Breeding Tricks of the Trade and Tips.

Breeding Tricks of the Trade and Tips.

Thought I’d start a new thread for people to share and take little fishy-tips on breeding.

A Compendium of Little Tricks of the Trade and Hints and Tips on tempting certain fish to spawn……especially when a method in an article doesn’t seem to have all the ingredients.

Eg.

Imaginarine fisherii……raise temp by 5 degrees for a week, then add cool water to drop temp by 5 degrees. (type of thing).

Ian

This should be extremely interesting to follow. It would be nice to hear what other peoples experiences are.

cant wait to get a lot off tips on this has havent done any breeding yet but is something im going to think off very much when settin up the new tank as is caves and other breeding spots and how to get them to breed ??? also wat to do with fry when to take them out male and female and ect

One thing I have noticed(but I dont reccomend it's attempted),is that when a tank is let go a bit,ie water changes are missed or not done in a while,etc,when you do catch up and do a change,it seems to be a trigger for various species to spawn.
I can only conclude that this must mimic something in nature,eg pools dwindling away,then a burst of rainfall.

Acara wrote:

One thing I have noticed(but I dont reccomend it's attempted),is that when a tank is let go a bit,ie water changes are missed or not done in a while,etc,when you do catch up and do a change,it seems to be a trigger for various species to spawn.
I can only conclude that this must mimic something in nature,eg pools dwindling away,then a burst of rainfall.

That is a technique that I would have used extensively when I used to do alot of breeding for certain fish.

Even some of the more delicate species will only seem to spawn when put under such conditions.

In nature, breeding may occur in the rainy season.....prior to that the water becomes higher in dissolved stuff, and then suddenly a downpour will change everything.

Also, linked to that, is the changes in temperature tips used for breeding Corys etc.

# Crenuchus spilurus (Sailfin Tetra).......making sure water is very very mature and stable and in a condition for their good health....ie ultra stable and quite soft and acidic with low conductivity.
The to spawn.....you need a cave anyway in there... Do without water changes for a few weeks. Add a little bicarb to increase slowly and carefully the pH to just under neutral (remembering that these do best at just above pH 5.5).
Reduce feeding substantially (and healthy fish will cope with that) for the few weeks.
Then carefully change a substantial part of the water, lower the pH and lower the temperature in the process.
Do not then make changes to temp or water parameters until the fry are quite large.


# Siamese Fighting Fish......well the usual separate male and female and condition and having a temp of 80F etc etc
But the Tip here if you find a stubborn pair is to allow a stream of early morning sunlight to strike the tank.....in Ireland this is east rising sunlight, and would not increase temperatures too much.
DO NOT do that with south-facing or west-facing sunlight.

ian

Perfectly summed up Ian; i was just about to agree with Acara there- i noticed my malawis each timed they spawned for me was when im away for 2-3 weeks; then returned with wcs; and hey presto; swollen mouths with full of fry !

Great idea for a thread Ian, maybe for a sticky if/once it takes off.

I have a question - what is the best way to raise or lower the pH of your water? I often see people suggesting raising it or lowering it but am never sure how. I know there are supliments by Tetra etc to change this but are these any good? Or would you use bicarb etc as suggested in your thread?

This might be a question for your other thread but is there any correlation between water hardness and pH? I have been mixing them up me thinks, so confused now! Is there a way to make your water harder or softer? Thanks!

PompeyBill wrote:

Great idea for a thread Ian, maybe for a sticky if/once it takes off.

I have a question - what is the best way to raise or lower the pH of your water? I often see people suggesting raising it or lowering it but am never sure how. I know there are supliments by Tetra etc to change this but are these any good? Or would you use bicarb etc as suggested in your thread?

This might be a question for your other thread but is there any correlation between water hardness and pH? I have been mixing them up me thinks, so confused now! Is there a way to make your water harder or softer? Thanks!

Maybe put that as a query on the water chemistry thread OR add a new thread. I don't mind off-topic discussions, but a question such as that is an important query in its own right.


# If this were back in the 1970s, then I would also have some tips on breeding marine fish. Bred my first marines in the mid-70s.....and used, what was then, a rather revolutionary idea that most (except Graham Cox et al) people did not want to know about: it was called water testing !! (well, many people did water testing back then, but not for as many things as we did). Funny how what is not the 'norm' was back then argued against as irrelevant by so many.

ian

last 4 times i have deliberately put colder water in at the water change time and each time my cories have spawned!

A good tip for any members looking to breed Guppies- just add water!

Seriously though, when I want to breed my Occies, I just have to give them some live food for a few days after a few days of minimal feedings, do a big water change and away they go.

L

When my Peckoltia Compta and Queeen Arabesques show interest or look gravid, I usually feed heavily with frozen foods for a couple of days and then do a cool water change of approx 30-40% with mainly r.o. water. This drops the T.D.S. and usually sets them off. Still waiting on this to work for my Zebras though - still a bit young I guess (but here's hoping).......

Patrick888 wrote:

When my Peckoltia Compta and Queeen Arabesques show interest or look gravid, I usually feed heavily with frozen foods for a couple of days and then do a cool water change of approx 30-40% with mainly r.o. water. This drops the T.D.S. and usually sets them off. Still waiting on this to work for my Zebras though - still a bit young I guess (but here's hoping).......

on the one successful breeding set up i have seen for zebras two aspects i remember were the adults were very large and lumpy mature specimens and the breeding tank was unusually deep. judging on the growth rates of specimens held by daragh and others, these fish would have to be about 5 years old to spawn successfully. any success i have had with breeding other loricarids was almost always with very mature and large specimens with the notable exception of common bristlenose.
it is my guess that catfish in general dont breed when young but after several generations of aquarium breeding they begin to spawn at a much younger age. cory aeneus, paleatus, sterbai and bristle nose are all examples of fish that breed very young. whereas any of the rarer catfish such as synodontis petricola and rhinoloricarids that spawned for me were probably at least 5 years old and even corys such as gossei and davivsandsi were at least 3 years old and very large.
i would be interested to hear other peoples views on this.