How to Breed Fish

[C-Reefer]

Yes, thats it. Keep them in the dark, if you looked like that, you would also want to be in the dark.

My Duncans eat them every few days.


For some reason, after a few years all my worms are much larger. They used to be tiny and I don't know what happened, but they are very robust now.

Mabye I do

Yeah I was gonna bet that LPS like duncan, torch, hammer and stuff would like them. Those are some big worms!

 

[Oberst Oswald]

You can get a live clam from the seafood section at your supermarket. It will cost you under $1.00 for one. Just say its for feeding a turtle or, if you want to spend time explaining, your fish tank. Might get a strange look but they will put it in a plastic bag and off you go...

 

[pdisner]

Hi everyone! What a great thread. We MUST keep this going. We could possibly turn this into a great little place to get the info on breeding. But let’s start sharing some research into the literature on breeding marine ornamentals.
I’ve been on a little quest to collect various species, in pairs or groups depending on how they normally spawn. It started last year around this time when I bought a pair of Clarkiis. I never had been a fish person, mostly due to the cost involved with SW specimens. I had been slowly collecting corals, but we all know how that goes. We buy and buy and then they die. So we buy more equipment to fix this or that. I was burnt out and broke! The little tiny Clarkii pair grew fast and showed personality that I had not noticed. They also had some unusual ways of communicating with each other. I then wondered, if I had a pair and the laid eggs, would I be able to raise the larvae? I knew nothing. I started to watch countless videos on the methods used in raising clowns.
I was hooked and slowly began collecting the books and then the tanks. When I went to get them drilled for bulkheads, the manager at a LFS told me that he had some used beeeding tanks already put together and drilled WITH the bulkheads! My small 3 tank plan suddenly turned into much more! (THANKS MIKE!) Then, I met someone on the forum that was a short distance from me (Tahoe). She gave me a 50gal all in one JBJ with a Hydra52 and a bunch of other equipment and goods. What a blessing. I had more than I needed or could fit in my house. I built then plumbed in everything, then waited for the Petco sales for most of my broodstock. I started raising rotifers and copepods, selling them to make money to buy more.
My efforts were rewarded almost immediately. I started collecting the larvae from the 5 peppermint shrimp. I got this great little book that’s an incredibly light and fast read. (“How to Raise and Train Your Peppernint Shrimp”). I have been and am still working with these. I get about 1500 zoea weekly, sometime spawning every night of the week during the molting time. About 250-500 zoea every 10 days for each shrimp.

Then, a month later I noticed that BOTH my Bangaii cardinals and PJ Cardinals were doing a “mating dance”. Unbelievable. The next day on of the male Bangaiis looked like it had a mouth full of marbles. Now this was an extremely exciting experience for me. My first fish. I recorded the whole thing. I even had to incubate eggs that the male dropped ou of his Mouth. 18 baby Cardinals! Check it out:

I have a 32 page PDF booklet on the best way to go about pairing, breeding and rearing fry along with some background information. It was written by the University of Hawaii and is shareable. I just am not sure how to post on forum. I can email it to anyone that is interested. If anyone know how how to post a file, please let me know.

What a blast. I then acquired a mature clownfish pair that had been laying eggs. It was another Reef2Reef friend that sold me some nice spotscintus clowns. Big and beautiful, they are gentle giants. Very calm for a clownfish. I’m waiting for these and my other multiple fish to spawn.

I recently adopted some Dwarf Seahorses from a friend on a local forum. I acquired 10 tiny little things, all fitting in a 2.5 gallon aquarium! Never thought I would own a sea horse! Evidently, there are about 3 possibly 4 that are pregnant. Males carry the gestating young. I can’t wait for them to pop. I will share on video when it happens. Here’s a clip of them now:



If anyone needs to know what books to read and a bunch resources, articles and so forth, please get ahold of me. I have a Facebook page that I use to post all my pics and video of my adventures in breeding, lol. There are some really good books out there such as “The Complete Breeders Guide To Marine Aquarium Fishes” by Matthew Wittenrich. A thorough yet easy to read text. I bought used online.
We should all help save our oceans by learning to make this hobby self sufficient. Just like we’ve all learned to frag and propagate corals, we can all learn how to breed and trade fish without dipping into Mother Earth. I would love it if this thread took off and people started sharing their spawning stories and information.

 

[C-Reefer]

You can get a live clam from the seafood section at your supermarket. It will cost you under $1.00 for one. Just say its for feeding a turtle or, if you want to spend time explaining, your fish tank. Might get a strange look but they will put it in a plastic bag and off you go...

I'll check it out for sure.

Hi everyone! What a great thread. We MUST keep this going. We could possibly turn this into a great little place to get the info on breeding. But let’s start sharing some research into the literature on breeding marine ornamentals.
I’ve been on a little quest to collect various species, in pairs or groups depending on how they normally spawn. It started last year around this time when I bought a pair of Clarkiis. I never had been a fish person, mostly due to the cost involved with SW specimens. I had been slowly collecting corals, but we all know how that goes. We buy and buy and then they die. So we buy more equipment to fix this or that. I was burnt out and broke! The little tiny Clarkii pair grew fast and showed personality that I had not noticed. They also had some unusual ways of communicating with each other. I then wondered, if I had a pair and the laid eggs, would I be able to raise the larvae? I knew nothing. I started to watch countless videos on the methods used in raising clowns.
I was hooked and slowly began collecting the books and then the tanks. When I went to get them drilled for bulkheads, the manager at a LFS told me that he had some used beeeding tanks already put together and drilled WITH the bulkheads! My small 3 tank plan suddenly turned into much more! (THANKS MIKE!) Then, I met someone on the forum that was a short distance from me (Tahoe). She gave me a 50gal all in one JBJ with a Hydra52 and a bunch of other equipment and goods. What a blessing. I had more than I needed or could fit in my house. I built then plumbed in everything, then waited for the Petco sales for most of my broodstock. I started raising rotifers and copepods, selling them to make money to buy more.
My efforts were rewarded almost immediately. I started collecting the larvae from the 5 peppermint shrimp. I got this great little book that’s an incredibly light and fast read. (“How to Raise and Train Your Peppernint Shrimp”). I have been and am still working with these. I get about 1500 zoea weekly, sometime spawning every night of the week during the molting time. About 250-500 zoea every 10 days for each shrimp.

Then, a month later I noticed that BOTH my Bangaii cardinals and PJ Cardinals were doing a “mating dance”. Unbelievable. The next day on of the male Bangaiis looked like it had a mouth full of marbles. Now this was an extremely exciting experience for me. My first fish. I recorded the whole thing. I even had to incubate eggs that the male dropped ou of his Mouth. 18 baby Cardinals! Check it out:

I have a 32 page PDF booklet on the best way to go about pairing, breeding and rearing fry along with some background information. It was written by the University of Hawaii and is shareable. I just am not sure how to post on forum. I can email it to anyone that is interested. If anyone know how how to post a file, please let me know.

What a blast. I then acquired a mature clownfish pair that had been laying eggs. It was another Reef2Reef friend that sold me some nice spotscintus clowns. Big and beautiful, they are gentle giants. Very calm for a clownfish. I’m waiting for these and my other multiple fish to spawn.

I recently adopted some Dwarf Seahorses from a friend on a local forum. I acquired 10 tiny little things, all fitting in a 2.5 gallon aquarium! Never thought I would own a sea horse! Evidently, there are about 3 possibly 4 that are pregnant. Males carry the gestating young. I can’t wait for them to pop. I will share on video when it happens. Here’s a clip of them now:



If anyone needs to know what books to read and a bunch resources, articles and so forth, please get ahold of me. I have a Facebook page that I use to post all my pics and video of my adventures in breeding, lol. There are some really good books out there such as “The Complete Breeders Guide To Marine Aquarium Fishes” by Matthew Wittenrich. A thorough yet easy to read text. I bought used online.
We should all help save our oceans by learning to make this hobby self sufficient. Just like we’ve all learned to frag and propagate corals, we can all learn how to breed and trade fish without dipping into Mother Earth. I would love it if this thread took off and people started sharing their spawning stories and information.

WOW this is perfect. I've been interested in breeding for a while, but never had the nerve. When I heard how easy bangaii's were supposed to be, I figured I'd start. If this works well, I can use the money from selling them to mabye start a phyto and rotifer culture and try clowns. Sounds like you've had quite the journey! If breeding is as easy as you and @Paul B say it is, we need to get more people on this subforum. I'll be trying it for sure, and once I do I might start branching out.

PM sent, you sound like a wealth of info.

 

[Paul B]

C-Reefer. Remember fish breed all by themselves and all we need to do is get out of their way and give them the correct food and conditions. All fish spawn all the time if they are fed correctly. It is more surprising if your fish "don't" spawn.

 

[pdisner]

Like I was saying in my story, I have a 32 page PDF from University of Hawaii regarding a research project that they undertook to see if breeding them In captivity is a viable and self sustaining breeding project. If anyone even owns a Banggaii you should read this. Packed with really good tips on breed and raising them. Email me if you’d like a copy. It’s free. Also I have more video and pics on a Facebook site, @PaulsPodsAZ. There’s a lot of them that are shot with a macro zoom lens for the close up details.

 

[pdisner]

Yes, thats it. Keep them in the dark, if you looked like that, you would also want to be in the dark.

My Duncans eat them every few days.


For some reason, after a few years all my worms are much larger. They used to be tiny and I don't know what happened, but they are very robust now.

So these fan worm, or whatever they’re called, I have started to get a ton of them recently. What are they exactly? Why are you guys talking bout them?

 

[Paul B]

That is a duncan, not a fan worm. A Duncan is a hard coral a fan worm is a skinny person who watches a ball game.

 

[JasReef]

That is a duncan, not a fan worm. A Duncan is a hard coral a fan worm is a skinny person who watches a ball game.

Paul, look at the second picture, the first is indeed a Duncan coral, the second one has the worms.

 

[pdisner]

That is a duncan, not a fan worm. A Duncan is a hard coral a fan worm is a skinny person who watches a ball game.

Look at the whole post Paul B. I didn’t mean the Duncan coral...everyone knows what that is. Dude...It’s the last pic...the worms on the wall?? Did you see those or not? Anyways, if anyone knows why these pop up and where they come from, I’d like to know more info. They seem to pop up in water that is somewhat turbid, lower flow or dirty, like a refugium. Wierd.

 

[pdisner]

So...have you set up your new tank? Any pics? I’ve just put together a small breeding rack that holds 6 ten gallon breeder tanks (plumbed and modified) with more on the way. I’m just stumped where to go from here. I need more tank space. My wife gave me the ok to build a second rack. This one I would like to put 20 gallon tanks. I have 4 that are all ready to go with the bulkhead hole drilled. I’m going to use a wet dry system due to the increased feedings. Anyone with experience in framing or building their own rack?

 

[pdisner]

Hey guys! I'm getting a new jbj 24 g biocube probably this week, and I'll be using it as mainly a coral growout/frag tank. However, I thought it would be really cool to, since I already have the fish I want in my main reef, get compatible fish, mabye more of a scaredy cat type stocking, so everyone gets brave and isn't hiding. Anyways, get compatible fish with the breeding pair or no fish except for the breeding pair.

Which fish are easy to breed? I know generally clowns and bangaii cardinals are the two most touted for being easy to breed. I can easily set up a bbs culture if I needed to, if its really as simple as this says. http://www.solidgoldfish.com/2013/11/easy-diy-brine-shrimp-hatchery.html and if these eggs or some like these would work. https://www.ebay.com/i/331356457920?chn=ps How many eggs would I use? I also have a bottle of Phyto plankton if need be.

I think it would be super cool to not only breed fish and watch them grow up, but also it would be nice to be able to sell them to my LFS for some extra money. Will I need an extra growout tank? I have a 10 I currently am using as QT, but it would be best for me to keep them in the biocube. Will the parents eat the babies if they stay in the main tank?

Start growing your own Phyto. You can get all the supplies from Florida Aquafarms. They also have breeding supplies and books. Research is important when breeding. There’s a lot of information that you’ll need to know before jumping in if you want to be successful. Right now, as I’ve only been at this for a year, I’m reading some pretty good introduction books. Here’s a few:

I would love to collaborate with anyone interested in breeding.

 

[pdisner]

Everything Ive read about breeding fish is you will definitely want to remove the eggs right before the hatch or they will get eaten or sucked into filtration. You would put them in another tank with a foam filter and heater and tint the water with phyto. I don't know a whole lot more but sounds like a fun project! There is allot of stuff on the interwebs about breeding fish, you just need to research and research. Maybe someone else here on the forums with more experience will chime in tho and give you some pointers.

It all depends on the species your talking about. Sometimes the eggs or the young stay with the parents. If you’re talking clownfish this is true.

 

[pdisner]

SO I have a very fine mesh breeder basket. I think what I may do, is heavily feed/condition the cardinals until they spawn. Then when I see he has a mouthful, I'll wait about 10-15 days, as from what I've read they usually come out around day 20, and then move him into the mesh breeder basket. I don't think the babies will be able to make it out. As soon as I see the first baby, I'll start turning the pumps off, and feeding small amounts of bbs 3 or 4 times a day. As more babies come out I'll feed more. Once all the babies are out I will remove the Dad, turn him back into DT. I'll keep turning the pumps off for 15 minutes, and feeding bbs during that time. I'll gradually slow it to twice a day, and then once they're big enough they don't need bbs, I'll start feeding them older bbs, and only once or twice a day, until they're big enough that they need to move out. From what I've read, it sounds like that should work.

Anybody know how many mysis shrimp eggs I will need? https://www.ebay.com/i/331356457920?chn=ps Think this will be enough? This says to use 1 gram per liter or quart or approximately 1/2 level teaspoon of cysts per quart is recommended. A higher stocking density will result in a lower hatch percentage. So that thing of brine shrimp eggs should be plenty.

You don’t need mysids shrimp for Bengai Cardinals. Just feed them BBS or copepods. You’ll have to experiment with the brine shrimp eggs that you have as far as the hatching % and how many baby Cardinals you have. I have a pdf That explains everything you’ll need to know to raise them. I can send via email if you need it tell me how to post it here anyone.

 

[Paul B]

Paul, look at the second picture, the first is indeed a Duncan coral, the second one has the worms.

OMG, stop beating me up, I am old. I see the worms. I didn't look that far down. I think I will go and eat some worms now. Geeze.

 

[C-Reefer]

C-Reefer. Remember fish breed all by themselves and all we need to do is get out of their way and give them the correct food and conditions. All fish spawn all the time if they are fed correctly. It is more surprising if your fish "don't" spawn.

True again. somehow everything that comes out of your mouth, or should I say computer screen is ancient words of wisdom... who'd you hold up at gunpoint?

Look at the whole post Paul B. I didn’t mean the Duncan coral...everyone knows what that is. Dude...It’s the last pic...the worms on the wall?? Did you see those or not? Anyways, if anyone knows why these pop up and where they come from, I’d like to know more info. They seem to pop up in water that is somewhat turbid, lower flow or dirty, like a refugium. Wierd.

They're white worms. They'll live in your tank for a couple of days, but not more then that. You might be seeing sphagetti worms. Anyways these little worms are packed full of nutrients and are easy to culture, I'll be using them to help condition the bangaii's.

You don’t need mysids shrimp for Bengai Cardinals. Just feed them BBS or copepods. You’ll have to experiment with the brine shrimp eggs that you have as far as the hatching % and how many baby Cardinals you have. I have a pdf That explains everything you’ll need to know to raise them. I can send via email if you need it tell me how to post it here anyone.

didn't mean mysis, meant BBS. I have two jars of BBS and a hatchery. I need to set up another hatchery which means drinking more Coke haha.

Is it in PDF form? Try upload a file, bottom right of the post that you're typing. I bet you could pull the PDF up in chrome or enternet or whatever and then copy paste the link onto here.

So...have you set up your new tank? Any pics? I’ve just put together a small breeding rack that holds 6 ten gallon breeder tanks (plumbed and modified) with more on the way. I’m just stumped where to go from here. I need more tank space. My wife gave me the ok to build a second rack. This one I would like to put 20 gallon tanks. I have 4 that are all ready to go with the bulkhead hole drilled. I’m going to use a wet dry system due to the increased feedings. Anyone with experience in framing or building their own rack?

Yup! 24 g JBJ nanocube. i think I'll be sticking with just a maxi-jet 1200 for return as bangaiis don't like a lot of flow from what I've read and I'll only be keeping LPS and softies. No idea on the rack. Here's the tank. Not sure if I should start a new thread documenting the breeding and what I've done or keep it on here.

Right now its got a monster hollywood stunner chalice it came with, I'll be selling off most of it. Need to get it sold off and then I'll get 15 lbs of Reef Ready rock. It'll be cycled, got like 3 lbs or more of LR rubble in the back and a full sandbed.

Start growing your own Phyto. You can get all the supplies from Florida Aquafarms. They also have breeding supplies and books. Research is important when breeding. There’s a lot of information that you’ll need to know before jumping in if you want to be successful. Right now, as I’ve only been at this for a year, I’m reading some pretty good introduction books. Here’s a few:

I would love to collaborate with anyone interested in breeding.

Those all look like super good books, I may buy one or two. Why do I need to grow my own phyto? Bangaii's don't need rotifers. Right now I'm just trying to keep it pretty low-key, see how I like it, see how I do, ya know? Figured I'd start with the easy Bangaii's and if it worked well as I got more comfortable start getting into the other stuff which requires me to grow phyto and rotifers. I dose my tanks with phyto feast 3 times a week already.

 

[Paul B]

who'd you hold up at gunpoint?

You may be surprised.

Bangai's and seahorses are by far the easiest fish to breed and raise. Whale sharks are next.
I don't count clownfish as you can't stop them from breeding and I am not a big fan of them anyway. They make me sad.

Look at the whole post Paul B. I didn’t mean the Duncan coral...everyone knows what that is. Dude...It’s the last pic...the worms on the wall??

I am to old to be a Dude. You can call me senile, Old Guy, Geezer, Sir, Grand Pa, Captain, Sargent or Paul. But I hate Dude.

Those are white worms and they are my white worms. They are not on a wall but in a container.

 

[Nart]

Oh man.... always enjoy reading @Paul B responses. So knowledgeable and cracks me up.
Did you ever get your culture of white worms Colin? I have some that I can send you.

I also learned from Paul B about keeping white worms. So easy to culture.

 

[C-Reefer]

Oh man.... always enjoy reading @Paul B responses. So knowledgeable and cracks me up.
Did you ever get your culture of white worms Colin? I have some that I can send you.

I also learned from Paul B about keeping white worms. So easy to culture.

I know I love reading what Paul B says.

No, I was going to buy some but it was like $15 for a small batch. My LFS sells live blackworms for $2 a scoop, so I'm going to get two scoops tomorrow and start a big culture.

I would love to get both though, so I could feed more and more often. Also variety. From what I've read white worms reproduce faster then blackworms. I'll message you later.

Lots of white worms Grand Sargent Paul Sir!

 

[pdisner]

That is a duncan, not a fan worm. A Duncan is a hard coral a fan worm is a skinny person who watches a ball game.

I know what a Duncan looks like man. I was asking if the Duncan’s eat the fan worms or...what? Wasn’t sure on the post. I have a bunch I want to get rid of.