The Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, host over 300 freshwater fish species, of which about 70% are endemic to the region . Many of these species are harvested from the wild to meet the demand of the ornamental fish trade, which lead to population decline of the indigenous fishes . Recently, s tandardized captive breeding protocols were developed for several barb species, but most of the breeding protocol depend on exogenous hormones, which are costly, stressful to broodfish, and potentially unsuitable for small-scale farmers. Developing natural, hormone-free spawning methods is therefore essential for sustainable production and conservation. We report the first successful hormone-free captive breeding of Dawkinsia apsara and D. rohini using only environmental and nutritional cues. Wild-collected broodfish (mean length 10 ± 2 cm) were conditioned for 30 days in round FRP tanks under optimal water quality (25–27 °C, pH 6.8–7.2, DO >5 mg L⁻¹) and fed a protein-rich diet ( mosquito larvae, bloodworms, Artemia and Moina) .
Βreeding trials were conducted in 50 L aquaria with mesh bottoms and breeding mops. Males were introduced 24 h prior to females, and courtship began within 30–36 h of female introduction, followed by spawning took place within 36–42 h. We observed more than 85% fertilization in both the species and high hatching success (More than 80%) within 24 h at 26-27 °C. Larvae commenced exogenous feeding by day 3 and were reared successfully on Artemia nauplii, Moina , and commercially available powdered diets. Notably, eggs of D. apsara were highly adhesive, whereas D. rohini eggs were slightly adhesive contrasting earlier reports of non-adhesive eggs under hormone-induced protocols, suggesting that hormones may alter spawning behaviour and egg properties. This study demonstrates that optimized conditioning and low-stress husbandry can replace hormones, lowering costs, eliminating residues, and offering a scalable, eco-friendly strategy for ex-situ conservation and sustainable ornamental aquaculture of Western Ghats barbs.