Basic Breeding For Beginner

[Kieran Clemes]

Ive recently got my self a fish tank and will be putting my fish in tomorrow, possibly guppies or mollies to start off with, now eventually i would like to maybe breed them as an extra hobby. i have read about it online but i would like to get information from one of you that have done it before? just things like 'how many baby's will their be'? 'how long does it take'? 'is an extra fish tank better than having an isolating tank to seperate them once born'? and anything else if u would be so kind

Kieran.

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum.

First of all; please don't put any fish in your tank yet. You need to read up on the nitrogen cycle and fish-in and fishless cycling so that you can keep your new fish happy and healthy. There are great articles on those things in our beginner's resource centre (the link is in my sig).


We always recommend fishless cycles here, as there is no risk if causing harm to any fish if things go wrong, and it's much easier on the fishkeeper; fish-in cycles can mean multiple water changes daily for a couple of months, and even then there is a risk of permanently damaging the fish's gills and shortening their lifespan.

Guppies and mollies are both livebearing fish, they'll breed on their own; in fact the more usual problem is having them breeding too much and getting overrun with fry that you don't have room for. Bear in mind that the females can have 50+ babies every month; that's a LOT of fish in a very short time!

The best methods involve either transferring the mother fish to a separate tank shortly before birth, removing her after the fry are born, or keeping the main tank well planted, with lots of hiding spaces, so some of the fry survive; most livebearers are quite happy to eat their own babies as soon as they're born; livebearers are not, with the best will in the world, very intelligent fish!

How big is your tank, what kind of filter do you have and is your local water hard or soft?

 

[Kieran Clemes]

Thanks for writing back, ive been told to leave the tank for 3 days for the water treatment to settle in and do its job. not sure what kind of filter it is i bought it from PetsAtHome they recommended it. my local water is soft. tank is 45litres.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yeah, the 'three days' thing is very common advice from local fish shops (LFS); it's also about 30 years out of date!

 

[Man of fish]

Mollies can grow to be 4 inches (10 cm) and it's recommended they're in 30 gallon tanks (110 liters). Why not try platys instead?

Fishless cycling will be easiest, just dose your tank daily to 4ppm of ammonia then when the filter bacs can process the ammonia, and the preceding nitrIte into nitrAte within 12 hours your filter is cycled. It usually takes 4-6 weeks, but it's worth it so your fish don't suffer.