What are the Easiest Fish to Breed?

[PlasticGalaxy]

Of course, using the word "easy" in this context is subjective and different people will have vastly different experiences in breeding fish. But, in general, is there one species of fish that is universally seen as being one of the "easiest" to breed? I'd really like to start breeding some species in my new tank, but I'm not sure what a good starting point would be.
Right now, I've got male guppies and will probably be getting females in the future, so I'm expecting those to be the first that I try to breed.
If you have any experience with breeding different fish, please let me know which species you had the easiest time with.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Livebearers are easiest. Just add water. The fry need no special attention either, compared to almost any other species of fish! So in terms of both producing and raising babies, livebearers are really too easy, and it becomes a problem of having too many.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Livebearers are easiest. Just add water. The fry need no special attention either, compared to almost any other species of fish! So in terms of both producing and raising babies, livebearers are really too easy, and it becomes a problem of having too many.

Alright, nice! This is a bit of a weird question, but I've read before that you should feed guppy fry baby brine shrimp? Is this true? What do you feed your fry?

 

[Colin_T]

If you want baby fish to grow well, they should get good quality food and one of the best foods is newly hatched brineshrimp. Baby livebearers can eat these from day one and grow quickly on them. The fry (baby fish) will also eat microworms, powdered dry foods, rotifers and baby Daphnia.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Alright, nice! This is a bit of a weird question, but I've read before that you should feed guppy fry baby brine shrimp? Is this true? What do you feed your fry?

You can feed them baby brine shrimp, but it isn't essential by any means, not for guppy fry.

Guppy fry are large enough (compared to say, an egg layer fry) that they can eat anything that's small enough to fit in their mouths. Crushing flake food so it's small and fine is okay for them. Can feed them whatever the adults are eating, as long as it's small enough for them.

I like to feed some live food when I can, and use microworms a lot simply because it's an easy live culture to have. Also crushed flake, Bug Bites - the microgranules in the light blue pot, and I use frozen food a lot. Daphnia, rotifers, cyclops and moina are especially good since they're tiny enough for newborn guppies, adults still enjoy those foods too, and when you dissolve the frozen cube and add it to the water, it hovers in the water column in a cloud for a while, giving everyone a chance to feed, unlike some foods that sink more quickly.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I concur with the livebearers. Although I’ve never personally done it, I’ve heard stories...

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

If you want baby fish to grow well, they should get good quality food and one of the best foods is newly hatched brineshrimp. Baby livebearers can eat these from day one and grow quickly on them. The fry (baby fish) will also eat microworms, powdered dry foods, rotifers and baby Daphnia.

You can feed them baby brine shrimp, but it isn't essential by any means, not for guppy fry.

Guppy fry are large enough (compared to say, an egg layer fry) that they can eat anything that's small enough to fit in their mouths. Crushing flake food so it's small and fine is okay for them. Can feed them whatever the adults are eating, as long as it's small enough for them.

I like to feed some live food when I can, and use microworms a lot simply because it's an easy live culture to have. Also crushed flake, Bug Bites - the microgranules in the light blue pot, and I use frozen food a lot. Daphnia, rotifers, cyclops and moina are especially good since they're tiny enough for newborn guppies, adults still enjoy those foods too, and when you dissolve the frozen cube and add it to the water, it hovers in the water column in a cloud for a while, giving everyone a chance to feed, unlike some foods that sink more quickly.

Thank you for the help! Is there anywhere you can easily get daphnia or microworms? I think I've seen microworms on eBay before but not sure.

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

livebearers and most plecos

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

and snakeheads!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thank you for the help! Is there anywhere you can easily get daphnia or microworms? I think I've seen microworms on eBay before but not sure.

I got microworms from this seller on Amazon, recommend them purely because they included an instruction leaflet that was clear and helpful about how to grow and continue the culture!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CQR2SAK/?tag=

That's spurred me to check what other live foods they offer and order some now, so thanks. Have been thinking I'd try a new culture for a while, so thanks for prompting me to do it!

Dapnia/moina/cyclops etc I just use frozen food, which I get from my LFS.

 

[Colin_T]

Some pet shops sell live Daphnia or you can collect your own from ponds in spring. You can also buy dry daphnia eggs online and hatch them and grow them in green water.

The following link has information on culturing live food for baby fish.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

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...

www.fishforums.net

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

livebearers and most plecos

How do you breed plecos? :0 Sounds like you'd have to have a big tank!

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

I got microworms from this seller on Amazon, recommend them purely because they included an instruction leaflet that was clear and helpful about how to grow and continue the culture!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CQR2SAK/?tag=

That's spurred me to check what other live foods they offer and order some now, so thanks. Have been thinking I'd try a new culture for a while, so thanks for prompting me to do it!

Dapnia/moina/cyclops etc I just use frozen food, which I get from my LFS.

Ooh, thank you!!

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

or you can collect your own from ponds in spring.

i would advise against it since it can bring parasites or dragonfly larvae

 

[GuppyBreeder180604]

How do you breed plecos? :0 Sounds like you'd have to have a big tank!

well the tank size depends on your species but you basically have to provide a cave or a place for the pleco to dig a cave, then you add male and female and simulate a rain season with colder temperatures and bigger water changes with softer water, feed their preferred diet in larger quantity and in theory that is all, now everything else is luck (the female wanting to produce eggs and the male wanting to care for babies) this actually works with most catfish, not only loricariidae, channel catfish breed in the same way!