After keeping fish over 60 years, I’ve just decided to try and breed these minnows. I recently added a a Nerodia (native water snake) to my reptile collection. It readily swims below surface to take the minnows as its primary source of food. I’ve added 6 minnows to a 125 gal tank that will eventually be a native biotope tank (Tennessee and Georgia). Your video is an excellent resource and saves me mistakes and research you’ve already done. Exciting to think about you being able to produce a darker orange variant! Shared and subscribed! Thanks 🙏🏼 for the information.
I so agree w/ this video. I have three 20 gal tanks full of them. I started out w/ the last 7 in a tank (to save their lives). They so appreciated it that they reproduced like bunnies. I give them lots of plants. They love it and they're very active and attractive in their tanks. 😂
What happened to the channel. I just stumbled into this very hidden gem only to find out it's been inactive for 4 months. I hope you are doing well thse are some really good videos. Very informative and I enjoy them as well!!
To follow up, one of my friends wrote a handwritten letter that we would love to deliver to you in some way. Would you be interested in seeing it? I would be happy to mail it to you or just send it through email, if you would prefer.
i agree! ive had a tank for them along with some of my home bred black mollies, i got 12 and i stil have 12 the are definately great and beautiful aquarium fish
I bought mine from petsmart and kept them in a black water set up in a plastic tub with neon tetras and musk turtle. They soon go from skinny to fat and grown 50% larger. I have not lost 1 single minnow from the original 10 I bought. I think they are best enjoyed from a pond, top view set up like koi & rice fish.
I got mine from petsmart almost a year ago theyre doing great I really enjoy them. Brought them in for winter but normally out in a 50 gal w 2 goldfish I got with them. They eat all the mosquitos and I water my plants with the tank water plants love it.
I buy them from the local pet store & put them in my 200 gal horse water trough to control the mosquito larva. They do a great job! I usually release them in our creek at the end of the summer to keep them from freezing in the water trough. This year I decided to try to keep them and set up a fish tank in the house. Now, they're the "cat TV". 😊💜🐟🐴🐈
Last year I added around 5 dozen from the local persmart to my pond. Only about 9 survived and made it through winter. Right now I have several dozen babies growing and living well in my pond, with koi, goldfish and a frog who made my pond home. I don't know how more haven't gotten eaten but they are so fun to watch and doing well so far!
@@sonnysfishroom3241 when their poops long and string and that means that they're they're eating more food than our digestive system can deal with That's why it's stringy
I got 2 when they were bought for $0.20 each to feed my son’s water turtle. They wore the turtle out. Couldn’t be caught. I got them from tank and put in big plastic cleaned cheese ball bottle in some water I had from outside that was a mix of tap water, rain water and was greening and had a few mosquito larvae in it. It was greening. The fish relaxed and loved it. I put some black clay balls in bottom added some stem plan cuttings and a bubble stone in it. I fed the fish crushed turtle pellets for a month and a half while I set up a planted tank with with more room. They know me. Hope they will survive when I transfer them to their new home.
@@LushSaltyAquariumsThey did. They are happy and always glad to see me. The 5 gallon planted aquarium I set up for them has been going well for over a week. Hope to move them soon.
This is cool! It's hard to find anyone who loves rosy minnows. I've been keeping them in an outdoor 300 gallon container pond since last summer. I had a lot die off from the first couple batches, the survivors successfully bred, but all but two of the fry died. Then I got about 40 more from a fish store right at the end of summer, and for whatever reason they were super healthy. Most of them survived, and are still healthy. Since it is middle of winter, I've kept the pond covered too much for spawning (it's heated), but hopefully they will start making babies in a couple months.
These were the first fish I ever had and my Aunt laughed and said they wouldn't last 5 Minutes, they lived about 4 years. Unfortunately they are no longer alowed in the uk.
Forgot to mention that this was a very high quality and well edited video. You obviously did your research and applied many different methods to your minnows. The video was simple and concise.
Thanks very much! I’m glad you liked it. I’m learning the technology as I go along. Maybe if people come to appreciate rosy reds, it will be possible to get stock that is healthier.
I really like them. A few years back I had an aquarium with just a few Rosy Red minnows in it and they were so lively and I really enjoyed keeping them.
I thought of these as bait only until I put a couple in my water plants to eat mosquito larvae. I never fed them, figured they'd die after warm weather ended. The planter froze that winter, but to my surprise the fish survived! So I decided to give them a bigger tub with hornwort and duckweed, and more minnow friends. It's 3+ years now and all 6 fish are alive despite the water freezing over with ice twice now. Hardy little guys for sure.
Very interesting vid. Some people use sea salt to kill parasites, worms, and the like. You never mentioned salt as a medical solution. Thank you for sharing a beautiful fish.
Thanks. I didn’t try it because I thought most of what I was trying to kill was either internal or under the skin. I did try tannins, rooibos tea, and methylene blue. I didn’t see results with any of them, so i didn’t mention them in the video.
Nicely done video Bob. I’ve also lost some of my native fish due to skinny disease. I think I’ll try some of your tactics with my fish and maybe I’ll have a better survival rate.
I agree, these are great fish. I keep them outside year round, they live about three years, and get pretty chunky. Fun fish to watch from above, too bad they are so badly treated in the hobby. I think those who use them would rather pay a bit more, so that they may offer healthy food to their pets. Nice video, thanks!
I've found medicated fish food really helps for rasing minnows and wild caught bluegill. Also reccomend a mix of Para salt mixed with prazipro. Seems to hold up well. Fishbendazol works great as well had great success with it.
Great video. I have been keeping fish for almost ten years now, and I had some trouble getting my feeder fish to stay alive. Started with 2 dozen, now I got 6. Its been stable for a few days now, but those are emerald shiners. I wanted to dive into rosy reds because they're cheaper, and I feel like they breed faster than my shiners.
Thank you. I don’t have any experience with emerald shiners. P. promelas is REALLY prolific, but, as I said in the video, I did not have a high survival rate with the fry. There’s more to learn, I guess.
Love these fish. Bought about 30-40 over a few months in their own tank. Got about 10 to survive, put them in my large Koi pond outside and some are 3+" and the orangey color looks awesome from above. Treated for a few weeks with Paraguard and Metroplex BTW.
I live in Vermont and bought 5 rosey minnows 5 years ago for 10 cents each. I bought them as feeder fish for my 500 gal outdoor goldfish pond. I now have about 30 of them and they are about 2 inches long and happy AF.
I got a dozen rosy reds and quarantined them and used the aquarium co op quarantine trio and they all survived and are still doing well without a loss 2 years later
In my experience with skinny disease I've found the following to be dramatically helpful. I don't know what part of this adopted procedure does the trick but.. Identify illness (nearly always present what appears to be collapsed or sunk in throat. Immediately isolate to prevent spread but to also stop any competition for food. Increase oxygenation. Feed seed shrimp without restriction for about 2 days, this is high protein and acts as a dieretic helping cleanse the bowel. Then change to high fat high protein flake and feed it to its fill about 5 times a day till it's back to healthy weight. I've never had it reoccur after this. I usually do this for 2 to 3 weeks before putting it back with others, then I watch closely to make sure it isn't underfeeding. It seems they get too weak to compete, isolate themselves and starve out while picking what is essentially dust off the floor of your tank. Hope this helps someone as it has saved my ptsmrt fish numerous times.
Great video, I bought 25 from a koi pond company for a new pond I put in my garden in new Mexico. I put them in about 6 months before I added goldfish just to be sure my water quality was good. I must of got lucky because I only lost 5. After a year the only problem I’m having is that they seem to over be over populating my pond. Not sure what to do about that? I agree with you that these little guys are amazing fish. They seem to handle a wide range of water temperatures. They also keep the pond free of mosquitoes. Do you know if they will slow down on their breeding since they have established a good colony?
Yes it's not fair the price increase like a month before I got my 2 pet minnows they were 20 cents I'm in Canada too 2 were 90 cents with tax it's a lot I don't know how ppl afford them as feeders or why they do that these guys are awesome
@@itsjotime The Goldfish are the worst they look like they were born yesterday full of parasites and infections for 45 cents and 90 cents for the ones that aren't dead yet. I've bought a few of them at a time and quarantine in a 40 gallon aquarium with deep substrate plants biological and mechanical filters and the minnows and Goldfish only have 40% percent success rate.
Great video! I wish you the best in your breeding endeavors! Hopefully one day I can look forward to buying Bob's Orange Minnows at my LFS! Unrelated question, but I see your collection of books in the background and wanted to know what recommendations you'd have? I've been looking for a nice, detailed tome of freshwater fishes (north american fish especially)! I got a Reader's Digest Book of North American Birds, and have been looking for something similar for fish.
I meant to reply sooner. IMO, the best ever field guide was The Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes. The images are composite, and in my experience, easier to identify fishes from than actual photos fro other field guides. Unfortunately, it’s out of print. I think it’s worthwhile to order an old copy online, if you could get it, and compare it with a Field Guide to fishes in your State. Thanks for stopping by and watching the video.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 Thanks! While I'm at it, do you have any additional advice for breeding fathead/rosy reds? I've been looking into getting some for my own tank and making a long-term breeding project out of it.
thank you very much for this video. I am a fan of these fish, I bought 12 of these fish 2 months ago, 5 died and 7 are growing very well and getting larger every day, in this tank I have lot of live plants. I want to transfer some these plants to a new tank with tropical fish, I am now concerned about transferring a disease to the new tank to the tropical fish. any advise thanks
I’m guessing: Maybe treat the plants for a night or two in a solution of potassium permanganate before tranferring them to a new tank? Again, I don’t know for sure, because I haven’t tried it.
I want to add Rosy Red Minnows to my outdoor pond in Northern Virginia, but am afraid of introducing disease. Is there a good source for healthy Rosy Red Minnows?
Some pointers: salt is a great way to treat parasites. The adults can get a salt bath when they get home from the store and you can add a few teaspoons to the tank. As for fry rearing... your green water setup was not nearly green enough. The fish will not eat the algae cells, only filter feeders can. So you need little plankton to eat the algae and the fry will hunt that... which means you can't even filter a green water tank at all. They had too much empty space to roam with not enough food. They need to be completely surrounded by food to get enough. An infusoria culture (paramecium) is just the ticket. Then you can progress to vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp or daphnia. Egg is a no-go since it will foul the water without filtration. Hope that helps, good luck
Glad to hear its not just me. Bought a dozen 3 survived, bought another dozen and 1 survived. Then because the school was so small 1 fish became a bully and had to be confined to his own tank.
also this collection of information on this fish could save it in the future do to climate loss and people like you so i hope you make an update on these guys
Be warned. They multiply. I bought 7 (to save). Put em in a 10 gal tank. They all thankfully survived & do so well that I have three 20 gal tanks of em, as well as giving some to ppl who like them too.😊
@@sonnysfishroom3241 I'll bet it all depends on what parasites are in the pond they came from. I'm nervous now because I just bought 7 cute little rosy reds from petsmart. I did notice a *lot* of dead ones in the tank. Here's hoping mine won't have skinny sickness🤞.
3 years ago I bought 10 rosy reds from Petco and put them in my 40 gallon outdoor tub. I put about 2 inches of pebbles on the bottom. I used a sponge filter made for ponds. I threw in some floating plants like duckweed, and wisteria. Put some drift wood and clay pots in also. All fish survived during the spring and summer even spawned. A few babies survived. I live in NJ so the weather began to get cooler which concerned me. I treated them like outdoor goldfish. Stopped feeding them when the water temperature went into the 50’s. As the freezing temperature arrived I kicked up the sponge filter and pointed the outflow toward the water surface. The water Agitation kept a hole open in the tub for the gas exchange. All survived the winter. I’m into my 3rd year with this group and now have about 20 Rosy’s plus 3 gold fish my grandchildren got for me. All are doing great. This spring I’m going to catch a few babies and bring them indoors for my planted aquarium.
That’s great to hear. I’m glad you had good luck with them right away. Seems yours came from healthier stock than mine did. It’s nice to hear from someone who appreciates them and is doing well with them.
I own five of them in a 29 gal and they are extremely aggressive, lots of fin nipping and chasing, they're especially aggressive towards different species.
Dang, the effort you have to take to prevent them from dying of disease and parasites was insane. It's a shame that they come from such poor conditions. Neon tetras have similar issues, as they are extremely inbred.
That's a lot of extremely expensive chemicals for 0.15 cent fish. I'm raising Rosey Red Minnows myself right now. I started with 13, lost the 1st one today, down to 12. I like to raise them without doing a lot extra and let the hearty ones survive without intervention aside from maintaining a clean and healthy aquatic environment for them.
That was my idea initially, too. In the video I talk about the first 20 or so I started with, which all died. So my next step was to start with more fish, and pull out all the stops to get them to survive. My objective was to start a breeding colony, and you can’t breed dead fish. Anyway, I hope your fish do well and don’t need all the medications I used on my fish.
Just to warn you, but some animals just have a high mortality rate for their young. Not terribly familiar with fish, but I have read that pigs have a shockingly high fetal mortality rate even under the most ideal conditions. IIFC, it's something north of 10-20% of the initial embryos.
Sorry, not trying to be a defeatist. Lowering any mortality rate is a worthy goal. I suppose I'm trying to point out that any victories in this regard will still have losses but that doesn't detract from the fact that you made a net benefit.
These guys eat cyanobacteria! What other fish, shrimp, or snail that you know of that eats cyanobacteria?? I had a huge cyanobacteria problem and these guys worked relentlessly to keep it under control. Constantly picking on it throughout the day on driftwood and large rocks.
Your experience is interesting, however, in my experience, you tried a little too hard. I feel like many deaths could have been prevented by trying a more hands-off approach. I had about 10 in a 50 gallon tank with just some stones and java moss. I don't think I lost any and they bred well. I eventually started putting them in water troughs outdoors with cinderblocks. Even with minimal feeding they survived on mosquito larvae and algae in the summer and seemed to do fine under a thin layer of ice in the winter. My goal was to begin selectively breeding them, however I had to move for work. Apparently, they are still going in the trough outdoors with no input from my family. Another interesting overlooked aquarium fish is the gambusia. They require no added heat and don't get much larger than guppies.
They are a HORRIBLE mix with Rosy Red or Rosy Barbs. They eat the scales off off the barbs as the barbs are resting head down. They are quite relentless about it as I have 9 barbs and 4 Rosy Red Minnows. Just a few days and one is practically without scales; must now get them apart! Keep a close eye these Minnows are notorious!
@@sonnysfishroom3241 I did separate and all the Barbs are growing nicely. The Minnows went in the basement to a 180 gallon Turtle Enclosure and are breeding just about out of control. The tub is vibrant and the fry seem to be thriving off of the Algae; when able you can see green bellies.
If you're going to get these minnows, you might as well just get rainbow shiners instead. They're also a US native, have the same needs, are more beautiful, and will probably introduce less disease.
I tried them, but I don’t think they like my hard water. Beautiful fish, though. And they don’t breed in caves, which, IMHO, is way cooler than egg scattering.
After keeping fish over 60 years, I’ve just decided to try and breed these minnows. I recently added a a Nerodia (native water snake) to my reptile collection. It readily swims below surface to take the minnows as its primary source of food. I’ve added 6 minnows to a 125 gal tank that will eventually be a native biotope tank (Tennessee and Georgia). Your video is an excellent resource and saves me mistakes and research you’ve already done. Exciting to think about you being able to produce a darker orange variant! Shared and subscribed! Thanks 🙏🏼 for the information.
I so agree w/ this video. I have three 20 gal tanks full of them. I started out w/ the last 7 in a tank (to save their lives). They so appreciated it that they reproduced like bunnies. I give them lots of plants. They love it and they're very active and attractive in their tanks. 😂
I have 7 as well and 2 comets. Inside for winter right by my desk. Very entertaining.
What happened to the channel. I just stumbled into this very hidden gem only to find out it's been inactive for 4 months. I hope you are doing well thse are some really good videos. Very informative and I enjoy them as well!!
Hey Sonny, your videos bring my friends and I so much joy. We look forward to the next time you post!
To follow up, one of my friends wrote a handwritten letter that we would love to deliver to you in some way. Would you be interested in seeing it? I would be happy to mail it to you or just send it through email, if you would prefer.
I have a tank with a handful of Rosies and a few larger Comets. Its one of my favorite tanks to watch.
Same theyre so merry its great lol
i agree! ive had a tank for them along with some of my home bred black mollies, i got 12 and i stil have 12 the are definately great and beautiful aquarium fish
Right?
I bought mine from petsmart and kept them in a black water set up in a plastic tub with neon tetras and musk turtle. They soon go from skinny to fat and grown 50% larger. I have not lost 1 single minnow from the original 10 I bought. I think they are best enjoyed from a pond, top view set up like koi & rice fish.
Nice to hear. I tried tannins in the water with mine, but they didn’t help. Glad you didn’t have as much trouble with yours as I did with mine.
Same my 2 kept eating the almond leaves 😂 despite having food so I stopped putting them but want to try again.
I got mine from petsmart almost a year ago theyre doing great I really enjoy them. Brought them in for winter but normally out in a 50 gal w 2 goldfish I got with them. They eat all the mosquitos and I water my plants with the tank water plants love it.
I buy them from the local pet store & put them in my 200 gal horse water trough to control the mosquito larva. They do a great job! I usually release them in our creek at the end of the summer to keep them from freezing in the water trough. This year I decided to try to keep them and set up a fish tank in the house. Now, they're the "cat TV". 😊💜🐟🐴🐈
❤❤🥰
I’ve watched several videos on roseys,, this by far is the most informative.. thanks. 👍🏻🇺🇸
Thank you for saying that!
Last year I added around 5 dozen from the local persmart to my pond. Only about 9 survived and made it through winter. Right now I have several dozen babies growing and living well in my pond, with koi, goldfish and a frog who made my pond home. I don't know how more haven't gotten eaten but they are so fun to watch and doing well so far!
Wonderful video. My wife has wanted to get these fish for a while, this may give me the confidence to try.
Good luck with them!
Fascinating discourse on a truly underrated fish. thank you :)
Thanks so much for watching!
@@sonnysfishroom3241 when their poops long and string and that means that they're they're eating more food than our digestive system can deal with That's why it's stringy
I got 2 when they were bought for $0.20 each to feed my son’s water turtle. They wore the turtle out. Couldn’t be caught. I got them from tank and put in big plastic cleaned cheese ball bottle in some water I had from outside that was a mix of tap water, rain water and was greening and had a few mosquito larvae in it. It was greening. The fish relaxed and loved it. I put some black clay balls in bottom added some stem plan cuttings and a bubble stone in it. I fed the fish crushed turtle pellets for a month and a half while I set up a planted tank with with more room. They know me. Hope they will survive when I transfer them to their new home.
@@daisybravo6526 LOL regarding the turtle! i hope the pair survive transfer as well :)
@@LushSaltyAquariumsThey did. They are happy and always glad to see me. The 5 gallon planted aquarium I set up for them has been going well for over a week. Hope to move them soon.
This is cool! It's hard to find anyone who loves rosy minnows. I've been keeping them in an outdoor 300 gallon container pond since last summer. I had a lot die off from the first couple batches, the survivors successfully bred, but all but two of the fry died. Then I got about 40 more from a fish store right at the end of summer, and for whatever reason they were super healthy. Most of them survived, and are still healthy. Since it is middle of winter, I've kept the pond covered too much for spawning (it's heated), but hopefully they will start making babies in a couple months.
Rosie Reds are the base of my 3000 gallon pond. They have successfully survived the freezing winter and I'm waiting for the spring breeding to begin.
Excellent! It’s great to hear fro, people who appreciate them for what they offer.
These were the first fish I ever had and my Aunt laughed and said they wouldn't last 5 Minutes, they lived about 4 years. Unfortunately they are no longer alowed in the uk.
Why that is so sad. Awesome yours lived so long mine are 3 months strong
They don’t call ‘em tuffies for nothing!
@@itsjotimeThey are invasive in the UK
I had a minnow I caught in a canal. Jack lived for a while!
@@EastMissouriAngling yeah such a shame tho as were great wee fish
Forgot to mention that this was a very high quality and well edited video. You obviously did your research and applied many different methods to your minnows. The video was simple and concise.
Thanks very much! I’m glad you liked it. I’m learning the technology as I go along. Maybe if people come to appreciate rosy reds, it will be possible to get stock that is healthier.
I really like them. A few years back I had an aquarium with just a few Rosy Red minnows in it and they were so lively and I really enjoyed keeping them.
good job, that was a lot of work but those fish turned out nice !
Thank you!
I love these guys. I keep them in my patio pond and they eat all the skeeters.
I thought of these as bait only until I put a couple in my water plants to eat mosquito larvae. I never fed them, figured they'd die after warm weather ended. The planter froze that winter, but to my surprise the fish survived! So I decided to give them a bigger tub with hornwort and duckweed, and more minnow friends. It's 3+ years now and all 6 fish are alive despite the water freezing over with ice twice now. Hardy little guys for sure.
Very interesting vid. Some people use sea salt to kill parasites, worms, and the like. You never mentioned salt as a medical solution. Thank you for sharing a beautiful fish.
Thanks. I didn’t try it because I thought most of what I was trying to kill was either internal or under the skin. I did try tannins, rooibos tea, and methylene blue. I didn’t see results with any of them, so i didn’t mention them in the video.
Nicely done video Bob. I’ve also lost some of my native fish due to skinny disease. I think I’ll try some of your tactics with my fish and maybe I’ll have a better survival rate.
I hope they help!
I agree, these are great fish. I keep them outside year round, they live about three years, and get pretty chunky. Fun fish to watch from above, too bad they are so badly treated in the hobby. I think those who use them would rather pay a bit more, so that they may offer healthy food to their pets. Nice video, thanks!
nematol treatment, and garlic infused food to boost the immune system I've used in a similar situation
Great video. Thanks for giving them the love!
I've found medicated fish food really helps for rasing minnows and wild caught bluegill. Also reccomend a mix of Para salt mixed with prazipro. Seems to hold up well. Fishbendazol works great as well had great success with it.
Great video. I have been keeping fish for almost ten years now, and I had some trouble getting my feeder fish to stay alive. Started with 2 dozen, now I got 6. Its been stable for a few days now, but those are emerald shiners. I wanted to dive into rosy reds because they're cheaper, and I feel like they breed faster than my shiners.
Thank you. I don’t have any experience with emerald shiners. P. promelas is REALLY prolific, but, as I said in the video, I did not have a high survival rate with the fry. There’s more to learn, I guess.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 the day you stop learning is the day you have truly died. Keep up the good work, I'm glad I stumbled upon this channel.
Love these fish. Bought about 30-40 over a few months in their own tank. Got about 10 to survive, put them in my large Koi pond outside and some are 3+" and the orangey color looks awesome from above. Treated for a few weeks with Paraguard and Metroplex BTW.
Really love the dedication and hard work you put in
Thank you!
Very informative and well documented video 😊. Worth watching
Thanks very much!
I live in Vermont and bought 5 rosey minnows 5 years ago for 10 cents each. I bought them as feeder fish for my 500 gal outdoor goldfish pond. I now have about 30 of them and they are about 2 inches long and happy AF.
Great for garden ponds. Goto variety add to goldfish and koi
I'm currently keeping 10 in a tank with 4 tiger barbs, all are happy and healthy.
I got a dozen rosy reds and quarantined them and used the aquarium co op quarantine trio and they all survived and are still doing well without a loss 2 years later
Thanks for the information.
In my experience with skinny disease I've found the following to be dramatically helpful. I don't know what part of this adopted procedure does the trick but..
Identify illness (nearly always present what appears to be collapsed or sunk in throat.
Immediately isolate to prevent spread but to also stop any competition for food.
Increase oxygenation.
Feed seed shrimp without restriction for about 2 days, this is high protein and acts as a dieretic helping cleanse the bowel. Then change to high fat high protein flake and feed it to its fill about 5 times a day till it's back to healthy weight. I've never had it reoccur after this. I usually do this for 2 to 3 weeks before putting it back with others, then I watch closely to make sure it isn't underfeeding. It seems they get too weak to compete, isolate themselves and starve out while picking what is essentially dust off the floor of your tank. Hope this helps someone as it has saved my ptsmrt fish numerous times.
Thanks for the advice!
Great video, I bought 25 from a koi pond company for a new pond I put in my garden in new Mexico. I put them in about 6 months before I added goldfish just to be sure my water quality was good. I must of got lucky because I only lost 5. After a year the only problem I’m having is that they seem to over be over populating my pond. Not sure what to do about that? I agree with you that these little guys are amazing fish. They seem to handle a wide range of water temperatures. They also keep the pond free of mosquitoes. Do you know if they will slow down on their breeding since they have established a good colony?
Thank you. They’ll stop breeding when the day length is 8 hours. They spawn in response to long days.
Man I have to pay 40 cents CAD which is a scam but I keep 7 of them in a heavily planted 20 gallon with platies
Yes it's not fair the price increase like a month before I got my 2 pet minnows they were 20 cents I'm in Canada too 2 were 90 cents with tax it's a lot I don't know how ppl afford them as feeders or why they do that these guys are awesome
@@itsjotime The Goldfish are the worst they look like they were born yesterday full of parasites and infections for 45 cents and 90 cents for the ones that aren't dead yet. I've bought a few of them at a time and quarantine in a 40 gallon aquarium with deep substrate plants biological and mechanical filters and the minnows and Goldfish only have 40% percent success rate.
Really good stuff Sonny. And I subscribed.
Thank you. Glad to have you aboard.
Great video! I wish you the best in your breeding endeavors! Hopefully one day I can look forward to buying Bob's Orange Minnows at my LFS!
Unrelated question, but I see your collection of books in the background and wanted to know what recommendations you'd have? I've been looking for a nice, detailed tome of freshwater fishes (north american fish especially)! I got a Reader's Digest Book of North American Birds, and have been looking for something similar for fish.
I meant to reply sooner. IMO, the best ever field guide was The Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes. The images are composite, and in my experience, easier to identify fishes from than actual photos fro other field guides. Unfortunately, it’s out of print. I think it’s worthwhile to order an old copy online, if you could get it, and compare it with a Field Guide to fishes in your State. Thanks for stopping by and watching the video.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 Thanks! While I'm at it, do you have any additional advice for breeding fathead/rosy reds? I've been looking into getting some for my own tank and making a long-term breeding project out of it.
I breed them all time outdoors in planted stock tank. They are fun fish to watch
Yes! They have a quick, easy grace. I hope you have continued good luck with yours.
thank you very much for this video.
I am a fan of these fish, I bought 12 of these fish 2 months ago, 5 died and 7 are growing very well and getting larger every day, in this tank I have lot of live plants. I want to transfer some these plants to a new tank with tropical fish, I am now concerned about transferring a disease to the new tank to the tropical fish. any advise
thanks
I’m guessing: Maybe treat the plants for a night or two in a solution of potassium permanganate before tranferring them to a new tank? Again, I don’t know for sure, because I haven’t tried it.
3:30 - 4:10 had me crying at the end
I want to add Rosy Red Minnows to my outdoor pond in Northern Virginia, but am afraid of introducing disease. Is there a good source for healthy Rosy Red Minnows?
If you find one, please let me know.
Can you do a video on the red shiner?
Awesome vid! How’s the breeding going?
Very cool
i pray your okay sonny, love to see a fellow hobbyist shining some light on the most underrated yet quite fun fish to keep
I’m doing ok, thanks!
They're amazing feeder fish to my native caught predator fish
Some pointers: salt is a great way to treat parasites. The adults can get a salt bath when they get home from the store and you can add a few teaspoons to the tank.
As for fry rearing... your green water setup was not nearly green enough. The fish will not eat the algae cells, only filter feeders can. So you need little plankton to eat the algae and the fry will hunt that... which means you can't even filter a green water tank at all. They had too much empty space to roam with not enough food. They need to be completely surrounded by food to get enough. An infusoria culture (paramecium) is just the ticket. Then you can progress to vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp or daphnia. Egg is a no-go since it will foul the water without filtration. Hope that helps, good luck
Thanks for the pointers.
Is it legal to sell sunfish out of Maryland? What would one need to sell sunfish out of Maryland?
I would think so. But you should check with the Maryland Department of Natural Reaources to find out what’s legal and what’s not.
For babies put more gunk and plants. Follow father fish methods. Doesn't get better than that
Glad to hear its not just me. Bought a dozen 3 survived, bought another dozen and 1 survived. Then because the school was so small 1 fish became a bully and had to be confined to his own tank.
Thanks for the feedback. Did you try giving the bully a cave to define?
@@sonnysfishroom3241 put a few pleco tunnels in the tank
@@sonnysfishroom3241 oh yes he was just a jerkface!
mann get back on youtube i enjoyed watching your video alot, im going out today to buy rosy reds
I would def buy healhy bred rosys from you
also this collection of information on this fish could save it in the future do to climate loss and people like you so i hope you make an update on these guys
Me gustaría conseguir a estos pequeños pero aquí en España no los encuentro.
Next time I see them I am getting them
Welcome to the club!
Be warned. They multiply. I bought 7 (to save). Put em in a 10 gal tank. They all thankfully survived & do so well that I have three 20 gal tanks of em, as well as giving some to ppl who like them too.😊
My minnows just laid their first eggs since I’ve bought them (3mnths ago). I got 1 male and 2 females. Let’s see
when i used to get rosy reds from the pet store, they usually never died
Other people have told me that. I don’t know why theirs survived and mine didn’t.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 I'll bet it all depends on what parasites are in the pond they came from. I'm nervous now because I just bought 7 cute little rosy reds from petsmart. I did notice a *lot* of dead ones in the tank. Here's hoping mine won't have skinny sickness🤞.
One of my minnows died today and I feel so awful and I don’t know if I was feeding them enough and i just wanna cry
3 years ago I bought 10 rosy reds from Petco and put them in my 40 gallon outdoor tub. I put about 2 inches of pebbles on the bottom. I used a sponge filter made for ponds. I threw in some floating plants like duckweed, and wisteria. Put some drift wood and clay pots in also. All fish survived during the spring and summer even spawned. A few babies survived. I live in NJ so the weather began to get cooler which concerned me. I treated them like outdoor goldfish. Stopped feeding them when the water temperature went into the 50’s. As the freezing temperature arrived I kicked up the sponge filter and pointed the outflow toward the water surface. The water Agitation kept a hole open in the tub for the gas exchange. All survived the winter. I’m into my 3rd year with this group and now have about 20 Rosy’s plus 3 gold fish my grandchildren got for me. All are doing great. This spring I’m going to catch a few babies and bring them indoors for my planted aquarium.
That’s great to hear. I’m glad you had good luck with them right away. Seems yours came from healthier stock than mine did. It’s nice to hear from someone who appreciates them and is doing well with them.
I just bought 30 today for my 100 gallon pond but I’m gonna buy more
Good luck with them.
Man you really got a young voice,
It matches my outlook.
I own five of them in a 29 gal and they are extremely aggressive, lots of fin nipping and chasing, they're especially aggressive towards different species.
I’m surprised. My fish do not do that.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 Yeah idk
I got about 70, my kou kept eating em 😂 but they ARE his food tho so no biggie
Dang, the effort you have to take to prevent them from dying of disease and parasites was insane. It's a shame that they come from such poor conditions. Neon tetras have similar issues, as they are extremely inbred.
Thanks for the tip on the neon tetras. I’ve been considering them for a future project.
That's a lot of extremely expensive chemicals for 0.15 cent fish. I'm raising Rosey Red Minnows myself right now. I started with 13, lost the 1st one today, down to 12. I like to raise them without doing a lot extra and let the hearty ones survive without intervention aside from maintaining a clean and healthy aquatic environment for them.
That was my idea initially, too. In the video I talk about the first 20 or so I started with, which all died. So my next step was to start with more fish, and pull out all the stops to get them to survive. My objective was to start a breeding colony, and you can’t breed dead fish. Anyway, I hope your fish do well and don’t need all the medications I used on my fish.
Just to warn you, but some animals just have a high mortality rate for their young.
Not terribly familiar with fish, but I have read that pigs have a shockingly high fetal mortality rate even under the most ideal conditions. IIFC, it's something north of 10-20% of the initial embryos.
Sorry, not trying to be a defeatist. Lowering any mortality rate is a worthy goal. I suppose I'm trying to point out that any victories in this regard will still have losses but that doesn't detract from the fact that you made a net benefit.
These guys eat cyanobacteria! What other fish, shrimp, or snail that you know of that eats cyanobacteria?? I had a huge cyanobacteria problem and these guys worked relentlessly to keep it under control. Constantly picking on it throughout the day on driftwood and large rocks.
I did not know that! Thank you.
@sonnysfishroom3241 no problem! If only they had mouths like plecos or hillstream loaches.
WOW turn down the mic gain🔊🔉🔈
Thanks for your patience. I’m still learning the technology. And thanks for letting me know.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 no prob. just had my headphones on👍
I hate them. I put 4 in my pond, and now theres thousands. I can not stop them.
Your experience is interesting, however, in my experience, you tried a little too hard. I feel like many deaths could have been prevented by trying a more hands-off approach. I had about 10 in a 50 gallon tank with just some stones and java moss. I don't think I lost any and they bred well. I eventually started putting them in water troughs outdoors with cinderblocks. Even with minimal feeding they survived on mosquito larvae and algae in the summer and seemed to do fine under a thin layer of ice in the winter. My goal was to begin selectively breeding them, however I had to move for work. Apparently, they are still going in the trough outdoors with no input from my family. Another interesting overlooked aquarium fish is the gambusia. They require no added heat and don't get much larger than guppies.
Yeah, I’m no fan of over medicating, but since my previous batches all died, I didn’t want to take any chances. Good luck with your fish.
They are a HORRIBLE mix with Rosy Red or Rosy Barbs. They eat the scales off off the barbs as the barbs are resting head down. They are quite relentless about it as I have 9 barbs and 4 Rosy Red Minnows. Just a few days and one is practically without scales; must now get them apart! Keep a close eye these Minnows are notorious!
Seriously? I haven’t had any problems with them so far, but I’ll keep any eye on them.
@@sonnysfishroom3241 I did separate and all the Barbs are growing nicely. The Minnows went in the basement to a 180 gallon Turtle Enclosure and are breeding just about out of control. The tub is vibrant and the fry seem to be thriving off of the Algae; when able you can see green bellies.
If you're going to get these minnows, you might as well just get rainbow shiners instead. They're also a US native, have the same needs, are more beautiful, and will probably introduce less disease.
I tried them, but I don’t think they like my hard water. Beautiful fish, though. And they don’t breed in caves, which, IMHO, is way cooler than egg scattering.
I feed these to my Bichar
My fish will eat it head first