How lond does it take to give birth?

How long does it take for them to give birth and how often does that happen?

Neki,
This is a bit of a complicated question here, I'll try to answer sensibly for you.

Tiger Barbs are Egg-laying fish, and in common with many others conditions need to be 'right' for them to lay their eggs...let's start with a few questions:
How large (in length) are your Tiger Barbs?
Do you have plants in your tank?
Is your water fairly neutral - pH wise?

Now, I had bred Tiger Barbs in the past (at a time when they were far less regularly tank bred - unlike those now available) and always then the water had to be slightly below neutral in pH and fairly soft as well - back then I used rain water I had collected off the roof of my greenhouse.

I kept the males seperated from the female for a week or so - then I put the female into a small tank (18\"x10\"x10\") heavily planted with Cabomba. After a couple more days I added the two males last thing at night and by midday, if they were going to lay eggs they had done so by then, you could see this by the comparative 'slimness' of the female (by comparison to the night before).
I have to say that the eggs are very tiny and extremely hard to see (I never saw any!). However - be warned...although they might be hard for people to see, the Tiger Barbs saw them well enough and had already started feasting upon them!!! I had to waste no time in getting them away from the eggs, or they would soon be eaten - although the Cabomba helped in 'hiding' some of the eggs for long enough to make sure some remained after the adults were removed.

So, what I think I'm trying to say to you is that they will only breed when they are ready - unless you can 'condition' them to do so by seperating the sexes - and they were 3/4 fully grown fish I was using, around 1-1/2 to 1-3/4\" in length so I'm guessing yours might still be a bit less than this?

I've really 'gone around the houses' with this answer and apologise for that but I do hope it helps a bit?
If you have further questions please ask them - hopefully you'll get a better 'answerer' next time.

John

To tell the truth I'm a bit embarrassed by asking so many questions as this month I'll be exactly 1 year in this hobby

Neki, first things first There is absolutlely no need for you to feel embarassed for asking questions - the Forum thrives upon them and I think it's great that there seems to always be someone able to offer some advice, however 'sketchy'.

We are ALL learning something new every day, anyone who tells you otherwise isn't perhaps being totally honest!

You don't have a plant-free tank, this is good but I would consider removing the Sea Shells, they would tend to raise your pH but this would possibly not be an issue as what I was referring to was many years back when they were a good deal harder to breed than now - I would suspect that a pH of 7.2 would be fine with today's Tiger Barbs.

For the time being (until you get another tank) I wouldn't be too bothered about trying to 'induce' them to breed (as I used to do) like as not they'll lay eggs as and when they are ready to, for the time being you can just consider that the eggs, when laid, will be a welcome source of Protein for your fish.
The eggs are unlikely to end up in the gravel and be safe from being eaten as they are slightly adhesive and will 'stick' to anything they touch - as far as I recall all Barbs' eggs are, most egg laying fishes eggs are sticky, there being notable exceptions such as Danios.

So, to sum up, let them lay their eggs (which they will do when good and ready) and don't be getting too upset that you aren't able to save any for the time being...and start saving for another tank.

Hope that helps,

John

And one last thing, I have been keeping Fish on and off almost all my life and I still get the same excitement from watching them now as I did when a child.

:o)