View Full Version : Easiest feeder fish to breed?
rumblesushi
08-01-2005, 3:05 PM
I need to breed some feeders for my hoplias, which are the easiest to breed?
I hear guppies are easy, but they're tiny, how about platys? I hear young platys grow fast.
Any other tips for breeding? Other than say 2 females for each male?
sandtiger
08-01-2005, 3:54 PM
Swordtail, mollys, platys and other live bearers are really easy to breed, the three I mentioned all grow larger then guppys. Convict cichlids are really easy to breed but slow growers. There are also cyprinid species like fathead minnows and White Cloud Mountain minnows but I dunno how fast they grow and WCMM are pretty small.
The TRUST
08-01-2005, 4:08 PM
I was gonna say the same. Livebearer are easiest. For egg layers it's the convicts
SKYLINE_WJ
08-07-2005, 10:15 AM
swordtail. :grinno:
its easy..i try be4..
guppies too..
rweedon
08-07-2005, 4:43 PM
mollies are notoriously good for net chewing up their offspring... add a lil salt to their tank (SG about 1.010-1.015) and watch them go at it...
Mattcomptonassvanhorn
08-08-2005, 12:21 AM
I stuck about 3 dozen goat shrimp in a 2 gallon, and forgot about em, and rembered about a week later. and there was little ity biity ****s running around in there, but keep in mind though there was only about 5 shrimps left because I hadnt fed em in a week.
Breeding feeders is money down the drain. You have to feed them, which costs quite a bit in of itself... by the time that you're done growing them out to a feeding-ready size, they'll have costed a lot more than the 10 cents that they cost at a lfs. Granted, breeding your own does reduce the risk of parasites, but almost all baitshops have very safe feeder fish, and they're usually a good size for decently size preds. Also, some commercial sites offer large amounts of fish for different reasons, including pond stocking, and they're generally pretty safe too. That being said, if you do chose to breed your own feeders, I would go with mollies.
Peanut_Power
08-08-2005, 4:19 AM
Only thing that sucks is some states don't have live bait shops except for worms. I know Washington bugged the hell outa me cuz all i could get was worms! No live bait! Annoying! Nebraska, i can get crayfish, newts, tadpoles, fish, leeches, earth worms, frogs, you name it...lol.
zhuangsw
08-08-2005, 10:37 AM
try platties, mollies, sword tails, or guppies.. those live breeders breed fast..
DRaGoNoVA
08-08-2005, 12:11 PM
livebearers breed like no tomorrow
SKYLINE_WJ
08-09-2005, 12:03 PM
livebearers breed like no tomorrow
yup :grinno:
Definitely agree that guppies and other live bearers are good fish to breed for feeder fish. Be sure to take fry out of their with guppies though otherwise they might eat them. Getting a nursery for the pregnant females is what I did so the fry just drop down in the nursery away from the females. Then just put fry in breeder net until big enough to feed to your fish.
Livebearer are those fishes that we find in drains right? Go catch can already. Breed will took up months for the fries to grow to adult size.
managuense-fury
08-09-2005, 3:34 PM
electric blue haps
bluedempsey
08-09-2005, 3:58 PM
barred midas..... ^ :hitting:
some people ^ :lol: don't do anything with the fry and just let them die
mr_b401
08-09-2005, 4:03 PM
I need to breed some feeders for my hoplias, which are the easiest to breed?
I hear guppies are easy, but they're tiny, how about platys? I hear young platys grow fast.
Any other tips for breeding? Other than say 2 females for each male?
I've had great success with blk mollies...they multiply like flies or mosquitos...
I usually get like 4-5 pairs in a 10g....Some live floating plants, a small driftwood of some sort & an open eye out is all it takes...well for me at least...My juvi Rhom loves em...best of all, they're disease-free.
PUFFERMAN
08-09-2005, 4:45 PM
i heard oscars a weak fishes one of the easiest fish to keep.Only amatures keep oscars. And the only reason that marks red tail catfish doesnt grow is because he doesnt feed him..... :headbang2
bluedempsey
08-09-2005, 4:46 PM
i heard oscars a weak fishes one of the easiest fish to keep.Only amatures keep oscars. And the only reason that marks red tail catfish doesnt grow is because he doesnt feed him..... :headbang2
ooh mfury got burned :rofl:
managuense-fury
08-09-2005, 5:54 PM
you dont even have a fish tank over 3 gallons Its not my fault that you have over 10 4 inch oscars in your 2 gallon.
As everyone has said, the live bearers are easiest with swords and platys being larger. Zebra and other dianos are also easy but are quite small, even the giant dianos take a while to get big enough to make serious feeders. sunnies breed easily, grow quick, but need a small shallow pond and are seasonal breeders. If you have a small spot of sunny waste ground you can make yourself a small rice paddy and raise a large number of small feeders between late spring and early fall but you will need somewhere to keep them after you harvest. works for guppys, gambusia, zebras, dojo loaches, killies, giesha girls, and glass shrimp all at once.
zhuangsw
08-09-2005, 8:45 PM
As everyone has said, the live bearers are easiest with swords and platys being larger. Zebra and other dianos are also easy but are quite small, even the giant dianos take a while to get big enough to make serious feeders. sunnies breed easily, grow quick, but need a small shallow pond and are seasonal breeders. If you have a small spot of sunny waste ground you can make yourself a small rice paddy and raise a large number of small feeders between late spring and early fall but you will need somewhere to keep them after you harvest. works for guppys, gambusia, zebras, dojo loaches, killies, giesha girls, and glass shrimp all at once.
plus you get to eat free rice once in a while? hehe :hitting:
wenjun
08-17-2005, 11:28 AM
guppy,swordtail..
very easy..
pressure
08-18-2005, 9:53 PM
if you want to try more challenging species....catfish is a good choice.....get the brooders from the market and artifically fertilise them by squeezing the eggs and sperm and mix them for 1 min and put the eggs into a tank/pond with lots of algae/food....you will get millions of catfish feeders in two weeks time... :D
softturtle
08-19-2005, 3:48 AM
were do you get these "brooders" at?
dialphantom
08-19-2005, 3:49 AM
breeding feeders is not worth it to much time money and time
piranha45
08-19-2005, 12:36 PM
breeding feeders is not worth it to much time money and time
that is true.
hemiboo
08-19-2005, 2:13 PM
my bettas breed all the time and my oscars eat the babies all the time :D
wenjun
08-20-2005, 12:29 PM
if you want to try more challenging species....catfish is a good choice.....get the brooders from the market and artifically fertilise them by squeezing the eggs and sperm and mix them for 1 min and put the eggs into a tank/pond with lots of algae/food....you will get millions of catfish feeders in two weeks time... :D
wow...never try be4...
:grinyes:
but its a good idea.
save alots $ on feeder..
If you breed them as an extra they are fun, put them in your sump or in the plant tub, throw them in the pond. A bath tub full of elodea and duck weed out on the back porch with a couple of cheap box filters will produce A LOT of mollies or guppies and maybe even glass shrimp or fairy shrimp for damn near nothing.
rumblesushi
08-23-2005, 7:10 PM
too much time and money to breed feeders? Maybe not for me, here in the UK a goldfish or swordtail or any feeder sized fish is at least £1.50, which is almost $3.
Shops don't sell dedicated "feeder fish" here, it must be illegal or something, and even crappy little fish are overpriced in LFStores.
ahmiao
08-24-2005, 9:57 AM
easiest fish to breed gotta be Convicts!
Just1nK4ng
08-25-2005, 3:27 PM
Swordtail, mollys, platys, guppy ethier one is good get 2 female and 1 male or 2 male 1 female
NeonTetraFan
08-25-2005, 3:38 PM
Guppies are the easiest to breed, expecially if you want freshwater.
ShadowVengance
09-03-2005, 11:55 AM
...try goin fishing for minnows, toss a minnow trap into the water
as for easiest to breed, i'd have to say mollies or swords, and even at full size they dont need much of a tank.
AmazonPredator
09-04-2005, 5:35 PM
Jeff Rapps uses managuense and midas as feeders for his filamentosum cats. I wish he'd send me some if they're that disposable. :(
HamsterGuy
09-04-2005, 6:10 PM
am i cruel?
im thinking of buying 100 gold feeders and leaving them in a garbage can with a driftwood and air pump. i plan to drain hafe the water out and put new water in ery 2 weeks. this is my plan of breeding feeders. and as for food i plan to let them eat the dead or eggs/babys. hopefully the drift wood would provide enough cover for the frys. :P jk ima gonna dump a few handful of flakes once in a while.
zhuangsw
09-05-2005, 12:46 AM
am i cruel?
im thinking of buying 100 gold feeders and leaving them in a garbage can with a driftwood and air pump. i plan to drain hafe the water out and put new water in ery 2 weeks. this is my plan of breeding feeders. and as for food i plan to let them eat the dead or eggs/babys. hopefully the drift wood would provide enough cover for the frys. :P jk ima gonna dump a few handful of flakes once in a while.
goldfish feeders dont breed that easily..
replace the 100 gold fish feeders with mollies or red platies.. =)
ya, ur plan would work.. update as again ya..
yourmylunch
09-07-2005, 12:11 PM
it only costs me about 50cent worth of fish food to grow out about $50 in live beares. but if you cant find a good source for feedes try the bait and tackle shop. i breed my own due to a big loss from disease
shoefreak03
09-07-2005, 1:31 PM
breeding feeders is not worth it to much time money and time
it does cost more but isn't it worth the cost to feed non diseased feeders as if you were to get them at the LFS??? if you have the time and money, go for it...
Godzilla
09-08-2005, 8:56 AM
I use mollies for my feeders. they breed pretty quick for me.
Also I do not think that raising feeders is expensive. I have 4 tanks, 1 is a community tank, 1 feeder tank, and 2 predatory tanks. The feeder tank eat the same food as my community and there is no real cost to raise the fish. For me is it like another tank in the house. If I did not have feeders in there, some other fish would be there. But that is just my 2 cents
toxicfish
09-08-2005, 3:12 PM
if your worried abt disease, just dont give your fish feeders
gomezladdams
09-09-2005, 11:39 PM
Guppies without a doubt.No other fish will reproduce as quickly and easily.use most of the males first each generation keeping only a few,1 male to 10-12 females.keep a few females separate,away from males each generation till fully grown.these will be your large brood producers.make sure the tanks have plenty of floating live or plastic plants and feed 2-3 times daily and you wont lose many young to cannibalism.
shoefreak03
09-16-2005, 5:59 PM
how do you tell the difference between male and female guppies?
bluedempsey
09-16-2005, 6:02 PM
how do you tell the difference between male and female guppies?
usually the color and the body shape
Lspooky4
09-17-2005, 8:51 PM
Would there be any problem breeding mollies and guppies in the same tank? I don't know if they would mess with each other's breeding habits or not.
shoefreak03
09-17-2005, 9:25 PM
usually the color and the body shape
what if i to buy those 20 for $1 guppies? they all seem to look the same, how would i be able to tell the difference??
FlammingWoodChuck
09-17-2005, 10:18 PM
Go here to see how to sex Mollies. i checked when my parrents had guppies it the same thing with them.
http://fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html