Anyone with experience mass producing egg layers???????????

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henningc

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Moderator, if this needs to be somewhere else feel free just P.M. me with location.

My question pertains to tetras, barbs and smaller common fish we all enjoy. I raise tons of livebearers outdoors in spring and summer, but wanted to know if anyone knows how the farms in Florida do it? I have a tiny bit of knowledge, but really feel the need for advice here. This and one other site are my go o for folks in the know, so please share your knowledge or best guess.

Thanks and have a great holiday!!!!
 

Narwhal72

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The farms in Florida have large breeding rooms where pairs or groups of egg layers are spawned in small aquariums. The fry are then moved out to ponds to grow out.


You can produce a lot of danio or barb fry with just a handful of breeders. Tetras are a little harder.

Andy
 

henningc

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Thanks. I'm looking t doing Cherry Barbs, Rosy Barbs and Pearl Gouramis. If you can explain the tetra issues, besides difficulty in spawning please do.
 

SnakeIce

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Rosy barbs have higher fecundity than any tetra, and the fry are bigger which means they are easier to feed.

Only a few of the tetras I looked at have fecundity rates approaching some of the barbs, but the main difference is their fry are much smaller, you can't feed them anything like newly hatched brine shrimp, microworms and such. They have to have microorganisms to eat and those are harder to culture than the previously mentioned live foods. Fishbase.org has fecundity rates on some of the fish in the database.


http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/five-easy-tetras.htm
 

Narwhal72

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Don't forget that some tetra fry are also light sensitive and need to be in dimly lit and blacked out tanks for the first few days.

Tetras are smaller at hatch and will need smaller foods (infusoria/paramecium) for a longer period of time. Barb fry grow very quickly and can take freshly hatched brine in a few days.

Pearl gouramis are one of my favorites and are cool to raise. The two barbs are some of the easiest to raise but if you are raising them for money I wouldn't count on it. They are commodity fish and are only worth about a quarter each. Difficult to make any money on them.

Andy
 

henningc

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Andy,

Big thanks for the information. I have a very good method of culturing micro organisms without harming the water quality. I've been refining this method for some time with bettas and recreated it in one pool last year. I've spawned various tetras in tanks and you are correct they have tiny fry.

I sell a few fish here and there, but basically just want to see if I can pull it off large scale. I've done this with livebearers and perfected my methods. I did some corys in the pools and learned a little additional knowledge from them. I'll likely try both barbs, incase one type is problematic, and do the Pearl Gouramis as they are one of my favorites. Not exactly in the old business plan, but I'll make my money on the livebearers. This summer I'll be growing out a pool of Endlers for the fry of the king of the livebearers Belonasox. I plan to raise / grow out 50-60 using a 6'x6'x12" kiddie pool seeded 60-90 days prior with 30-40 pre-hit female Endlers.
 
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