Aquarium and Pond Care with EcoBio-Block

Platy fry

While several species of freshwater aquarium fish breed readily under a variety of circumstances, some have specific requirements that must be met before they are likely to spawn. The basics of breeding, however, are fairly uniform among most species of freshwater aquarium fish. The first thing you must do is to select a breeding pair, or a trio for some species, and quarantine them in a breeding tank. Once you have done so, you can begin the process of conditioning your fish for breeding.

Setting Up a Breeding Tank

The size of the breeding tank should depend on the size of the fish, but ten to twenty gallons is usually sufficient. The tank should be bare-bottomed in order to make it easier to clean and it should be decorated sparsely. It is wise to provide a few hiding places like large rocks or terra cotta pots in the event that the female needs a place to rest and recover from the male’s aggressive advances. Some species – egg-layers in particular – prefer a breeding tank stocked with live plants on which they will deposit their eggs.

Encouraging Your Fish to Spawn

Maintaining a steady temperature and providing a healthy, varied diet are two of the most important elements in encouraging your fish to spawn. The temperature of the breeding tank should be determined by the breed of fish but, in many cases, slowly raising the temperature encourages breeding behavior. In some species, however, the opposite is true. Corydoras catfish, for example, typically spawn after a recent rainfall has lowered the temperature in their native habitat, the Amazon River.

Offer your fish a varied diet consisting of small amounts of live, frozen, flake and pellets foods several times a day in order to condition them for breeding. After a few days you should begin to notice courtship and spawning behavior. The male of the species will often chase the female around the tank and some fish, like betta fish, will prepare a bubble nest and collect the eggs after spawning has occurred.

Caring for Fry

Some species of fish, such as cichlids, care for their fry after they have hatched but most freshwater fish are more likely to eat their own young. This being the case, it is wise to remove the parents from the breeding tank as soon as possible after spawning has occurred. If you are breeding an egg-laying species, dose the tank with methylene blue to prevent fungus from killing the eggs. Install a sponge filter in the corner of the tank to provide filtration without putting the fry at risk for being sucked up an intake valve.

For the first few days after hatching, the fry of most egg-laying species will subsist on the remainder of their yolk sacs. The fry of live-bearing species, however, should be started on a diet of newly hatched brine shrimp or a liquid fry food such as infusoria. During the first few weeks after hatching it is important to feed the fry small amounts several times a day. Once they have tripled in size you may begin to feed them finely crushed flake foods and, as they continue to grow, move them to a larger tank.

Tips for Breeding Success

If your fish are not in prime condition, they will be unlikely to spawn. In addition to a healthy diet, clean water is essential to the health and well-being of your fish. Establishing a colony of beneficial bacteria in your tank is one of the best ways to keep the water quality in your tank high. Install an EcoBio-Stone to begin a colony of nitrifying bacteria that will help to remove odor, break down wastes, and keep the water clear. EcoBio-Stones are made of natural volcanic rock infused with beneficial bacteria that will multiply readily upon being introduced into your tank. Not only is this product perfect for the breeding tank, but it can also be used in fry tanks where power filters are not recommended due to the danger they pose toward delicate fry.

Guppy fry

Just a word of warning to beginning aquarists, its better not to expect either to breed fishes too soon after purchase, or to rear too big a proportion of fry from eggs that have hatched.
Reality probably hits most often in regard to the bubble-nest-builders.  Expectations are high because, in the first place, they are among the fishes most readily spawned. Secondly, their small eggs are usually numerous, anywhere between 300 and 600 or more being common. With luck most of them hatch. Unless eaten by a parent they live about a week, even without food. At that point the let-down begins, even with food, especially in a small tank, their numbers start to decrease. Indeed if the number reared to half-adult size is 50, it should be considered to be above average. All too often it comes down to half a dozen, or even less. One consolation is that the survivors must be the naturally strong ones, fit for carrying on the reproduction of the family.
Is this infant mortality rate unavoidable? In an aquarium or tank under 15-gallon size the practical answer is yes. The newly-hatched fishes are very small and our guess is that in a small tank there are insufficient amounts of very small infusoria to give the babies a start until they can eat the sizes present in most cultures.
At any rate, the larger the tank, the better the chances. This follows through until one reaches something like an outdoor pool say 5×5 feet, in which approximately 100% of hatched fry may reach maturity, barring other misfortunes. This may explain why the beginner with limited water space should not be too disappointed if only a small proportion of a hatching reaches maturity.  Another way to increase your chances of success is to place an EcoBio-Block in your tank. EcoBio-Block takes care of the toxins that are dangerous to fish while slowly replacing necessary trace minerals, creating a healthy environment for breeding fish and reducing loss.
In referring to “pairs” of any kind, I must touch on the subject of “guaranteed” pairs, usually bought at a good fat premium price. They are usually a disappointment, and not worth the outlay, for they seldom make good. This is not meant to cast any reflection on the honesty of the seller, but pairs that are known to have bred may be “bred out”. No one can tell when time has caught up with fertility. Besides a change of environment may throw a pair out of reproduction rhythm. It is best to develop one’s own breeders if possible.
As to time required for breeding after acquiring a pair, there of course can be no set period of reasonable expectation. I refer mostly to the egg-laying type of fish. They may possibly be ripe for spawning almost at once, but ordinarily they need not only to be well-fed (on live food if possible), but must have time to adjust themselves to new surroundings and changed water. Several weeks are usually needed.
Besides (although we do not know why) some species are difficult, even for experienced aquarists, to get to spawn at all. That is true of most of the Characins (Tetras).
It sometimes happens that a beginner has acquired one or more kinds of fishes that are always difficult (or nearly impossible) to breed, even if they are close relatives of species that are easy to reproduce. Here are a few examples: Corydomr pazleaim, and C. azenezu are often bred, but that is not true of other members of that large family. Razrbommeinkeni is the only one of its numerous family, possibly excepting the “Scissors Tail” (trilineatur), from which success may be more likely.
The live-bearers are more obliging and less sensitive to change. In fact new water and changed surroundings often stimulate them to early delivery. It is from the egg-layers that we should not expect too much too soon.
In any case, optimism is good, but it should be tempered by what may be called “reasonable and realistic expectations.”