Breeding Fish: Have you, would you, should you?

Peace River · Nov 28, 2022

Breeding Fish: Have you, would you, should you?

Have you bred fish actively or accidentally? Was it because you set up a place for the fish to breed and they choose to lay eggs? Maybe they choose to lay eggs in your aquarium without any extra effort from you. Today, let’s talk about your experiences with breeding fish! If you haven’t actively worked to breed fish yet, would you be interested in intentionally breeding fish if you had the space and the setup to make it happen? Is this something that you think is important and should reef keepers breed fish to expand their understanding and experience? When breeding fish there are multiple stages and multiple challenges – getting the fish to lay the eggs, getting the eggs to hatch, getting the larval fish/fry to live and grow, and rearing the fry to adulthood all include challenges and learning experiences. For me, seeing baby fish that have hatched in my tank is one of the most exciting things in the hobby. So, what do you think about breeding fish? Have you, would you, should you? Please share your thoughts in the discussion thread that follows.

Clownfish pair with eggs. Photo by ReefHacks (shared by @Berlibee)

revhtree · Nov 28, 2022

I have never been active in breeding fish but I do love the idea of it. I also love a clownfish pair that lay eggs and seeing all the little babies begin to develop and then watching them swim around so tiny. I have had a breeding clown fish pair in my tank as well as Bangaii cardinals.

GARRIGA · Nov 28, 2022

Been collecting and breeding reptiles since the late 80s. Much of that in a commercial setting. Transitioning that to fish, unless one has a wholesale channel or the time and effort to market their product online then what will likely happen is that costs of operations will consume profits. Local areas can become quickly saturated and especially with commonly produced product. If it's easy for self to produce then that goes for everyone else having the same notion.

With reptiles, I've noticed that with certain types, the first question a new owner has is how to breed them vs how to tend to them. I'm going to guess that's likely occurred with most getting their first breed-able fish.

Was going to start a clownish breeding operation as a passion of love looking to create new and unique variants (same approach I've taken with Boas) but after surveying my LFS that seemed futile since there was already an established breeder with a much larger operation and if I tried wholesaling new and unique then best bet being online retail or going to shows. Both require a tremendous amount of self labor vs just dropping off a load at the store.

One really needs to estimate their labor potential doing something else. Cottage type businesses are labor intensive and each has a different labor rate expectation. I for example make more money with my time and dollar in the stock market. Why I'm just content with building my dream tank and letting others provide new and unique. I'd rather pay them retail then exert the effort needed although producing new variants is still intriguing but at what cost is one going to pursue that?

Kristopher Conlin · Nov 28, 2022

I successfully raised my first clownfish recently!

I wasn't expecting them to lay but jumped to get everything ready for them to hatch. I had about 10 days to research and buy all the supplies. They were born in August and I was able to raise 20 of them to juveniles.

They are very hard to get pictures of but I did my best!

AV corals · Nov 28, 2022

Kristopher Conlin said:
I successfully raised my first clownfish recently!

I wasn't expecting them to lay but jumped to get everything ready for them to hatch. I had about 10 days to research and buy all the supplies. They were born in August and I was able to raise 20 on them to juveniles.

They are very hard to get pictures of but I did my best!

Very cool! I've been super interested in this lately as my clown fish pair have started to now lay their eggs in my DT under their anemone. But there is no way for them to survive ? In my DT theres multiple tangs, damsels and shrimp so i do not think they can survive?

Kristopher Conlin · Nov 28, 2022

AV corals said:
Very cool! I've been super interested in this lately as my clown fish pair have started to now lay their eggs in my DT under their anemone. But there is no way for them to survive ? In my DT theres multiple tangs, damsels and shrimp so i do not think they can survive?

I bought a vossen larval trap. It attracts the fry on hatch night with light and uses gentle flow from an air pump dialed down to bring them into the trap. It worked really well for me!

AV corals · Nov 28, 2022

Kristopher Conlin said:
I bought a vossen larval trap. It attracts the fry on hatch night with light and uses gentle flow from an air pump dialed down to bring them into the trap. It worked really well for me!

wow very cool! ok I am going to look into this.. what type of breed tank size do you suggest? 10 gal? 20gal? Thank you again for the tips - I appreciate your time.

Kristopher Conlin · Nov 28, 2022

AV corals said:
Very cool! I've been super interested in this lately as my clown fish pair have started to now lay their eggs in my DT under their anemone. But there is no way for them to survive ? In my DT theres multiple tangs, damsels and shrimp so i do not think they can survive?

If you are interested I can pm you some of the videos and products that really helped me out.

AV corals · Nov 28, 2022

Kristopher Conlin said:
If you are interested I can pm you some of the videos and products that really helped me out.

yes please! very much appreciate all of the help.

argiBK · Nov 28, 2022

I’d love to understand how to breed fish that spawn pelagically (i.e. capturing and rearing the eggs), but as far as I know, unless you have a commercial or industrial operation it seems infeasible.

Dream would be to have a pair of Conspics or G. semifasciatus and have those species be more available/affordable in market.

Linflas · Nov 28, 2022

I accidentally ended up breeding a bunch of Red Swordtails. The adult passed before it could eat all the babies so now I have 8 of them in my tank. Most interesting is the size variability between the smallest and largest all presumably born at the same time.

i cant think · Nov 28, 2022

Does it count if you have them lay but they don’t last long after hatching? If so then I had a breeding pair of Multicolor Angels a few years ago (I unintentionally got them - two friends broke their tanks down and I some how got 2 multicolors). I never managed to raise them however some did hatch. It was fun seeing them as young but I didn’t really expect to raise them fully as I didn’t really know how to raise fish outside of clowns.

FSP · Nov 28, 2022

Yes; yes; it depends

The hardest part for me is selling due to how poorly the average aquarium owner treats their fish.

Crustaceon · Nov 28, 2022

I have eight orange skunk clowns in my anemone system so fingers crossed.

Fish Think Pink · Nov 28, 2022

My clownfish bred on their own. It was fun to watch baby fish swim, but by morning baby fish would always be gone (overflow or eaten). I didn't want to raise them. I credit quality foods with the health of those clownfish to keep doing it every two weeks or quicker.

Passed the clownfish and their anemone on to someone who wanted to raise the babies and he reports they've stopped doing it! Poor clownfish...

argiBK · Nov 28, 2022

i cant think said:
Does it count if you have them lay but they don’t last long after hatching? If so then I had a breeding pair of Multicolor Angels a few years ago (I unintentionally got them - two friends broke their tanks down and I some how got 2 multicolors). I never managed to raise them however some did hatch. It was fun seeing them as young but I didn’t really expect to raise them fully as I didn’t really know how to raise fish outside of clowns.

Interesting. Did you set up any special equipment to capture the eggs?

Big Smelly fish · Nov 28, 2022

I’ve bred clownfish and seahorses. Still breed seahorses

i cant think · Nov 28, 2022

argiBK said:
Interesting. Did you set up any special equipment to capture the eggs?

Actually I just left them in the tank as there was only the two Multicolors and I believe an Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby. I did eventually get more fish in the tank - it was a 6’ Softie tank and earlier in its stages.