Your first (fish) breeding experiences

[Rob]

Again this is in response to comments by Pegasus about his curiosity about what other peoples aquarium and fish keeping habits are.

I know this post is about breeding fish and some may consider it better placed in the Breeding forum, however I would prefer to see the breeding forum as a place where people can ask specific questions about breeding a species not general reminiscing about breedings.

First off, I think saying that 'I have breed a fish' is a misnoma. As really the requirements of you are to provide a suitable environment for the fish, where they feel inclined to breed - so it's more 'I provided the right conditions for the fish and they rewarded me by breeding'. The tricky parts are getting the conditions right (this can be a case of semi-educated trial and error, particularly where you haven't got a magazine, book or internet article about someone else breeding the fish) and secondly, successfully raising the fry to adulthood.

Technically the first fish that I got to breed were guppies, however I don't really consider it my first breeding as I think most people find it hard to STOP guppies (and many of the other livebearers) from breeding.

So it's more what was the first egg layer you got to breed? In my case it was Glass Bloodfin Tetras (Prionobrama friligera)- totally by accident.

I was really trying to get a pair of Blue Rams to breed (a fish I have a love/hate relationship with: I love the way they look and behave / I hate that I can't seem to keep them alive for any great length of time). The Rams were alone in a 2' tank with a selection of caves and rocks for spawning sites and a reasonable amount of plant material for cover. The Rams were very timid so I thought I would add the bloodfins as a dither fish. After about a month/6 weeks with no activity from the Rams I pulled all of the fish out of there.

The breeding tank got left for about a week while I tried to decide what I would breed next. There was a fair amount of sediment in the bottom of the tank (from the apple snail I had in there as a 'cleanup crew') so I decided to do a water change on the tank and siphon out the sediment. I siphon out a bucket full and dump it onto the front lawn as I usually do, sit back down infront of the tank and notice some minute 'thing' swim across the front of the tank. Closer inspection showed it to be a baby fish - not a ram therefore must be a bloodfin. "wow, I've got baby tetras....oh crap how many of them have I just murdered on the front lawn?"

So now I have learnt to very carefully sift through the accumulated sediment in breeding tanks (particularly where there are no obvious fry). And you know what? - this did pay off - after no apparent action from Pygmy corydoras I removed the adults and then following my NEW routine inspected the first lot of sediment I siphoned out - just as well as there were baby cory's there - eventually I ended up with about 50 baby Pygmy corydoras.

So of the things that I've breed so far what am I most chuffed about? Pygmy corys (because I know other people who have tried and failed) and Dwarf rasboras (because raising fry from a fish that has an adult size of 1.5-2cm can be a bit challenging).

If you're interested in what other people in the NZ federation have been breeding the information can be found at:

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/kpr/

A list of my breedings is included in the Waikato Aquarium Society listings of the above page.

ps The interesting thing about glass bloodfin fry is that they are totally clear but with red 'demon' eyes, as they grow the colour of the eye disappears and they develop the red in their tail.

[ This Message was edited by: Rob on 2002-03-27 17:12 ]

[Pegasus]

Hi Members,

Once more a good one Rob, you seem to have the knack, which leads me to writing the following.

I had a friend in the UK, a professor at the local university. He was a bit of a recluse, and you were honoured if you could manage to get into his company, which I was fortunate to do.

Because of the TF Shop I had I become known to him, and all the aquarists knew of him (but few had met him face to face) as he was at that time one of the few that had bred neons and cardinals in any quantity.

I was invited to his home, along with my wife, and as I said, felt highly honoured. We got talking about breeding, when suddenly he jumped from his seat and yelled at his wife.

“Doris… That one there, and that one, get them out…â€

I almost jumped out of my pants, as Doris rushed to the tank containing dozens upon dozens of cardinals and neons. Ten minutes later she had two fish in a glass jam jar, and proudly presented them to my friend.

“You got the wrong b…… male, it was that one I wanted,†he yelled pointing at the tank.

Moments later, red faced, she produced the male in question.

“Come on Bill, watch this,†he said

Into the jam jar he placed a piece of artificial Myiophylum with a small weight on the base. We watched in amusement until suddenly the activity started, and for ten minutes we watched the cardinals spawn.

The man’s name was Eli, and he had lectured all over the world on breeding fish. He had been awarded some sort of high award from the queen of England for introducing guppies into some mossie infested area somewhere, I can’t quite remember, but to continue, he showed me graphs of all his fish, each one dedicated to an individual fish.

I was staggered to say the least, and I thought ‘why would anyone want so much detail on one fish,’ and he had hundreds.

These graphs showed that a fish has a cycle, much like a woman, and that there is a peak period in time that a fish will breed. I thought it was a load of B/S, but then he produced another chart, then showed it to his wife, who then pulled two neons from another tank and placed them into a jar. In went the bit of plant, and in minutes they were spawning. No need to say I was totally impressed. Later he showed me his fish room, a ten by twelve-foot shed filled with tanks of all sizes. There were literally thousands of neons and cardinals swimming happily about, and of course I wanted to know his secret.

“It’s all in the water lad, all in the water,†he would laugh. The water straight from the tap in that area had less than 1ppm of hardness, and was very slightly acid.

My friend has probably passed on now, as he was quite old at the time, but if you’re watching Eli, I still remember you with great admiration.

Regards

Bill.

[Deleatidium]

Great story there Pegasus. Given my limited time with aquarium fish, I have not tried to breed any as yet.

As with Rob, the first fish I have had reproduce in my tank are guppies. What an exper I must be :lol:

The only other brush with reproduction came when I inadvertently bred some danios when I was colonising a filter sponge with bacteria. When I installed the sponge in the new tank, my girlfriend noticed some tiny little fish. Given danios were the only egg layers likely to spawn in this tank, I assume they were danio fry. They weren't around long and I didn't have the facilities nor the desire to raise them. I only saw three and those three were each observed being eaten by guppies just after I saw them. Danios are easy to breed I know but it was a interesting first experience.

Soon I am going to try to breed my gold spot ottos (Parotocinclus spliosoma) and maybe my Otocinclus spilosoma. At www.planetcatfish.com

I found a good description of how someone bred gold spots.

I'll keep you posted once I commence my efforts.

[Rob]

I'm pleased to hear that the gold spot otos are still out there. I'm waiting for Derek to rebreed them as I have to admit that the four I got slowly declined to zero :oops:

The article on planet catfish about their breeding was written by a member of the NZ fishroom, Derek - he also happens to be a member of the Upper Hutt aquarium soc.

(A little trumpet blowing here on my part :lol: ) There is also another article (that I know of) written by an NZ fishroom member on Planet Catfish - About a chance spawning of Bulldog/rubber lipped plecos (Chaetostoma cf thomsoni) since the time I wrote the article I've had them spawn again with a much better success.

[Ira]

I've only managed, other than guppies:) to breed a couple bristlenoses. About a year ago I was looking into the tank in the middle of the night. It's full of south american cichlids and a male and female bristlenose, and thought I must be hallucinating when I saw a little itty bitty bristlenose. He'd survived in there long enough to get to about half-3/4 inch long. He must have died eventually though. Then maybe 6 months ago I happened to look into the tank and saw a little cluster of orange eggs drifting around the bottom. Grabbed them out, floated them in a glass container in another tank along with an airstone and some anti-fungal stuff. Got 4 fry, only 1 still alive, but she(I think) is big enough I think it'll live for a while. It's in with the tetras now.

[Deleatidium]

Hi Rob, how long did your gold spot ottos live for? I purchased mine from a pet store "Animates" in Wellington. I bought three, and have had no deaths. The oldest two I have had for over a year.

What do you think of them? I reckon they are one of the neatest little fish I have come across.

The pet shop said they recieved some by accident in a order of cories or something and they gave them to one of their customers who is good at breeding catfish and they breed more. Is this Derek I am talking about or someone else?

[Rob]

Hi Rob, how long did your gold spot ottos live for?

The pet shop said they recieved some by accident in a order of cories or something and they gave them to one of their customers who is good at breeding catfish and they breed more. Is this Derek I am talking about or someone else?

I had 4, they just slowly dissappeared over the course of 9 months. At the time I wasn't having much luck keeping regular otos alive either - but know, with more heavily planted tanks and feeding a bit of courgette every know and then I'm keeping otos alive quite well (slowly built up to 6 of them which I've had for about a year now with no losses). This is why I'm keen to get some gold spot otos (as I think they're a cool little fish).

As for the breeder of the ones available down in Wellington - yes that would be Derek. He's had some success breeding catfish and (I believe) built a rapport with one of the animates staff members (who I think has now left).

Just a general comment about fish shops: building up a rapport with one of the staff members can really help with getting access to more odd ball fish (which I tend to favour). You can usually do this with the smaller owner/operator stores, with larger stores (possibly with a high staff turnover) it becomes more difficult.

[Deleatidium]

It is a small world then in little NZ. I also have 2 Otocinclus affinis and hope to get about 4 more soon.

I like the way gold spots change 'colour' or at least the darkness of their bodies to best match the substrate.

[Batman]

My fish breeding has been pretty limited. However, my pair of Paradise fish have bred 3 times in about eight weeks.

I've only been keeping fish for about three months or so now, but it all started when I bought a couple of banana lillies. The male started building his bubble nest as soon as I got them. Then my Siamese Fighter was charging around and dislodged some hygrophilias which floated to the surface. That was on about Tuesday six weeks ago and I decided I'd leave it that way 'til the weekend and straigten everything out (busy with work, food to cook, blah, blah.)

Anyway, I got home on the following Thursday night and went to feed my fish and all my rasboras and danios (16 fish all up) along with my Siamese Fighter were all swimming around at the opposite end of the tank to where the floating plants are. I thought it was a bit weird, but didn't really think anything much of it. However, next morning they were all still the same and anytime one came a bit close the male would charge out of the plants and chase it away. Sure enough, I looked closer and the bubble nest had tons of little tails hanging down.

I wasn't really sure how they were going to survive, but I left all the plants floating and I still have some of the little dudes swimming around - the biggest are about (8mm or so.)

So all in all, I'm going to be a fish-daddy and my Paradise Fish have gotten more in the last six weeks than I have! :evil:

[Derek]

.....how long did your gold spot ottos live for?

Looking back at my records I purchased the original P.spilosoma on 4/9/99, they were labelled as bulldog plecos. Although I didn't know what they were (at the time) I knew they weren't bulldog plecos. At least one of those original fish, the female is still alive so that makes her at least 3years old. I was lucky enough (as Rob puts it) to fluke the right conditions to encourage their breeding immediately and I had my first spawn two months later on 17/11/99. The last time I sold any of them to Animates was on 6/12/00. So the odds are that your fish are about 1.5-2.5 years old.

To keep on thread, the first egglayer I had breed, were White Cloud Mountain Minnows. I was told these would be a good first egglayer as the parent fish tend to leave the eggs and young fry alone. Once I had fry I started feeding more but alot of the food fell to the bottom and was ignored by the fry. So I added some Bronze cories to the tank to clean it up. They certainly did that and shortly after they were spawning as well.

The funny thing with those original bronze cories was that the 3 females would spawn on different days after a water change. I always use a cold water change to triggger spawning in cories and often you will get a group spawning together on the same day but not these ones. After a weekly cold water change I would find eggs 1, 2 and 6 days after the water change. Each female had her own day.

[Pegasus]

Hey you guys, great posts, keep it up, this is really interesting.

Good info like this is exactly what we need.

Bill.