Breeding Hints and Tips
Spawning Your Fish - The Basics
Written by Wednesday, 14 March 2001 01:00
Every single hobbyist that respects his or her self, the species living in captivity, and the hobby, have tried to encourage their fish to spawn. And what is better than keeping breeding pairs, or breeding groups, producing fry? Let someone tell me that watching the members of a fish family - parents and fry – roaming around the tank wasn’t the happiest of all moments of hers/his fish keeping involvement. But let us see what actually makes fish spawn.
Usually, in nature, spawning takes place during specific periods during the year. Over these periods many parameters are changed dramatically, so some invisible power pushes the mature fishes to breed. In these seasons, an excess of food is present in the natural habitats as long as aquatic or semiaquatic organisms (i.e. insects) are also spawning during these particular periods. Maybe persistent rainfalls are taking place, so chemical conditions of the waters are a lot different from those the rest of the time. The temperature rises and hours of sunlight are more than usual. And finally, the "breeding frenzy" that decorates waters with this undetected odor stimulates every single sex cell around. Now what is it going to happen if we simulate all these conditions inside our very tanks? We want our fish to breed, so conditioning is the word.
It is better to keep males and females separated before spawning time, and put them back together when they are well fed and strong enough to stand up to breeding stress. Keep the breeders away from the access of many people. Partial water changes with lightly cooler, softer, and even acidic water, are recommended. Raising the temperature a little is also a must, and when it is accompanied with longer lighting periods, works better. Housing the breeding pairs or groups together with their tanks at a close range, can help a lot with the breeding effort, as I have witnessed. And last, but not least: food. A lot of food. Fat-free food. Live food.
I find live foods very important and it appears that when they are used simultaneously with all the above mentioned, you will have the best results. But let us take it from the beginning. Everything is a small part of a big and complicated chain of natural events that we may duplicate to achieve conditions close to the ones that are taking place in the wild. In the beginning, we’ll have to collect our brood stock. We pick individuals that are young and healthy, and after a quarantine period we start feeding them with a variety of quality foods so that they’ll grow under our supervision. When their sexual dimorphism is obvious, it is better to separate the males from the females. Concerning the aggressive or territorial species, it is better to introduce the females into the breeding tank before the male specimens, so that they can establish territories and learn to move comfortably around the tank without harassment. We feed both sexes with foods that they are used to consuming in the wild or that are close enough to these kinds of foods. Live foods are excellent for this purpose, and there are a lot of them that are easy to "cultivate". Fresh foods are also cheap, and prepared foods can be produced from mincing and mixing them. The recipes available in books, papers, and multimedia could fill a lot of menus with dishes that famous restaurants could envy.
We keep water clean and clear, siphon the detritus steadily, keep filters at a peak point of functioning, and try not to stress the individuals. At the same time, we provide them with more lighting, and we raise the temperature so that their metabolism becomes more active. Now we can put the sexes together to adapt to the breeding tank. When everything is fine and breeding behavior starts taking place, we perform partial water changes with water that combines the parameters mentioned above. You will surely have a spawning after that. For better results, you can pour the water in the tank via a sprinkler, so that you give the fish the illusion of raining. Live foods are ideal from now on, as the live moving food particles stimulate the hunter’s behavior, which is closely related with the breeding behavior.
Make your breeding tanks suitable for the species you want to spawn. Do not think that you can breed a pair in less water volume and space than is required. The decoration of a breeding tank should be the least possible, so that shelter is provided, but, on the other hand, a clear view of the specimens is maintained. Try to leave eggs, larvae, and fry with their parents if possible, as artificial incubation does not give enough information to the new comers about the natural way of caring for and raising their own fry when their time comes (see the stripping of mouth brooding females’ problem).
Separate the parents after spawning if there is any danger of stress or that they will kill each other. With some species this can happen, especially if only one of the parents takes care of eggs, larvae, and fry in the wild (Betta splendens), or the males want to breed again with an already spawning or carrying female (central America cichlids or Great Rift valley cichlids). It is a possibility that some specimens are not compatible, or you cannot tell these two individuals you bought are a true pair if there is no sexual dimorphism, or even that the fishes are too young. You can minimize these risks by obtaining six to eight individuals of the species you are interested in breeding.
Be patient, as some species need months, or even a couple of years, to mature and start breeding. Of course, you do not treat them as producing machines, but they benefit from some rest (females mostly) with intervals of breeding, or by changing a member of the pair, or the breeding group, with another specimen that you have kept for this reason. This also offers a diversity of genes, so better quality of "posterity" is produced.
Talk to your fish. This may sound silly or ignorant, but these animals are pretty clever, and are capable of realizing that this enormous guy is not only a source of food, but also cares about them and communicates with them some way. So we can conclude that picking the right healthy stuff, conditioning it in the best way by using natural methods, and communication are the golden rules of the fish breeding issue.
I shall not wish you luck, because all these have nothing to do with luck, but are the results of method and correct planning.
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