I have been interested in breeding for a long time now, but I never had the funds or the time... or so I thought.
Do you need to know about the birds and the bees?
If not, get a girlfriend, get drunk and go for it
Timewise, it only takes a minute
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All Corydoras breed the same. They lay eggs on hard flat surfaces, usually glass or broad leaf plant leaves. If you look down on them from above, the males are slimmer than females. The females bulge out around the belly area.
You can breed them in pairs or groups. Feed them well 3-5 times a day for a few weeks and do big daily water changes. The fish will breed when they want to. Sudden changes in temperature or barometric pressure will sometimes help get them breeding.
You can breed them in any size tank from 2 foot long or bigger. Temperature and pH/ GH don't make much difference to captive bred Cories. Ideally keep them in soft slightly acid water and leave them to breed, but they will breed in water with a GH around 150-200ppm and pH above 7.0.
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Harlequin rasboras lay eggs on the underside of plant leaves. A male and female will pr off and display together. They find a nice plant leaf (Amazon sword or Anubias are commonly used) and lay a few eggs on it. They swim around for a bit longer before laying more eggs on the leaf. After a few hours they stop laying eggs and swim back to the main school.
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Glass bloodfins and neon tetras are egg scatterers. They are best bred in single prs in an 18-24 inch long tank. The pr swim into fine leaf plants like Java Moss and scatter eggs in that. They continue doing this until the female has expelled all her eggs, then they swim off.
Virtually all tetras breed in very soft acid water (pH below 7.0 and GH below 50ppm (GH 0ppm is ideal for most South American tetras and is required for cardinal tetras).
Tetra eggs are light sensitive and need to be kept in the dark while they are developing.
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Get another bristlenose (opposite sex to what you currently have) and keep them together. Feed them well and have a few pieces of pvc pipe in the tank. They breed inside the pipe and the male guards and fans the eggs. The female swims off and gets down and dirty with other males. Bristlenose catfish don't need anything special to breed, just feed them well and do water changes and gravel cleans.
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General things to do before breeding any fish.
If you separate males and females for 4-5 days before breeding it encourages them to spawn when put together. It also allows the fish to build up gametes (eggs & sperm) so they have more to release when breeding.
Feed fish on a variety of live, frozen and dry foods 3-5 times a day for at least 2 weeks before breeding the fish. This allows them to build up fat reserves and they produce healthier gametes. Mozzie larvae is one of the best foods to get fish breeding.
Do big daily water changes when feeding more often. The big daily water changes also simulate rainfall and this is when most freshwater fishes breed. If you use slightly cooler or warmer water for the water changes, it can stimulate the fish and get them going.
Most fish breed first thing in the morning and a bit of morning sunlight shining on the tank can get them going. However, you don't need morning sun for most captive bred fishes.
When a species of fish breeds, it releases hormones into the water and this can get other species going.
Remove all shrimp and snails from breeding tanks because they eat the eggs.
Have an air operated sponge filter in the breeding/ rearing tank so it doesn't suck the baby fish up. Have a heater (if required) and a thin layer of dark gravel on the bottom.
You can breed most fish in a plastic storage container. After they breed you remove the adults and reduce the water level to 4-6 inches. The shallower water means the fry are closer to the food and don't expend as much energy looking for food. Have fry food ready before you breed the fish. See following link for info on fry foods.
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...
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