Sawbwa Resplendens (aka Rummy Nose Rasbora)

[tolstoy21]

I finally emptied my 10 gallon of green water today to see if I had any fry in there still. I knew some had hatched, but after a water change, the water went green and I lost sight of them. I continued to feed the tank paramecium, vinegar eels and then BBS kind of hoping the fry were hanging out in there happy and healthy.  After finally getting some time to see what was going on in this tank, I found a handful of fry and  transferred them to a breeder box and acclimated them slowly to their parent's tank.

 

A little bit of history on me and these fish . . . .

These were an impulse buy. I saw pictures of them online and instantly thought I GOTTA HAVE THOSE!!!  Then ordered a dozen without regards to (or even reading) the care instructions. I thought, rasboras, I've had rasboras before. However, I don't think these fish are rasboras. Sometimes you see them listed as 'Asian Rummy Nose Barbs", other times, 'Rummy Nose Rasbora", but from the reading I have done, it's still debated if they are either.

To my surprise, these fish like HARD water with a neutral-ish Ph.  I vowed never to keep fish that I had to mix water for, but here I was accidentally with some fish that require water params I don't have out of the tap. To make things worse, they supposedly like it cold. I've read they will spawn at temps in the 60s, but I have found they will spawn every single morning, laying a small number of eggs at 78F. I don't know if this is an ideal temp for their long-term health, so I am going to move them to a cooler part of my basement in the near future.

These fish like to deposit eggs in floating plants, near the surface. So spawning mops work. But I found that it was easiest to have a few very large Anubias Barteri in their tank, plants whose broad leaves made a canopy near the surface.

At around noon during the day, I would take out the plants, check for eggs, and, finding a few eggs attached here and there, I would move it toa ten gallon I had set aside for raising these fish. I did this for three days, with three different anubias plants, then stopped. So far my experience has been that these fish aren't prolific egg layers, but they are daily egg layers, so what they lack in number them make up for in frequency. 

Now my water has very little hardness and no Kh to speak of, so out came the Seachem Equlibrium. I have tried to hatch fish these at various water hardnesses, but just as the sparse information I found online suggested, the eggs will not hatch in a dGh under 20. 

My guess is that the amount of equilibrium added to a new tank is what contributed to the sudden green water. But, before I could no longer see into the tank, I did spot a few minuscule fry here and there, so I knew something successfully hatched!  Then the tank went green a few weeks and I had to go on faith that there were in there, and kept feeding accordingly. (I do the same with the super blue tetras -- that is, I feed the tank on faith alone for a couple weeks, knowing that fry must be in there, but too well hidden for me to see).

I only have a handful of fry right now, as my goal was to learn to how to successfully breed these. So I knew when I saw fry that I'd be lucky if a dozen hatched and survived. 

Anyway, very long story short . . . . these fish are very cool, and not hard to breed if you do a few things  . . . get the water hardness up above 20dGh, and start out feeding infusoria and paramecium for the first week, slowly graduating to something like vinegar eels, then BBS.

Yes, this was a looooong post, but figured I'd pass along what I've learned thus far. I don't have pictures of my adult fish, but I will attach a few pics stolen from the interwebs that represent what the males look like (the females are silver/gray). Adult size of this fish is similar to that of a neon tetra.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by tolstoy21

[MAC]

These are awesome fish that I've had my eye on for some time. I saw a group struggling at my lfs awhile back, they were in city water(just about RO) and mixed in with other tropical species at close to 80°. 

Fish store guy was like, yeah those didn't come in to well, I'll make ya a deal. 

So I took them home to an unheated planted tank filled with my very hard well water and they are looking fantastic! now. 

Unfortunately all turned out to be makes. Hoping to track females down someday to breed. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

 What a great post @tolstoy21! Thanks for such interesting information on a very cool fish! 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/16/2022 at 7:20 PM, tolstoy21 said:

I finally emptied my 10 gallon of green water today to see if I had any fry in there still. I knew some had hatched, but after a water change, the water went green and I lost sight of them. I continued to feed the tank paramecium, vinegar eels and then BBS kind of hoping the fry were hanging out in there happy and healthy.  After finally getting some time to see what was going on in this tank, I found a handful of fry and  transferred them to a breeder box and acclimated them slowly to their parent's tank.

 

A little bit of history on me and these fish . . . .

These were an impulse buy. I saw pictures of them online and instantly thought I GOTTA HAVE THOSE!!!  Then ordered a dozen without regards to (or even reading) the care instructions. I thought, rasboras, I've had rasboras before. However, I don't think these fish are rasboras. Sometimes you see them listed as 'Asian Rummy Nose Barbs", other times, 'Rummy Nose Rasbora", but from the reading I have done, it's still debated if they are either.

To my surprise, these fish like HARD water with a neutral-ish Ph.  I vowed never to keep fish that I had to mix water for, but here I was accidentally with some fish that require water params I don't have out of the tap. To make things worse, they supposedly like it cold. I've read they will spawn at temps in the 60s, but I have found they will spawn every single morning, laying a small number of eggs at 78F. I don't know if this is an ideal temp for their long-term health, so I am going to move them to a cooler part of my basement in the near future.

These fish like to deposit eggs in floating plants, near the surface. So spawning mops work. But I found that it was easiest to have a few very large Anubias Barteri in their tank, plants whose broad leaves made a canopy near the surface.

At around noon during the day, I would take out the plants, check for eggs, and, finding a few eggs attached here and there, I would move it toa ten gallon I had set aside for raising these fish. I did this for three days, with three different anubias plants, then stopped. So far my experience has been that these fish aren't prolific egg layers, but they are daily egg layers, so what they lack in number them make up for in frequency. 

Now my water has very little hardness and no Kh to speak of, so out came the Seachem Equlibrium. I have tried to hatch fish these at various water hardnesses, but just as the sparse information I found online suggested, the eggs will not hatch in a dGh under 20. 

My guess is that the amount of equilibrium added to a new tank is what contributed to the sudden green water. But, before I could no longer see into the tank, I did spot a few minuscule fry here and there, so I knew something successfully hatched!  Then the tank went green a few weeks and I had to go on faith that there were in there, and kept feeding accordingly. (I do the same with the super blue tetras -- that is, I feed the tank on faith alone for a couple weeks, knowing that fry must be in there, but too well hidden for me to see).

I only have a handful of fry right now, as my goal was to learn to how to successfully breed these. So I knew when I saw fry that I'd be lucky if a dozen hatched and survived. 

Anyway, very long story short . . . . these fish are very cool, and not hard to breed if you do a few things  . . . get the water hardness up above 20dGh, and start out feeding infusoria and paramecium for the first week, slowly graduating to something like vinegar eels, then BBS.

Yes, this was a looooong post, but figured I'd pass along what I've learned thus far. I don't have pictures of my adult fish, but I will attach a few pics stolen from the interwebs that represent what the males look like (the females are silver/gray). Adult size of this fish is similar to that of a neon tetra.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

 

Would you say that they’re easy to breed??

Nice pics btw!

[tolstoy21]

On 10/16/2022 at 3:19 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Would you say that they’re easy to breed??

 

I would say so, so long as you have the correct foods and the correct water params. Also, you'll need to move the eggs/fry to their own tank or to a breeder box. Other than that, I don't feel they are that hard. Well, maybe it's too early for me to say that seeing as I haven't raised the current batch of fry to adulthood. But it seems like to me, if there are males and females present, and the water is to their liking, they are going to mate.

[Phoenixfishroom]

Can I get an update on what you have learned about these guys? I am about to order 20 of them. Kind of the same deal, saw a picture and HAD to have them. Finally tracked some down. All I really know is they like cold hard water and a big school so info from your experience is appreciated 

[tolstoy21]

@Phoenixfishroom

I've been keeping and breeding splendens for a little while now. I have a nice big shoal of them in my 125g right next to me as I type this.

What I have learned is that they do well in a wide range of parameters. This may be because they are tank bred, not sure (also not sure if wild ones are even available given their status in the wild).

I have thus far kept then in the following range of params:

Temp: 74-78F
Ph: 6.8 - 7.6
Kh: 0 - 4
Gh: 9 - 25

I keep them all at 78F currently, because thats what all my tanks run at in my fish room and I'm not inclined to try to cool their aquarium. My personal community tank, as well as my grow-outs, I keep at Ph: 6.6-6.8, Gh: 9, Kh 0, because those are my tap water params. 

Breeding and hatching tanks are different--I mix water for those--but still they run at 76-78F. I've spawned a lot of these at those temps, even though everything I've read suggests they require much lower temps to be triggered. They spawn pretty much every single day, but in small amounts, I guess like many other daily spawners.

I don't know if the higher temps I keep them at will affect their longevity, but in the year I've had them, I've only lost one fish out of maybe a hundred+ fish (except a small batch if fry I lost due to stoopid, unintended neglect).  Adults may have died and been eaten unseen by me, but, like I said, I've only lost one that I have seen. 

I have seen no disease, parasites, or other health issues with these fish.

Anyway, highly recommend. In the short time I've been keeping them, they appear to me, so far, to be very hardy and adaptable little fish.

They are very lively and colorful!

Cheers!

--Nicholas

Edited May 3, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Phoenixfishroom]

On 5/3/2023 at 7:54 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@Phoenixfishroom

I've been keeping and breeding splendens for a little while now. I have a nice big shoal of them in my 125g right next to me as I type this.

What I have learned is that they do well in a wide range of parameters. This may be because they are tank bred, not sure (also not sure if wild ones are even available given their status in the wild).

I have thus far kept then in the following range of params:

Temp: 74-78F
Ph: 6.8 - 7.6
Kh: 0 - 4
Gh: 9 - 25

I keep them all at 78F currently, because thats what all my tanks run at in my fish room and I'm not inclined to try to cool their aquarium. My personal community tank, as well as my grow-outs, I keep at Ph: 6.6-6.8, Gh: 9, Kh 0, because those are my tap water params. 

Breeding and hatching tanks are different--I mix water for those--but still they run at 76-78F. I've spawned a lot of these at those temps, even though everything I've read suggests they require much lower temps to be triggered. They spawn pretty much every single day, but in small amounts, I guess like many other daily spawners.

I don't know if the higher temps I keep them at will affect their longevity, but in the year I've had them, I've only lost one fish out of maybe a hundred+ fish (except a small batch if fry I lost due to stoopid, unintended neglect).  Adults may have died and been eaten unseen by me, but, like I said, I've only lost one that I have seen. 

I have seen no disease, parasites, or other health issues with these fish.

Anyway, highly recommend. In the short time I've been keeping them, they appear to me, so far, to be very hardy and adaptable little fish.

They are very lively and colorful!

Cheers!

--Nicholas

Do you sell them? The ones I was going to get were wild caught and I would much rather get them from a fellow breeder than get wild caught, looking for like 20. Message me if you want to discuss.

[tolstoy21]

@Phoenixfishroom

I do, but I don't have any available at the current moment. I am growing out a batch right now. I'm hoping they will be a sellable size by June.

[MAC]

These are great fish. I've never seen a shop have females though. My small all make group is alot of fun. 

[Phoenixfishroom]

On 5/3/2023 at 11:14 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@Phoenixfishroom

I do, but I don't have any available at the current moment. I am growing out a batch right now. I'm hoping they will be a sellable size by June.

I am going to dm you my contact info. I have zero problem waiting until June.

as someone said below, I was thinking sourcing females might be a problem because I never see them in pictures. I believe it is like scarlet badis, they are bland looking so they don’t get sent with wild caught shipments often.

[tolstoy21]

On 5/4/2023 at 3:50 PM, Phoenixfishroom said:

I was thinking sourcing females might be a problem because I never see them in pictures.

I usually have a 50/50 ratio of males/females. I just moved a bunch of fry today to a new tank today.

I took some pics of females.

Edited May 4, 2023 by tolstoy21

[aquatica87]

I have a batch growing out right now. Spawned at room temp (71f) with a decent yield. I also use a pre-filter sponge on a small powerhead for some flow. They spawned in a massive clump of hornwort I have floating. Started the fry on Golden Pearls 50m for 2wk (probably growing slower because I’m not using a heater). Microworms/BBS at 3-4wk.

[tolstoy21]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:53 AM, aquatica87 said:

I have a batch growing out right now. Spawned at room temp (71f) with a decent yield. I also use a pre-filter sponge on a small powerhead for some flow. They spawned in a massive clump of hornwort I have floating. Started the fry on Golden Pearls 50m for 2wk (probably growing slower because I’m not using a heater). Microworms/BBS at 3-4wk.

Awesome! Please keep us updated in their progress. 

I've spawned these successful multiple times in smaller amounts. I've had decent success, but also have lost a few batches (this has happened recently, and I'm not sure why).

So, I have some questions:

• How many fry do you estimate you have?
• How long did you have the adults present in the aquarium before removing them (if you did remove them)?
• Aside from water temp, what are your other water params?
• Did they start taking BBS as 2 weeks of age?

There isn't much info available on breeding these, but I think more people are just now starting to get the hang of it. So if you're inclined to share and add to the pool community knowledge, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[aquatica87]

I bred them in my tap water at a ph of 7.4-7.6 in a 10 gallon room temp so the waters probably 68f-70f. I used 2 males and 4 females and left them in the tank for 72 hours. I think if I only do 48 hours my yield would be more grand. I’m currently raising 40+ but I think I probably had more eggs that were most likely digested by their “parents”. I guess even fish love caviar….. Jokes aside. They started eating BBS at week 3. I also did some experiments as in taking a few eggs and putting them in water with some of the tetras I’m raising but the eggs did not survive. Also after I took the adults out I added one medium sized indian almond leaf to help the eggs (I think it helped). I would say they are very similar to breeding CPDs. Hopefully this is enough to help someone in their fish breeding journey. 

[tolstoy21]

@aquatica87 Awesome. Thanks for the info.

I have been using anubias barteri and java fern (both floating) for them to spawn on, but hornwort is probably a better option as I would imagine it's easier to adhere eggs to and probably catches more of them. I've tried floating yarn mops, but found them less effective than plants (fish were somewhat disinterested in using them). 

One more question -- what was your dGh? 

Again, thanks for sharing.

PS - Now I need to find some hornwort that doesn't immediately melt after putting it in my tank!  Although, I bet dwarf water lettuce with its fine tangles of hanging roots might work decently as well.

[aquatica87]

My TDS is 120-130 from tap 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@tolstoy21water wisteria or Pogo Octopus would work for those purposes as well. I remember @Ryo Watanabehad these as well. I’ve got to check on his channel and see if he’s had any luck with these. 

[tolstoy21]

On 5/21/2023 at 12:30 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@tolstoy21water wisteria or Pogo Octopus would work for those purposes as well. I remember @Ryo Watanabehad these as well. I’ve got to check on his channel and see if he’s had any luck with these. 

Yeah water wisteria is a good one. Forgot about that.

[TheSwissAquarist]

This thread is getting seriously interesting… 

[nabokovfan87]

I saw this when randomly trying to find a photo of the blue axelrodi rasbora. 

I didn't even realize there was other version.  Pretty much all of the rasbora I have seen are silver with black patters on the body.  CPDs I have seen on video, never in person.  It would be awesome to have some of these one day, by far one of the coolest colors on a fish in my view.  Would go awesomely in a green tigerbarb tank!

[tolstoy21]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:05 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I didn't even realize there was other version.  Pretty much all of the rasbora I have seen are silver with black patters on the body. 

I don't believe these are actually a rasbora species. But they are commonly labeled as that or barbs, or tetras -- for instance Asian Rummynose Tetra, Rummynose Rasbora, Sawbwa Barb, etc.

According to the good old Wikipedia -- "The sawbwa barb (Sawbwa resplendens), also known as the Burmese rammy nose, Asian rummynose or rummynose rasbora, is an endangered species of cyprinid fish in the monotypic genus Sawbwa."

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/22/2023 at 6:49 AM, tolstoy21 said:

cyprinid fish

This seems to be the keyword for me. 🙂

[tolstoy21]

On 5/22/2023 at 10:52 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

This seems to be the keyword for me. 🙂

Right, so same family as Rasboras and Barbs, but in a different genus -- Sawbwa. 

[Phoenixfishroom]

On 5/20/2023 at 1:42 PM, aquatica87 said:

I bred them in my tap water at a ph of 7.4-7.6 in a 10 gallon room temp so the waters probably 68f-70f. I used 2 males and 4 females and left them in the tank for 72 hours. I think if I only do 48 hours my yield would be more grand. I’m currently raising 40+ but I think I probably had more eggs that were most likely digested by their “parents”. I guess even fish love caviar….. Jokes aside. They started eating BBS at week 3. I also did some experiments as in taking a few eggs and putting them in water with some of the tetras I’m raising but the eggs did not survive. Also after I took the adults out I added one medium sized indian almond leaf to help the eggs (I think it helped). I would say they are very similar to breeding CPDs. Hopefully this is enough to help someone in their fish breeding journey. 

Are you interested in selling/trading? Messaging you to avoid clogging up the post

Edited May 22, 2023 by Phoenixfishroom