for sure but not painfully slow at least. They're easily a little bigger than newborn guppy fry now, but not sure how long they were in the tank before I found them or how big they started out. Mostly been feeding them infusoria and the odd vinegar eel squirt lol. Until I can get spawning mops and easily be able to spot eggs how long would you recommend leaving the cabomba in the tank before removing it? Eggs take 14 ish days to hatch but they could be snacking on the eggs too. Pretty hard to see on light green tho so hopefully not.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@StarlightBettaGamer I would just leave it in until you are comfortable that the adults can't eat the fry. And then just use spawning mops for egg deposition... otherwise they will probably use the cabomba for spawning and it will be tough to collect eggs.

[@pelhamsaquatics]

Fantastic information😊thanks i might try spawning these after watching!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks. Go for it, they are pretty straight forward to breed and raise. People love them so it's never tough to move fry along. Beautiful fish!

[@carlam.9529]

They sure are gorgeous !!!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

They sure are. Love blue eyes!

[@akvaristugur9479]

Very beautiful fish my friend

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks!

[@silvijazakyte5006]

Can fry live with neocaridinas? I am thinking about atempt to breed furcatus and keep fry separately in a nano tank, however I also would like some shrimp there

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

For sure, I keep shrimp with all my blue eyes. They are not that hard on shrimplets, I'm sure they eat a few, but not enough to impact the shrimp population much.

[@silvijazakyte5006]

@AguabonitaAquatics thank you so much! Your videos are amazing and so informative💛

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@silvijazakyte5006 Your welcome. Love blue eyes!

[@gr_aquatics]

Great video and information thanks

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks, beautiful fishes that are relatively easy to breed. Love the pseudomugils!

[@shadygrady81]

Beautiful fish ...Amazing! 😍

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks!

[@life_motivation_spirituali6333]

Hey, can you tell the name and strain of that big corey @9:55...🤔

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Sorry was on holidays and haven't been posting much lately (too much going on at work). Corydoras geryi; in my mind, the most strikingly marked and colorful cory out there.

[@life_motivation_spirituali6333]

@@AguabonitaAquatics yeah true.. 🙏😇

[@akvaristugur9479]

Hello, nice sharing my friend, regards.

[@dfwlurking123]

Thank you so much for this video. Have you experienced any aggression in your blue eyes outside of the sparing behavior between males? I ordered 3 furcata online 2M 1F, but ended up receiving 3M with two being larger and one smaller. One blue eye clearly became dominant and started chasing the smaller male around (I wasn't sure if this was normal). On day 4 I found him with his tail fins completely nipped off, struggling to swim and passed away within a day. The dominant male then would occasionally chase the remaining male around but given their similar size he seemed to be able to escape him decent enough. I then went out and purchased 2 females from a local fish store selling only females that were larger than the two remaining males hoping that would turn down aggression. The larger male continued to chase everyone around the tank with side pecks and the occasional tail peck but with no obvious signs of damage for 2 weeks. I then noticed one of the females getting part of their tail fin looking a little weathered so I removed the dominant male to his own small tank to figure out what to do. And then the largest female started chasing and pecking at the remaining less dominant male and the remaining female. Is this behavior normal?? I am a bit at a loss of what to do. Many of your vids and others show blue eyes swimming peacefully together unless the males are displaying. I haven't seen any of the aggressive chasing and pecking behavior I see in my tank. I have a fully planted 3 month old 15 gallon tank and the blue eyes are the only fish other than 2 ottos who they leave alone.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

I would say the behaviour your observing isn't the norm, but you are keeping the most boisterous blue eye and I could certainly see it happening. I keep my furcatus in slightly larger tanks, so that helps. It also helps having larger groups as well, I keep them in at least groups of ten which diffuses aggression. The furcatus do a lot of chasing and I think they could really benefit from more space. Welcome to MTS!

[@dfwlurking123]

@@AguabonitaAquatics ​ Thank you for the quick response! More space is always better. If the furcatus lets say are 10 on rambunctiousness scale, what would you say the luminatus are? and the gertrudae?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@dfwlurking123 Gertrudae 6 and luminatus 4. They are pretty chill. Males will spar a fair bit, but no damage done. Furcatus are way more of a going concern, they are also a lot bigger, probably twice the size.

[@dfwlurking123]

Thanks again. I’ve let my aquarium become over run with floater roots to the bottom and it has greatly reduced aggression. I am upgrading to a larger 40 tank for the furcatas to give them more space!

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@dfwlurking123 Great idea to add cover to reduce aggression. They will like the extra room; they are a fairly good sized fish.

[@carlosseptiencuevas1613]

Hi Dean ,do corys eat blue eyes eggs? Great info.😊

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Yes, once they find the mop they are all over it... seem to remember too.

[@WahidahCherazade]

What size are your aquariums? I have just gotten a group of luminatus. I love them, and they seem to thrive! The males really try to impress the females now and I guess that they soon will get some eggs. I hope to be able to save at least some of them... Right now their aquarium is a bit too small, but in a few weeks I'm moving and will be able to buy them a bigger home as well. I just have to decide how large aquarium I actually need for them.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

They are between 13 and 20 gallons. A 20 long is great, but I'd say a standard 15 gallon is the big enough. 40 breeder would be fantastic! My 13 gallon tanks are long and narrow. They work great for the luminatus, but are really hard to find. I think they were sold as 13 gallon widescreens by Aqueon which stopped making them - boo! The rimless 13 gallons are 20 cm x 40 cm x 60 cm, are made by Aquatop and are fairly easy to come by, but expensive and don't have a lid. They need a lid for sure, luminatus are terrible for jumping. When I bag them up for sale or donation it is like popcorn popping in the bag!

[@vivek-1318]

Awesome

[@TimeTravelingBirds]

Do you still breed them? I would love to chat with you as I am a local and having a hard time finding these fish without having to have them shipped across the country

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Lol, ya. Just had work and family stuff, so haven't posted for a while. I don't have any for sale right now, but have about 40 red neon eggs on the go.

[@TimeTravelingBirds]

@@AguabonitaAquatics oh amazing! I'm looking for reds closer to August (waiting for the current tank to get established with plants and shrimp). Is there a good way to possibly contact you? I see I can't just message you on youtube privately.

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@TimeTravelingBirds you can get a hold of me on facebook dean baayens

[@TimeTravelingBirds]

@@AguabonitaAquatics awesome!

[@richardreynolds9896]

Nice video

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Thanks, I'm learning. Info is good, but I need to work on my video and editing skills, lol... it's a different medium than what I am used to. Nothing better than trial by fire!

[@AudM-gw4xf]

Hi, how did you go breeding the honeys?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Terrible. They bred a few times out in the pond, but when I took them back inside they just melted over a few weeks for no apparent reason. I'll have to try again... when I have money to burn; they are expensive!

[@AudM-gw4xf]

@@AguabonitaAquatics oh no that’s no good at all! Yeah they are expensive. I’m in Australia and they’re pricey here. I’ve got 5 juveniles at present but maybe I should have gone with the forktails 😬

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@AudM-gw4xf Hopefully, it will work out. In my experience, forktails are definitely the easier choice, lol.

[@lemonlizard1]

what tank size would you recommend for them?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

I would say 20 long + are ideal for luminatus, ivantsoffi and gertrudae. I would go with 29 gallon plus for a group of furcatus, they are a much bigger fish, 20 would be OK for breeding.

[@aquahobby1982]

what a beautiful fish :O

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Luminatus, lol, but they all are... really impressed with the amount the gertrudae display, it's like all the time!

[@aquahobby1982]

@@AguabonitaAquatics In my fish keeping career i had kept Iriatherina werneri only among the beautiful dwarf rainbows. These r little but expensive fish.Well in Canada everything is expensive as a pair of red cherry barb is sold at $16 😢😢

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@aquahobby1982 luminatus have been going for around $16 each, but the nice thing is they are incredibly easy to breed... but getting a decent group of ten is $160, so I plan on keeping them going for a long, long time. I haven't done the Threadfins yet, but they are basically next on my list once I get the honey blue eyes going. Need more tanks!

[@aquahobby1982]

@@AguabonitaAquatics i'll be looking forward to ur videos of breeding them as well 👍🏻🤗 . As of now saving $ for next project :) :) and dream fish

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@aquahobby1982 I checked out your channel. Good stuff. Looking forwards to your videos as well!

[@michaelmean6788]

how much did you get these guys for?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

Luminatus were around $15 each when I got them. Furcatus 8, gertrudea 12, Ivantsoffi 12 ish mellis 40

[@michaelmean6788]

@@AguabonitaAquatics and these were at Piscesat Calgary?

[@AguabonitaAquatics]

@@michaelmean6788 some of them were from Pisces, but they came from a number of different sources as they are not all easy to find. I expect there will be some at the calgary aquarium societies King of DIY auction this weekend. Aqua Market, The Planted tank and Aquarium central in Edmonton. Mellis and Ivantsoffi came from Common Sense Aquatics commonsenseaquatics.com