A question for people with spawning fish

captmicha

captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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0
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Maryland, USA
If you breed easy fish like live bearers, you don't count. Lol. But seriously, my question is for the people making a concerted effort to breed the fish that don't as readily breed, fish that take more of an effort to get them to spawn.

Are you using supplemental lights? Or have the tank near a window? And if you do have it near a window, do you notice that the fish spawn at a particular time of year rather than year round?

I'm wondering if the benefit of full spectrum or even just a light cycle of any sorts have any bearing on breeding efforts.

Even with good tank conditions and diet, I haven't been very successful at breeding much and I don't have lights on every tank so I'm wondering if that plays a part that I'm missing.
 
I have found that light, as long as it isn't blindingly bright, is of no real impact. Things I use to initiate spawn will be a change to water level and temperature. I will allow evaporation and a stoppage of vacuuming to occur for about 6 weeks with small temperature matched water changes. I will then do a massive water change with about a 5F difference (cooler) to simulate a rainy season. I also refill making the water simulate rain by running it thru a spraybar. It has worked many times and other times to no avail. I find spring and early summer to be the best times. For food, I find it best to "match the hatch" and supply a similar food to what would be hatching at that time of the year. That, I am not sure is of any validity for tank-raised fish.

I suggest you research spawning tricks for your particular livestock. Since I really don't care if they spawn or not, I don't pay close attention anymore like I did when needing them to spawn.

Good luck.
 
If you're talking about tropicals then I'll agree that lighting makes little difference, but with some temperate North American species it can be part of the conditioning process, particularly as pertains to day length. The water change trick Jeff mentioned is tried and true. Ime it's all it takes to trigger many species of Corys and Tetras to go if they've been well fed. Trickier species can be helped along by using distilled or RO water in a large change, and timing the change to the day before/day of a major storm which causes the barometer to really drop is a really good trick to know as well. A lot of tropicals are triggered to spawn by the rainy season, so approximating what happens during that time is often the trick.
 
nd a stoppage of vacuuming to occur for about 6 weeks with small temperature matched water changes.
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I don't really understand what this means. If you're adding in the temperature matched water changes, aren't you still vacuuming?

Interesting about the water change before a storm!

What's the benefit of the RO Osmosis or distilled water? Is it about pH? I have low pH well water anyways.
 
I siphon water only and do no vacuuming. The buidup of TDS can cause the pH to drop and the water to become more acidic. Then by doing a large water change w/vacuuming up mulm, changes the cooler water makeup to approximate what happens during a rainy season. You have an enclosed environment in a tank. It is an artificial environment that requires a little imagination on your part to try simulate what naturally happens in the wild. That in turn might stimulate the fish to do what is natural behavior to them. Some breed seasonally such as during a rainy season. Some breed regardless and others require preparation to induce a spawn. You need to research your livestock spawning habits and preferences. There is no "one-fits-all" approach to inducing a spawn.

As an example: Annual killiefish bury their eggs in mud and then die as the dry season takes its toll. When the rains come again, the eggs hatch and the cycle repeats. That is pretty hard to simulate but many people manage to breed Annuals. They are called annuals because they live only 1 year as the seasons change and renew new growth.
 
you might try to keep a corner forested out in java moss, I've had fish spawn in there that I didn't even try with.... seemed that the moss provided what they were looking for.
 
Different species have different spawning cues. Using corydoras as an example. Many cories will spawn with a sudden change in barometric pressure (such as a low pressure weather front coming through). A water change with cool water timed just before or during the passing of the front helps too. Some cories spawn at night and some all through the day. These are probably the fish with the most noticeable cues that I have seen.

Cichlids on the other time spawn whenever they want. Mostly during the day but sometimes at night. I find the mouthbrooders tend to be day spawners (because they need to watch and see what each other is doing and be able to find the eggs to pick them up). The egglayers sometimes do it at night.

I use artificial lighting on all my tanks but I limit it to about 5 hours a day now to keep it economical.

Andy
 
I can't get rid of the java moss so that's no problem! I have it in just about every tank. Seems to be the only thing I can manage to grow sometimes.

I really need to stop doing large water changes regularly. I usually do about 50% or sometimes even more if the fish are hardy enough. And my water temperature is hard to control so the water is usually cooler than what the tank was. I also need to be better about doing the changes more often but fatigue is a problem. It's like I'm always setting up rainy season conditions non-stop. I'd like to concentrate on breeding fish when my own health improves. Especially peacock gudgeons and dwarf species of corydoras. You can never have too many of those...

When given an option to choose, do most fish prefer java moss or a spawning mop? I might like to get into breeding some killis.
 
captmicha said:
I can't get rid of the java moss so that's no problem! I have it in just about every tank. Seems to be the only thing I can manage to grow sometimes.

I really need to stop doing large water changes regularly. I usually do about 50% or sometimes even more if the fish are hardy enough. And my water temperature is hard to control so the water is usually cooler than what the tank was. I also need to be better about doing the changes more often but fatigue is a problem. It's like I'm always setting up rainy season conditions non-stop. I'd like to concentrate on breeding fish when my own health improves. Especially peacock gudgeons and dwarf species of corydoras. You can never have too many of those...

When given an option to choose, do most fish prefer java moss or a spawning mop? I might like to get into breeding some killis.
Click to expand...


im positive any fish would prefer natural/live plants over a moss, but both are successful with killis...tho spawning mops may be better unless you have a lot of java moss...


some more tips based on my experience breeding

angels
-i did 25% WCs weekly, then did none for 3 weeks, and then did a 50%, the female spawned right after(hopefully wasn't a coincidence)
-darker lighting may be better(i have read this in a TFH magazine i think, said faded lighting for discus/angels helps for breeding)

plecos
-give as many hiding spots as possible, very tight squeezes and large openings too
-my abn pair bred in a 1.5" pvc(very tight squeeze) and a 6" terracotta pot(very open)

corys
-colder water during WC(most know this)

as a precaution, always add meth blue to the tanks after eggs are laid to prevent them from getting infected(i lost 2 whole batches of angel eggs since i didn't add that)...also, its easier to deal with fry/eggs in a separate tank, so either remove parents or remove eggs, preferably the eggs so the parents can continue to breed without stress

good luck:)
 
On corydoras, I've found that moving them to a different tank often induces spawning. I haven't had much luck with barometric pressure drop/water change method.
 
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