# How To Breed



## fishfrenzy328 (Sep 18, 2005)

Ive heard of breeding and am thinking of trying it. What are the best fish to breed, how big should the tank be, how do you tell if the fish is a male or female and what should I do when the babies are hatched


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## Hamm35924 (Jun 13, 2005)

the easiest fish to breed are guppies, mollies, and platys. they are livebearers and do not lay eggs, so you will have a bunch of little fry. but they breed ALOT. maybe you could trade them into your LFS for store credit.


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Well, it will be best for you to start with a common livebearer, guppies seem to be the easiest. A 10 gallon tank will be ideal for this setup. It is easy to tell gender on guppies, as males will have large brilliantly colored tails whereas females have a smaller tail with little to no color at all. Make sure you get atleast 2 females for every male, or the male will haras the single female until exaustion. The females will have babies about every 4 weeks. Over taht time period she will continue to grow fatter and the gravid spot ( little black spot towards the back of her) will darken and grow larger. She will look "squarish" right before she is about to have her fry (babies), and she will start sitting in a corner. This is when you should put her in a breeder net/trap (a small box that sits in the main tank where the female can have her babies without them being eaten by other fish). Be careful with the mother, as she will also eat the fry if you don't remove her after she gives birth to her 10-30 fry. The easiest food for the fry is finely crushed flake food. Just put some flake food in a zipper bag and start crushing it with your fingers. Keep the fry in the breeder trap until they are about 1/2-3/4" long about 3-5 weeks old, when they can be released back into the main tank with the parents as long as there are no fish large enough to eat them.


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## Mobydock (Sep 6, 2005)

Judging by the question, I assume you haven't been in the hobby long, so learning good basic fish keeping skills(water maintenance, feeding, recognising abnormal behavior, etc.) is the most crucial part of getting into breeding. Livebearers like mentioned above are probably the easiest to breed, because they really only require conditions they can live in and they'll breed. I've never tryied myself, but convicts(cichlid) are also supposed to be very easily bred, if you wanted to try an egg layer. I can't remember exactly what you'd need, but it'd be a bigger tank than guppies(40G?) and probably just some caves or flat rocks(not sure which they use).


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## cucci67 (Aug 3, 2005)

Well, another option is White clouds. They will readily breed in good conditions, and they do not eat their own fry or eggs. All you need is a 10 gallon and 4-5 white clouds. The males have a slimmer body than the females, so maybe you'll want 2M3F or 1M4F. They will scatter their eggs in plants where the male fertilizes them. You can feed the fry a liquid fry food or baby brine shrimp.

If you choose convicts of kribs, you'll need a cave.


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## Shane T. (Oct 21, 2005)

if you're looking for easy fish to breed, get some convicts. Buy a pair, provide them with a flat stone, and they are sure to breed. They also do all the work for you except feeding them. Just buy some liquid fry food. but try to keep them in a tank of their own because they are aggresive.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Having a bare bottom tank with lots of Java moss, LOTS OF IT and adding a few guppies is the perfect recipie for breeding fish. Make sure that the tank is clean all of the time or your fish may be suspectable to bacterial infections.
Also, make sure that you feed your fish very little, and preferably special fry food, even for the adults as if the food is too large it may pollute the tank if not eaten. Also, use a sponge box filter, this means that the guppies won't get killed if they are sucked into the filter, add graval to the filter so that bacteria can establish to keep your fish alive. When the fish get to about 1 inch long, you can aclimatize them into a brakish tank to prevent bacterial infection to the males long fins, though almost everyone keeps them in fresh water as it's easier to do.


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## solar-ton (Aug 15, 2005)

just make sure theyre going to a good home!


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

For my advice, livebearers are good, but not neccessarily perfect for several reasons:
1. They may eat the offspring.
2. They may overpopulate: Consider if you can afford room and money for the young. 

However, it seems to be the best kind of fish to start off. If you have time to study more about other fish breeding technique, it's worth it!

G'luck.


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## solar-ton (Aug 15, 2005)

ahhh yes go'ole livebears like people but they dont cause global warming. just remember a swortail can grow to 6"-or 5- so they can produce like 300 fry i think.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

> ahhh yes go'ole livebears like people but they dont cause global warming


Huh.......?


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

i would say mollys are good- put say- six female, and half the amount of males, leave them to their own thing for as long as you want, but at least a week. Some of the females will get plump, but they should be already plump. Put them in a breeding trap or in a breeding tank with weeds with lots of roots, say Java ferns. Watch, wait and good luck


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

ps all mollies can breed togheter, say a sailfin molly with a black lyretail, or a potbelly molly with a dalmation potbelly and so on....


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

You know... I've had my guppies for atleast 4-5 months now (1 male 2 female) and I have yet to see a single fry. I know the females are getting pregnant because I notice they get bigger and bigger and then all of a sudden go back to their normal size, but I still haven't seen any of them.


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## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

guppys get a gravid spot (a dark patch near the tail stem) when they are about to release their load.


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## solar-ton (Aug 15, 2005)

they are probably hiding in the gravel or they got eaten


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## fishn00b (Jun 10, 2005)

I think they got eaten, I've searched the gravel for them but I can't find them. Oh well, in a few weeks I'm sure I'll get to try again.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

What Solar ton is trying to say Max is, that livebearers breed like rabbits, but they don't ruin the earth like people do.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

I also say convicts. Check out the profile and articles section


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## Fish Friend (Sep 10, 2005)

kribs kribs kribs  they are soo easy!!!


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