Easy Spawning Material That Works!

I used to supply my breeding pairs with acrylic yarn spawning mops, but the mops tended to 'molt' little bits of yarn fiber that clogged up my filters.  I tried many other materials, without success, until I hit on the idea of using fake pine tree garlands while shopping an after-Christmas sale in January.  The garlands are embedded with wire, making them easy to shape into 'shrubs' for the tank, the 'shrubs' are heavy enough that they don't have to be weighted, and their 'needles' are made of fabric that's soft enough to appeal to the fish. The exposed metal where the garland has been cut can rust, but it's easy enought to put a dab of silicone tank sealer over the ends.

I bought some of the garland at Michael's Crafts and tested a piece of it in tank water (with no fish) to ensure it wouldn't bleed dye or any water pollutants.  Satisfied it was safe, I cut the stuff into lengths of about 2' and then coiled it around to make little 'shrubs' for all my killie tanks.  The Gularis didn't go for this new material at all, but my Aphy. Striatum and Fp. Scheeli have bred in it like crazy.  It must provide excellent cover for the fry also, because I haven't made any attempt to harvest eggs and I've still been pulling fry from the parents' tanks at a rate of about 16-20 every other week since mid-March.