I need sex machines

[DannyBoy17]

I am looking for a type of fish that I can just throw in a tank with a filter and heater, and let them breed like crazy. I will eventually be using them as feeders. Maybe a type of Guppy? I dont want to have to seperate them and give them thier own tanks, or any of that stuff. Ive heard of people saying their fish just multiply without them doing anything...

Ahhh, free feeders...

DB

 

[littlefishie]

Guppies. Definitely. I've got 4 if you need to get started.. though only one female. But they're not too hard to find.

 

[Spilk]

If you put in lots of floating plants or just live plants on the floor, or basically give your tank lots of nooks and crannies from the ground up you can get just about any livebearer to fill you up with fry in no time. How big is the tank you're using.

 

[DannyBoy17]

29g tall.

DB

 

[Doggfather]

Why not just use frozen foods and save yourself the expense/time of doing this? Irrispective of which fish you purchase you still need to carry out basic tasks such as water changes, feeding, water tests, etc, etc. You can't exactly put a filter and heater in such a small body of water an expect to do nothing and hope the fish breed

 

[cometcattle]

I know many people that breed Convicts for feeders. They grow much faster than guppies. A 29g would be ideal for a pair of cons. Plus you'd get to watch the parents raise the fry, which is also cool.

You won't want to put any other fish (except maybe some some VERY fast dithers) in the tank. They become VERY aggressive when they breed.

 

[Sorrell]

If you go with guppies, get ratios of 1 male to 2-3 females and have a layer of java moss or other thick plant like that where the fry can hide

I do agree that frozen food is healthier and then you could use the tank for something more exciting then feeders.

 

[Opcn]

What are you breeding them for? some fish outgrow guppies, and some feeders outgrow fish that need to be fed

 

[CFC]

I believe that Danny wants to breed feeders to feed the silver needle fish/needle nose gars he intends to get, which being hardcore piscavors are highly unlikely to accept frozen foods as a alternative to live fish (i was never able to ween mine off live fish).

Guppies are your best choice Danny though you will need quite a large breeding stock to keep a constant supply going, i would suggest 10 females and 3 to 5 males to begin with and then place the fry into a divided part of the tank where the parents cant eat them as they will need to be around a month to six weeks old before they are large enough to be of use as feeders. Save a few of the fry to grow to adults each time and rotate your breeding stock every 4 or 5 months (using the older fish as that weeks feeders) to ensure that you continue to get the highest fry yeilds from your breeders.

 

[Opcn]

Wow CFC, thats the first time I've seen you not discourage feeders.

*sits in stunned silence*

 

[DannyBoy17]

Well, these Silver Needles will only eat feeders, and it's only a natural part of the food chain.

Some have suggested Convicts?

Im liking the guppy idea, I think I will keep them in this big plastic temporary boarding pool we used when we cleaned our koi pond. It never needs a good cleaning these days, so Im thinkin I'll use that. It could easily 70g of water.

DB

 

[CFC]

Wow CFC, thats the first time I've seen you not discourage feeders.

*sits in stunned silence*

I only discourage the use of feeders for fish that will happily eat frozen and prepared foods, ie oscars, arowana's etc. Some fish such as needle fish, leaf fish and frogmouthed catfish are highly unlikely to accept non live foods so feeders are the only way to keep them alive so in these cases it becomes a nessesary evil, though i recomend continually trying with frozen foods as varied diet is much healthier for the fish in the long run.

 

[gale]

*sits in stunned silence*

That's a first as well.

And to keep this on topic, DB that's an interesting idea about using the pool. If it's outside, would anything get the fish? If I did that my cat would be fishing every day.

 

[DannyBoy17]

Noooo, Im in Canada! I guess that would give new meaning to "frozen foods". I would be keeping it in the basement, probably be using spongefilters, one of my genious biological filters and a submersable heater. There will not be a substantial amout of light, Im hoping that isnt a neccesity for the type of fish I choose.

DB

 

[DannyBoy17]

If I did that my cat would be fishing every day.

My cat used to fish like that all the time. Then one day my other Oscar (R.I.P old guy) had a go at her par, and hung on for dear life. Lol, I had to break it up.

Cat hasn't gone near tanks since.

DB