I'm about to get a 55 gallon tank set up. Is it possible to breed Molly's, convicts, or another feeder fish, and also raise them in the same tank??? If so witch ones would be the best choice. I've never done this before
Breeding feeder fish
- Thread starter PredatorPiqued
- Start date
No if the fry grow up and start to breed with the parents or each other the same strain will become weaker and start to produce fish that will easily become sick and some will become deformed. I suggest switching up with a different male or female from different stock after a few times of the same pair.
Although I didn't breed swordtails to be feeders, I liked to have a constant resupply for dither fish.
Leaving females to drop fry in the main tank usually meant the fry would last about a minute.
What I would do is watch for pregnant females, move them to a sump, or separate tank to deliver, soon after, pop the females back back in the main tank.
Pregnant female.
fry growing out in a planted sump
Leaving females to drop fry in the main tank usually meant the fry would last about a minute.
What I would do is watch for pregnant females, move them to a sump, or separate tank to deliver, soon after, pop the females back back in the main tank.
Pregnant female.
fry growing out in a planted sump
Do you think it would be do able then to have a divider in a 55 and move the parents after they produce fry to the other side? If not ideally what would the set up look like?
Has anybody else tried breeding feeders to supply their own fish and how was it set up?
Has anybody else tried breeding feeders to supply their own fish and how was it set up?
I've bred guppies as feeders for some of my smaller cichlids, but they didnt breed enough for it to be a readily available food source. I just had a 30 gallon bin with a bunch of Java moss and plants in it and a sponge filter. A payara is a much larger fish that will eat more than what I had (for me it was a small pike cichlid, compressiceps in a 29 while in college), you'd probably be better off just buying/catching fish and just quaranting them for a month or so. Or just convert your payara to frozen food and not have to worry about this.
Would a payara eat red wiggler earth worms? Im not super familiar with that type of fish, so i dont know. I grow red wigglers in storage containers full of shredded cardboard and old food and stuff for the worms to compost. I feed the worms to my new world cichlids, bichirs, catfish, ghostknife, and even the black skirt tetras eat them. Most of the comet goldfish I have now do not like them, but I have seen other comets eat the worms.
On a separate note, I have had five or six convicts turn into hundreds in a 55 gallon aquarium. They take care of there fry so I did not have to separate any out. Thet just had fry and chased off the previous batch when thet were somewhat grown. I have been told and noticed that convicts are not ideal feeder fish, however. I was told by someone at a fish store that they have sharp fins? I dont know. Maybe someone else wants to weigh in on that.
On a separate note, I have had five or six convicts turn into hundreds in a 55 gallon aquarium. They take care of there fry so I did not have to separate any out. Thet just had fry and chased off the previous batch when thet were somewhat grown. I have been told and noticed that convicts are not ideal feeder fish, however. I was told by someone at a fish store that they have sharp fins? I dont know. Maybe someone else wants to weigh in on that.