Fishing Q&A
How do you breed aquarium fish in general?
I want to breed swordtails right now but I want to know more for the future.
Public Comments
- Use google search.
- Buy a book on them at the pet store. They are livebearers; they dont lay eggs. Male has a "sword" on his tail as where the female does not. The female is generally bigger than the male but not by much. They breed readily in ideal conditions. To know what those conditions are... BUY THE BOOK!
- Breeding swordtails and the rest of the livebearers (guppy, molly, platty) is easy. Just buy some males and x2 as many females. Most of your females will already be pregnant. Like most fish they will happily eat their young. So you'll need a breeder net, or a large tank with lots of cover. Unlike most fish these guys are big enough to eat crushed flakes. Keep in mind all other aquarium lay eggs. Each general group of fish is different. The instructions for breeding bettas will be meaning less for angel fish, or neon tetras. Some types of fish build bubble nests, other mouth brood, lay eggs on a flat rock, on vegetation.... You'll have to research each group of fish.
- Swordtails are very easy to breed because they are livebearers. Egg layers are much more difficult and i would not recommend the effort if you have not done much reading. I personally have spent much time and effort while breeding and raising Golden Angels (i don't do that anymore) Some egg layers require some to a great deal of vegetation in their tank (Angels) and that in itself requires advanced Aquaculture knowledge. Some egg layers place their eggs on rocks and others dig nests in the gravel. (Oscars, and i bred these little monsters too) some of them hide their young in their mouths. The environments for these type of Fish vary and must be kept very stable for the fish to not only lay eggs but have the eggs hatch and the fry survive. The onlyThings you need for a livebearer (swordtail, mollie, guppies, platys) are 2 or 3 females for every male preferably 4 and for nature to take its course. A brood tank to put the pregnant female in with some vegetation or rock caves for the fry to hide in. or you could get a floating brood tank which you place in your tank to separate the female from the other fish and her fry. this will have a V shaped piece of plastic that sits at the bottom of the brood tank and will allow the fry to fall through to the other side of the V so the female will not be able to eat her young. (I have a cousin who wishes she could) Ha! When the female is pregnant she will have a dark patch just behind her belly which will be swollen and the other fish may chase her trying to get the fry. That is the time to place her in either the separate Brood tank or the floating tank. she should release the fry in a couple of days. After she has dropped all the fry you can put her back in the regular tank. Thats as basic as i can make it. Please read the links i have provided and pick up a couple good books on breeding.
- I recommend: http://www.peteducation.com/ http://www.liveaquaria.com/ Sordtails are and easy breeding tipe ... you should have no prob... hope the best ...
- depends on what type of fish, there are several species of live bearers (mollies, guppies, swordtails, platies, mosquito fish, and a few others) to breed these ones, just add the proper water conditions and have a lot of places for the babies (fry) to hide. a lot of the fry will get eaten but a few will survive.
- In general.... Live brearers such as guppies will reproduce easily. Livebearers are generally the rabbits of the fish world. They will just keep going. Egg layers such as neon tetras have to have specific conditions.and generally do not just reproduce. Good luck.
- swordtails r livebearers, they dont lay eggs.You just need to ensure that you have male & female and seprate them in small tank.
