For you, which are the easiest to breed in captivity aquarium fish species (freshwater & brackish)?

[Crispii]

Betta channoides have been an easy fish to breed for me.

 

[kribensis12]

My Cockatoo Apistogramma have probably had at least 14 batches of fry in the past 11 months.

Some I pull, some I don't. They don't need any encouragement.

 

[TiercelR]

Hello all.
Thank you very much for the new replies to: itiwhetu, GaryE, Uberhoust, Crispii, kribensis12, etc.
Excellent commentaries. Thank you !

 

[Fishiies]

My wild betta Hendra and Channoides breed like crazy. Ones a mouth brooder and the other is a bubble nester. The dads take care of the fry and moms dont eat them from my experience. so they can just be left to grow out in the tank, just feed bbs.

 

[Crispii]

My wild betta Hendra and Channoides breed like crazy. Ones a mouth brooder and the other is a bubble nester. The dads take care of the fry and moms dont eat them from my experience. so they can just be left to grow out in the tank, just feed bbs.

Interesting. Currently keeping Betta channoides and they are by far the easiest wild Betta to spawn and raise from my experience. I used to keep hendra, had some spawning, but dad ends up eating the eggs every single time.

 

[TiercelR]

Hello all.
Thank you very much for the new replies to: Fishiies, Crispii. Great commentaries. Thank you !

 

[TiercelR]

Hello all.
About of the fish species mentionated by all you in this thread, here in Mexico, some of them are easy to find, other of these fish species are, from difficult, to very difficult to find here ( and at very high prices ), and other of these fish species are completely unavailable here in this country. But i will keep updated this thread with the news. Regards !

 

[Colin_T]

Rainbowfish are easy to breed but the fry can be a bit tricky to rear if you don't have small foods. However, if you culture green water and infusoria, you can rear any freshwater fish fry easily. You can buy rainbowfish eggs or fish from the American rainbowfish association and they ship the fish to you.

Cichlids are easy to keep, breed and rear up. The babies are usually big enough to eat newly hatched brineshrimp from the time they start swimming.

Labyrinths (Bettas & gouramis) are easy to breed and average to rear. The mouth brooding types produce fairly large fry that can go straight onto newly hatched brineshrimp. The bubblenest builders have smaller fry that need green water and infusoria.

Killifish from the Aphyosemium and Epiplaty genus are easy to breed and reasonably easy to rear up. Nothobranchius can be a little more tricky to breed and hatch but the fry are easy to rear. You can buy killifish eggs from the North American killifish association or other killifish clubs around the world. The eggs get sent through the mail but with covid you want to use express freight so they don't sit in a warehouse for 2 weeks.

Barbs are easy to keep, breed and rear up.

Tetras and rasboras are some of the harder fishes to breed and rear, but not impossible. The main thing is to get groups of them, separate males and females for a few days before breeding, have the right water chemistry for them, and use small foods like green water and infusoria for the babies.

Nobody breeds brackish water fishes with the exception of some gobies and livebearers, and they aren't big sellers.

---------------------
You need to find out how many shops you can supply, how big the aquarium keeping hobby is in the area, and breed a variety of fish so you don't get stuck with thousands of one or two species.

I used to supply rainbowfish to shops in Perth. I had 60+ species and over 80 varieties (river systems). Each 2 weeks I would breed a couple of common species that sold readily (eg: Melanotaenia praecox), but I also bred a couple of species of unusual rainbowfish. I only bred the unusual fish once every 3-6 months and that gave the shops time to sell them all before I bred them again.

You do the same with all types of fish. Breed some common bread and butter species, but also breed unusual stuff. Alternate the unusual species so you don't flood the market.

The following link has information on breeding fish and culturing live foods. It might interest you. @AbbeysDad also has information about breeding fish on his site. He might pop on with a few links for you to check out

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Rocky998]

I'm relatively new to fish keeping but my peacock gudgeons have been producing a ton of eggs and I get fry regularly... Although they dissapear and they grow slow. I am caring for a few at the moment and hoping they will get to adulthood. As long as they have good params and a tight cave, they will breed well and regularly.

 

[AbbeysDad]

The following link has information on breeding fish and culturing live foods. It might interest you. @AbbeysDad also has information about breeding fish on his site. He might pop on with a few links for you to check out

Breeding fish is an obvious and natural extension of the fishkeeping hobby. It can be fun and fascinating to raise fry to adults. However, conditions must be such that there is quality of life (water chemistry, quality, and good foods). AND THEN there is what to do with the resulting numbers of fish which means establishing an outlet (or outlests) to sell or rehome fish.
Here are some articles on Breeding Fish. (I especially recommend Greg Sage's article). Best Wishes

 

[TiercelR]

Rainbowfish are easy to breed but the fry can be a bit tricky to rear if you don't have small foods. However, if you culture green water and infusoria, you can rear any freshwater fish fry easily. You can buy rainbowfish eggs or fish from the American rainbowfish association and they ship the fish to you.

Cichlids are easy to keep, breed and rear up. The babies are usually big enough to eat newly hatched brineshrimp from the time they start swimming.

Labyrinths (Bettas & gouramis) are easy to breed and average to rear. The mouth brooding types produce fairly large fry that can go straight onto newly hatched brineshrimp. The bubblenest builders have smaller fry that need green water and infusoria.

Killifish from the Aphyosemium and Epiplaty genus are easy to breed and reasonably easy to rear up. Nothobranchius can be a little more tricky to breed and hatch but the fry are easy to rear. You can buy killifish eggs from the North American killifish association or other killifish clubs around the world. The eggs get sent through the mail but with covid you want to use express freight so they don't sit in a warehouse for 2 weeks.

Barbs are easy to keep, breed and rear up.

Tetras and rasboras are some of the harder fishes to breed and rear, but not impossible. The main thing is to get groups of them, separate males and females for a few days before breeding, have the right water chemistry for them, and use small foods like green water and infusoria for the babies.

Nobody breeds brackish water fishes with the exception of some gobies and livebearers, and they aren't big sellers.

---------------------
You need to find out how many shops you can supply, how big the aquarium keeping hobby is in the area, and breed a variety of fish so you don't get stuck with thousands of one or two species.

I used to supply rainbowfish to shops in Perth. I had 60+ species and over 80 varieties (river systems). Each 2 weeks I would breed a couple of common species that sold readily (eg: Melanotaenia praecox), but I also bred a couple of species of unusual rainbowfish. I only bred the unusual fish once every 3-6 months and that gave the shops time to sell them all before I bred them again.

You do the same with all types of fish. Breed some common bread and butter species, but also breed unusual stuff. Alternate the unusual species so you don't flood the market.

The following link has information on breeding fish and culturing live foods. It might interest you. @AbbeysDad also has information about breeding fish on his site. He might pop on with a few links for you to check out

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

Colin_T, excellent advice, many thanks ! Also, in the last few weeks i have ordered online 5 different books ( from stores from the U.K., U.S.A., and Canada ) that their whole information is about the captive breeding of aquarium fishes. Now i still waiting for them, and i want to order another few books that i have founded online about this particular theme. Thanks !

Breeding fish is an obvious and natural extension of the fishkeeping hobby. It can be fun and fascinating to raise fry to adults. However, conditions must be such that there is quality of life (water chemistry, quality, and good foods). AND THEN there is what to do with the resulting numbers of fish which means establishing an outlet (or outlests) to sell or rehome fish.
Here are some articles on Breeding Fish. (I especially recommend Greg Sage's article). Best Wishes

AbbeysDad, many thanks for the advice and for the links to your w-page, i will read carefully all the info you have there, thanks !

 

[TiercelR]

Rocky998, thanks for your reply !

 

[Colin_T]

Colin_T, excellent advice, many thanks ! Also, in the last few weeks i have ordered online 5 different books ( from stores from the U.K., U.S.A., and Canada ) that their whole information is about the captive breeding of aquarium fishes. Now i still waiting for them, and i want to order another few books that i have founded online about this particular theme. Thanks !

Don't buy too many books about breeding fish. Most fish breed the same way. If there are particular species you want to breed, just ask on here and other people and myself will tell you what we know about breeding them.

Like all animals, if you provide them with a clean habitat, good food, clean water, no predators and room to move, they breed. Fish are the same, give them clean water, the correct water chemistry (Ph, GH & KH), the right temperature, good food, a reasonable sized tank, and no predators, and they breed.

The hardest part about breeding fish is rearing up the fry during the first few weeks. If you can do that, you can breed pretty much anything. The link I posted previously "Back to basics when breeding fish" has information about culturing live food for baby fish. Learn that and start culturing foods now, and you will be ready to go when you get some fish and eggs.

 

[TiercelR]

Don't buy too many books about breeding fish. Most fish breed the same way. If there are particular species you want to breed, just ask on here and other people and myself will tell you what we know about breeding them.

Like all animals, if you provide them with a clean habitat, good food, clean water, no predators and room to move, they breed. Fish are the same, give them clean water, the correct water chemistry (Ph, GH & KH), the right temperature, good food, a reasonable sized tank, and no predators, and they breed.

The hardest part about breeding fish is rearing up the fry during the first few weeks. If you can do that, you can breed pretty much anything. The link I posted previously "Back to basics when breeding fish" has information about culturing live food for baby fish. Learn that and start culturing foods now, and you will be ready to go when you get some fish and eggs.

Colin_T, many thanks again to you for your advice and help !

Also, many thanks for the link to your post, the information you has posted there is pure gold !

I am going to start as soon as possible green water and live food as you do recommend in your post, fortunatelly here in Mexico are available ( both from a some of the local-fish-shops and from the mexican online fish stores ) a some starting cultures of live-food for the aquarium fishes, but only a few species of them. For the moment, i have 2 starting cultures of Springtails destinated for to be fish food once they becomed well stablished.
Thanks, regards !