Why arent my platy breeding????

[animal_man1738]

There are some other aspects to recognize. Stores want juvenile fish, but not fry, usually anyway. So that means you need tank space to raise the fry to a size when you can sell them. That means lots of tanks, plenty of suitable food, water changes daily (depends a bit on your tank sizes, you cannot crowd fry or they will not develop properly).

... This is true..... yet i still want to breed fish. Its ok if some of my fry get eaten- im not the super emotional type. I have a spare 10 gallon tank I can use for the eggs/ fry, and im fine if only 2 or 3 fish make it. IF i do end up getting tons of fish, I know people that can take them. Now, back to the question- easy to breed egg-laying fish?

 

[NickAu]

Hi

Please don't think I am being rude, I fully support you breeding fish if thats what you want, but I would like to see you do it properly.

Live bearers are the easiest to breed IF you want just any old fish throw a male in with a female and bingo you have fry. Generally these fish are not worth much if anything because they are cross breeds, also remember most live bearer females are pregnant when you buy them and can store sperm for up to 6 months.

Now it gets more complicated if you want to breed live bearers for form or color or tail type. You need to start with virgin females and good quality males.

Next you need somewhere to house the fry till they are old enough to be sexed, next the males and females need to be separated before they are sexually mature, because again you want virgin females. see where Im going with this?

And thats just 1 spawning.

Wow.... that’s a lot of fish.

Bettas can have 150 fry per spawning,
Spawns of over 300 have been recorded but that is very rare.

 

[animal_man1738]

well my tank water hardness cant have livebearers.... i was thinking egg laying fish. Do you know any good egg-laying fish to start out? It doesnt have to be super easy, but not too hard. It's ok if there not worth much money, im doing it more for the fun and experience. Ive bred other animals in the past(reptiles). Would gouramis, danios be good? Thanks. Also, since its my first time i doubt all 300 fish would survive- probably only 10 max would live so.....

 

[Demeter32]

Definitely not gourami, they are basically like bettas with lots of eggs and tiny fry. I've raised zebra danios pretty easily with micro worms and a 10gal tank. I would think some of you tetras you already have are spawning in your tank (if the conditions are right).

You have a 55gal yes? Perhaps look into bristle nose plecos. The male will take care of the fry and once they are free swimming they happily eat blanched green beans, algae wafers, etc. Be sure to provide some driftwood and several "breeding caves". Also, they often have several batches and many of their fry survive so you may easily be over run.

The only other egg layer that is easy is African cichlids, which I do not recommend as you have soft water, plus they are pretty mean.

 

[animal_man1738]

Definitely not gourami, they are basically like bettas with lots of eggs and tiny fry. I've raised zebra danios pretty easily with micro worms and a 10gal tank. I would think some of you tetras you already have are spawning in your tank (if the conditions are right).

You have a 55gal yes? Perhaps look into bristle nose plecos. The male will take care of the fry and once they are free swimming they happily eat blanched green beans, algae wafers, etc. Be sure to provide some driftwood and several "breeding caves". Also, they often have several batches and many of their fry survive so you may easily be over run.

The only other egg layer that is easy is African cichlids, which I do not recommend as you have soft water, plus they are pretty mean.

Thank you for this, I'm going to go to the shop today. I'll probably buy a few danios and a pair of the plecos. Thx