Anyone know fish?

juliekit

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Im thinking of getting a small to medium tank sometime soon, and I was wondering if anyone know what type of fish are good breeders?

I think its an awsome process, but have never had the chance to experience it. My cousin started with two small angel fish and she had the luck that they did reproduce. It was awsome to see those teeny tiny specks grow up into fish as big as there parents.

She eventually gave some to her sister, mom etc.

I know guppies are easy breeders but they would be too small, and im more interested in having just a pair of good sized fish. Any ideas?

Just a note, it has to be something common as there are no 'fish breeders' here and I would be buying from a store. Thanks!
 

sharky

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Guppies
Mollys
Sordtails


for more of a challenge
Convict chiclids


all the "live bearers"
 

gingersmom

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I had guppies and REALLY enjoyed seeing all the baby fishies!!!
 

barryz

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Uff, not an easy task to recomend something as with small to medium tank there are no much choices.

I presume, you want a freshwater tank, so it would be really a great job to start with just guppies. Also mollies are great - bigger, easy to keep and produce easy, like guppies.

See, fish need a space like indoor plants a pot - bigger pot means bigger plant. The same with fish - keep fish in small tank and they will be not happy to grow and produce.

If you have no space for large tank and no experience, then guppies and mollies are the best.

And even then it is better to have another smal tank to seperate babies after they are born as parents like to eat them, especially in a small tank with no much space for babies to hide.

But if you are serious, then I reccmend to get about 200 g tank, plant a lot of plants, let it to establish, and then after a month or so to bring nome a group of fish that you like - small ones, not a big, adult fish as there is less chances that they will like the new place.

A lot of freshwater fish that are sold at petshops are captived wild and they do not adjust to the life in tanks very well and they also can have a lot of desieses.

Babies adjust much easier and will feel better in your tank and if you wilget babies one day it will be great fun, like becoming a grandmother suddenly! Surprise, surprise!
 
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juliekit

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Ok, when I said small fish tank, I dont mean those REALLy small hexagon kit thingys they sell at Walmart, more like 20 or so gallons. I said small to medium cause mom has a 55-60 gallon tank and it seems huge compared to what I want...lol

I was actually quite surprised when my cousins angels reproduced because she did have them in a 10-15 gallon tank and they produced just fine. She did buy a small net thing that she hung in the tank and she placed the babies in there until they got bigger.

My mom had guppies in her tank about a year ago and the female died before they ever had babies!
 
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juliekit

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Originally Posted by babyharley

We have chiclids and I do believe one is pregnant!
YAY! It must be so exciting!

You know with fish its awsome because you see those teeny tiny little 'blobs' blossom into mini copies of their parents, and eventually develop into adult fish. And with fish, I honestly see no harm in hobby breeding, unless you dont have the room, or your first breeding gives you 4 eyed, 2 tailed fish and you keep breeding anyway...lol
 

awsome pawsomes

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I do suggest that if you get mollies get 1 male to at least 2 to 3 females. or maybe just 1 male for the whole tank. I have mollies that breed . I started with 6 . I had what i thought was 1 male to 2 female. Pet shop chick was wrong. I ended up with 3 males and 3 females. too many males. They are quite aggressive fish. My big black male killed my other 2 males. 1 male to 3 females seems to be working though. I also suggest with mollies to add a lil salt to the tank. they are brackish water fish. where the salt meets the fresh. They are a very hardy fish. you do need a good lid because they do jump. They breed well and have live young. no eggs to watch.
I hope this helps.
 

awsome pawsomes

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heres a pic of my tank. you can just see the babies in the breeding tank in the corner.



the lil black fish in the front is now a whopping big 8cm or 3.14inches.
he is a rather large molly.
 

essayons89

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I'd steer clear of Convicts. You'll be overrun with fry before you know it and since they are so very, very common you'll have a difficult time even giving them away for free to a pet store.

As far as livebearers go the easiest fish to breed are Guppies. More often than not they are pregnant when netted out of the store fish tank. Mollies would be right behind them. I keep and breed mollies, platys, swords and guppies as well as a couple of endangered Goodied species.

A 20 gallon is a good size tank to breed some of the dwarf cichlids like Rams, Apistos and Kribs. I tried breeding a pair of angels that I used to have in a 20 gallon tall but they resorted to beating the crud out of each other and wouldn't spawn again until I put them back into a 55 gallon. The African shell-dwelling cichlids from Lake Tanganyika do well in a 20 gallon.
 

t-cat

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Just as everyone has said, guppies are the easiest to spawn. And there are some very colorful varieties that are so beautiful. But beware that they spawn like rabbits. If you keep a pair together they won't stop and soon you'll be overrun with babies.

As with any spawn, be prepared beforehand with what you want to do with all this fry.

I myself spawn bettas. But they're egg-layers. Dad will build a bubble nest, mom is introduced, the pair embrace and dad squeezes eggs out of mom while releasing sperm, mom and dad will put eggs in bubblenest, and they embrace again. Spawning can take up to four hours. Mom needs to be taken out once spawning is over or else dad will kill her. Dad takes care of the eggs and fry until fry are free-swimming. Then you become dad. But there is more to it than that. Spawning bettas is in no means easy. And they can lay up to 500 eggs, and each juvie needs to be separated once aggression begins. So that means a lot of containers and a lot of room...and a place to sell/give them to once they're of age. And many advise against breeding pet shop bettas because they're generally not in high demand. You might want to invest in a good pair from specific breeders.

And of note, I don't think the cichlid is pregnant. They're egg-layers as well, and will lay their eggs in a pit or on rocks and guard it with their life.


Good luck with whatever fish you choose!
Spawning fish is truly an amazing and rewarding experience.
 
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juliekit

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Originally Posted by T-Cat

Just as everyone has said, guppies are the easiest to spawn. And there are some very colorful varieties that are so beautiful. But beware that they spawn like rabbits. If you keep a pair together they won't stop and soon you'll be overrun with babies.

As with any spawn, be prepared beforehand with what you want to do with all this fry.

I myself spawn bettas. But they're egg-layers. Dad will build a bubble nest, mom is introduced, the pair embrace and dad squeezes eggs out of mom while releasing sperm, mom and dad will put eggs in bubblenest, and they embrace again. Spawning can take up to four hours. Mom needs to be taken out once spawning is over or else dad will kill her. Dad takes care of the eggs and fry until fry are free-swimming. Then you become dad. But there is more to it than that. Spawning bettas is in no means easy. And they can lay up to 500 eggs, and each juvie needs to be separated once aggression begins. So that means a lot of containers and a lot of room...and a place to sell/give them to once they're of age. And many advise against breeding pet shop bettas because they're generally not in high demand. You might want to invest in a good pair from specific breeders.

And of note, I don't think the cichlid is pregnant. They're egg-layers as well, and will lay their eggs in a pit or on rocks and guard it with their life.


Good luck with whatever fish you choose!
Spawning fish is truly an amazing and rewarding experience.
Wow I really like the idea, I adore bettas and I think it would be an awsome experience. If only one time though, 550 eggs is ALOT!.
 

swammi

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I bred guppy and mollys, the guppys were awsome. it was a long time ago though.
 

t-cat

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Do keep in mind though that not all 550 eggs (if that many are laid in the first place) will survive. Some may be eaten by the parents. Some may just not be fertile. And when hatched, not all fry will survive to adulthood. Basically, survival of the fittest.

Also, you need to be prepared with food and what not -- infusoria, baby brine shrimp, etc. You have a big enough tank. 10g is minimum. If where you are gets cold, you need a heater. They do best at about 82 degrees Farenheit. You could also benefit from having a sponge filter. It helps to produce good bacteria colonies that your fry will feed on in the beginning, and it also helps to keep the water clean, limiting the amount of work you have to do. But you DO have to do water changes.

Here is a great site on bettas: http://www.bettysplendens.com. She used to breed, but doesn't anymore, but you can still find a lot of helpful info on bettas!


From my recent spawn, only one baby survived. He's doing well and growing up to be a big boy. :p I've also recently tried spawning another pair, but the daddy was being a poophead and ate all the eggs.
Stuff like that will happen and you just gotta try again.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide.
 

maxy24

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I bred guppies but I was not very responsible about it, I promised I would not take the babies out of the tank...but after the first birth there was only one baby left so I took him out with a turkey baster and then with all the other births I started taking babies out. The guppies produce every month and I had three females so that was a lot of babies and I ran out of tanks to put them in, so we set up the 55 gallon own stairs and put all the males down there and kept the females in he tanks upstairs, but Then I decided I had a lot more females than males and switched them. I started giving them away to teachers for class room pets, and this one teacher wanted me to take them back over the summer, and the two females I gave her were prego, so they had babies and almost all of them lived without me taking them out. One of the females had babies twice (they can retain sperm) so that was a lot of babies. But now everything has settled and I still have that original baby I took at the very beginning and he is all grown up, my babies were much prettier than their parents and the males had great colors, even many of the females got pink tails. I'd have loved to do it again, responsibly, like choose a male and female put them in a tank together for a week and then remove the male, so I know the genetics and can control (somewhat) the number of babies. I really did enjoy watching the babies grow and seeing the beautiful colors I got. Good Luck!
 
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