Breeding the Fathead minnow (rosy red)
- Thread starter sandtiger
- Start date
the photoperiod, does the dark phase have to be pitch black, or can i just turn the tank lights off? my tanks are in a somewhat social area, so that would mean the rooms light possibly disturbing the dark period.
Thank you sandtiger.
One time out dipnetting, I scooped a few male fatheads in the middle of breeding season. Their fatty corpuscles give them a really interesting, almost dinosaurain look. You wouldn't normally expect that from a a boring ol' minnow. They are quite the opposite, and like many smaller native fishes, totally underappreicated.
One time out dipnetting, I scooped a few male fatheads in the middle of breeding season. Their fatty corpuscles give them a really interesting, almost dinosaurain look. You wouldn't normally expect that from a a boring ol' minnow. They are quite the opposite, and like many smaller native fishes, totally underappreicated.
for me traditional fat head minnows have been one of the least hardy feeders that I try to keep.
My feeders tanks are set up as 55g tanks with 20g sumps and a turn over rate of 12x. And a temp of around 70-74.
I buy fat heads in bulk by the pound. A pound is supposed to be 28-30 dozen. And when i stock the tank with the whole pound I get a 50% die off in the first 2 days.
I allways get a .25-.5ppm ammonia reading for the first few days because of the bio shock that 30dz fish will have. And I allways do daily 50% water changes to help with this.
But the .5ppm ammonia seems to be to much for them.
I can buy a pound of gold fish and have less than 5 fish die off and I also buy platy's and have very minimal die off.
From the research i have done I have seen that they prefer cooler water than room temperatures.
The place that I buy from keeps them chilled at 55 degree's and reports to me that they have very few die off.
The also breed them in mass quanities in 20'x10'x3' concrete tanks with water temps in the mid 60's.
They use creek water at a constant flow thru in the breeding tanks and in the holding tanks with the chillers.
They provide NO food what so ever.
So does any one have great success in keeping large amounts of fat heads? And if so how do you do it?
My feeders tanks are set up as 55g tanks with 20g sumps and a turn over rate of 12x. And a temp of around 70-74.
I buy fat heads in bulk by the pound. A pound is supposed to be 28-30 dozen. And when i stock the tank with the whole pound I get a 50% die off in the first 2 days.
I allways get a .25-.5ppm ammonia reading for the first few days because of the bio shock that 30dz fish will have. And I allways do daily 50% water changes to help with this.
But the .5ppm ammonia seems to be to much for them.
I can buy a pound of gold fish and have less than 5 fish die off and I also buy platy's and have very minimal die off.
From the research i have done I have seen that they prefer cooler water than room temperatures.
The place that I buy from keeps them chilled at 55 degree's and reports to me that they have very few die off.
The also breed them in mass quanities in 20'x10'x3' concrete tanks with water temps in the mid 60's.
They use creek water at a constant flow thru in the breeding tanks and in the holding tanks with the chillers.
They provide NO food what so ever.
So does any one have great success in keeping large amounts of fat heads? And if so how do you do it?
We kept about 30 or more in a 20L for a long time a few years back. When we tired of them, we used them for bait.
When we kept them, we kept the water cool and really well oxygenated. What I notice when I buy a bucket of them for bait is, if you keep them in the bucket alone, they'll stay alive in there for the day but as soon as you put them on the hook they die, because they're weak. If you place the bucket in the lake or stream with fresh cooler water moving through it, they live a lot longer on the hook. I learned this because when they wiggle longer on the hook, they catch more fish.
I noticed on youtube someone was catching crappies with little fatheads. They claimed that if you placed the bucket of minnows over the side of the boat in the water, you'll catch more fish. He postulated this was becuase the bucket of fish attracted fish near your boat. The reality is, the cooler oxygenated water kept his fish stronger so that when his minnow was on the line, it wiggled more, thus catching more fish.
When we kept them, we kept the water cool and really well oxygenated. What I notice when I buy a bucket of them for bait is, if you keep them in the bucket alone, they'll stay alive in there for the day but as soon as you put them on the hook they die, because they're weak. If you place the bucket in the lake or stream with fresh cooler water moving through it, they live a lot longer on the hook. I learned this because when they wiggle longer on the hook, they catch more fish.
I noticed on youtube someone was catching crappies with little fatheads. They claimed that if you placed the bucket of minnows over the side of the boat in the water, you'll catch more fish. He postulated this was becuase the bucket of fish attracted fish near your boat. The reality is, the cooler oxygenated water kept his fish stronger so that when his minnow was on the line, it wiggled more, thus catching more fish.
SpJc11;3231536; said:
I'm not certain at what size they mature, I've bred them fresh from the creek but the ones I had were mature already at about 2". I would say as long as they're healthy and well fed you can start trying to breed them whenever you like.
WattaMelon;3236213; said:
Yeah, the males are really neat looking. I enjoy watching them in the creeks. The males will have their own separate caves and try to attract females and defend it or any eggs they have. Behavior more like a cichlid or sunfish then the kind you would normally associate with a cyprinid though many are full of surprises.
hybridtheoryd16;3236297; said:
Sounds like you just aren't keeping them properly, you pretty much admitted it yourself. Perhaps buy only as many as the tank will support rather than waste money and fish on the extras that end up dieing off anyway. That said I cannot imagine why anyone wouldn't automatically want to keep their feeders healthy anyway. Healthy feeders means healthy fish. Sickly feeders means...well you get the point.
WattaMelon;3236602; said:
Fatheads release a pheromone when in distress that warns other fatheads of danger, this same pheromone attracts predators. I bet that comes into play somewhat when keeping the bait bucket in the water you're fishing in.
So are you saying that these hardy fish usually die with ammonia readings of .25ppm-.5ppm?
And only put into that situation for less than a couple of hours.
And I am not sure if you have been keeping fish very long or not but anytime you double a tanks stock, it will take some time for the bio-bacteria to grow enough to support that stocking/bioload.
And I only gave one example of when I have bought them by the pound. But I have also bought just 5dz and the same thing happens with the die off. Allthough the 5dz does not cause any ammonia load on the tank.
The place that I buy them from, has there holding tank which is 100g's total including filtration. And at any given time they have 12-15 pounds of fat heads in the tank ready for sale. And i beleive that is alittle more of a bio load than my 1 pound in a 55g and sump.
The only difference between the 2 set ups is the temperature. Mine being mid 70's and there's being mid 50's. So I am guessing that is the problem.
And only put into that situation for less than a couple of hours.
And I am not sure if you have been keeping fish very long or not but anytime you double a tanks stock, it will take some time for the bio-bacteria to grow enough to support that stocking/bioload.
And I only gave one example of when I have bought them by the pound. But I have also bought just 5dz and the same thing happens with the die off. Allthough the 5dz does not cause any ammonia load on the tank.
The place that I buy them from, has there holding tank which is 100g's total including filtration. And at any given time they have 12-15 pounds of fat heads in the tank ready for sale. And i beleive that is alittle more of a bio load than my 1 pound in a 55g and sump.
The only difference between the 2 set ups is the temperature. Mine being mid 70's and there's being mid 50's. So I am guessing that is the problem.
