It is important to choose the parents when we intend to breed. Size, shape, colour, finnage and so on should be considered. Moreover, both should like each other! The best way to ensure this is to place a group of adult fish in a tank and wait for them to pair off. The chosen ones then are being transferred to separate tanks.
With the egg-layers, two or even more males are often used with one female. It is usual to put the weaker fish (often the female) in the mating tank first, so that it is already feeling at home before meeting the other fish.
Fish will often spawn the next morning if they are placed in the mating tank at night. Better still, if they can be put together at dawn, they will tend to spawn almost at once.
Green water and/or two hours daily of sunlight are helpful in bringing the parents to breeding condition. Live foods are necessary too. Feed them with daphnia, tubifex worms, chopped earthworms etc, twice a day. Each feeding is to last about 15 – 30 minutes. However, too many white worms will tend to make the fish fat and reluctant to spawn. The rule is to feed well but not too heavily.
On the other hand, it must be remembered that feeding frequency depends on the temperature of water too as it affects the eating habit of the fish, both of tropical and coldwater.
In mating tank, the water temperature is often raised when the adult fish are introduced. This higher temperature can be maintained till the eggs are hatched and even for the early stages of the fry. Nonetheless the high temperature should not be prolonged as it will weaken the fry.
Once spawning is completed, the parents are separated from the eggs or young, except for a few types of fish where males are left with the nest for about a week.
With the egg-layers, two or even more males are often used with one female. It is usual to put the weaker fish (often the female) in the mating tank first, so that it is already feeling at home before meeting the other fish.
Fish will often spawn the next morning if they are placed in the mating tank at night. Better still, if they can be put together at dawn, they will tend to spawn almost at once.
Green water and/or two hours daily of sunlight are helpful in bringing the parents to breeding condition. Live foods are necessary too. Feed them with daphnia, tubifex worms, chopped earthworms etc, twice a day. Each feeding is to last about 15 – 30 minutes. However, too many white worms will tend to make the fish fat and reluctant to spawn. The rule is to feed well but not too heavily.
On the other hand, it must be remembered that feeding frequency depends on the temperature of water too as it affects the eating habit of the fish, both of tropical and coldwater.
In mating tank, the water temperature is often raised when the adult fish are introduced. This higher temperature can be maintained till the eggs are hatched and even for the early stages of the fry. Nonetheless the high temperature should not be prolonged as it will weaken the fry.
Once spawning is completed, the parents are separated from the eggs or young, except for a few types of fish where males are left with the nest for about a week.
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