What are some common aquarium fish that haven't been bred in captivity/in the home aquarium

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Well I’m surprized too hear that ropefish are on that list my thought they were bred in a fashion too a sengal bichir and josh aren't you currently trying too breed Polypterus weeksii. So that clown loach code maybe its possible for them too be bred in the home aquaria if somewhere for say I have an 1000 gallon with a tremendous amount of flow and water changes?Also do you guys know where I can find an article on bala shark breeding or at the very least a trusted article of them in wild please?
 
What about some of the spiny eels never heard of them being bred
  • Mastacembelus erythrotaenia - Reported natural breeding in captivity
  • Mastacembelus armatus - Induced breeding
  • Mastacembelus elipsifer - Natural hobbyist breeding in captivity
  • Macrognathus siamensis - Natural and induced breeding
  • Macrognathus pancalus - Induced breeding
  • Macrognathus aculeatus - I haven't followed up on this, but there was attempts at induced and natural breeding which might have been successful.
I'm sure there's a small handful more I'm missing, but out of over 80 diverse species, there's so many breeding opportunities to be had with Spiny Eels.


Well I’m surprized too hear that ropefish are on that list my thought they were bred in a fashion too a sengal bichir and josh aren't you currently trying too breed Polypterus weeksii. So that clown loach code maybe its possible for them too be bred in the home aquaria if somewhere for say I have an 1000 gallon with a tremendous amount of flow and water changes?Also do you guys know where I can find an article on bala shark breeding or at the very least a trusted article of them in wild please?

I've had spawning of P. weeksii, and still have them breed, but I've never been able to recover the eggs, as they scatter them in the hair algae under the bogwood. I got excited one day and recovered one, but it was annyoingly an egg from the Florida Gars haha. At the moment, they're more concerned with breeding with the P. congicus, so I think Jiseok could be me to it!
 
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I watched that clown vid. I saw no breeding clowns, I saw no fry I saw no eggs. I have some big clowns 10+ in. TL. They eat anything. They shred the Repashy Igapo fruit mix. I throw in chunks too big for them to simply swallow whole and they mange to eat it, no problem.

There is usually a very good reason certain fish have not been bred in tanks and likely never will be. Those rare almost impossible-to-beed-in-tanks are most likely to stay that way.

So what is your goal in breeding rare fish, money, glory or both? There are plenty of pricey fish one might breed in tanks. Often the biggest problem if finding the fish available. A perfect example used to be zebra plecos. Illegal to remove from Brazil and harder to find. But the illegal trade fixed that for a while. Now it is almost impossible to find wild caught zebras. However, there are enough folks breeding them in tanks and on a few quality farms that you can still find them without too much difficulty. However, the prices still remain high.

On the other hand something like an L173 is hard to find and the prices are high. Fortunately, at least in my water, most of the Hypancistrus plecos seem to spawn. And that explains the other consideration. One usually gets the best results working with fish that are at home in our tap water.

On observation- I believe most fish we keep in tanks want to spawn. The reality is we do not get them to spawn. Our first job is to provide the proper conditions- i.e. prroper sized tank, proper water parameters, and proper aquascape. After that the one thing we can control is what we feed. As far as I am concerned this is usually the most important thing we do- feed the right foods. In the end, our fish will usually spawn as long as we are not doing things to discourage or prevent it. Also, most require a species tanks if we want to maximize survival for offspring. many can require a separate growout tank to be safe.

Yes there are a bunch of fish who need very special parameters/conditions/foods. Some may need ponds rather than tanks because they are big. But these are not the ones most folks breed unless they have lots of space and specialized equipment etc.

If all you want is glory, then go for the clown loach type fish nobody has managed despite years of tying. Just be prepared to fail. If you are interested in making some level of profit, go for spawnable but hard to find fish which grow slowly and have small spawn. Zebras are pricey because they take a while to reach spawning size, they have a small clutch of eggs.

A lot of your choice may come down to moneny. How big a tank will you need for spawning and then for growout. How much to the fish cost. Will you get youngersters and grow them or will you lookfor adult fish ready to spawn or even proven breeders? It Took me a while to work up to it, but my most expensive breeding fish cost me $1,000 each. If you work with big fish, shipping can become a challenge.

Here is an idea- Altum angels. They have been breed, but by very, very few folks. I keep them and have no illusions about getting them to spawn. I do not have the skills.
 
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I watched that clown vid. I saw no breeding clowns, I saw no fry I saw no eggs. I have some big clowns 10+ in. TL. They eat anything. They shred the Repashy Igapo fruit mix. I throw in chunks too big for them to simply swallow whole and they mange to eat it, no problem.

There is usually a very good reason certain fish have not been bred in tanks and likely never will be. Those rare almost impossible-to-beed-in-tanks are most likely to stay that way.

So what is your goal in breeding rare fish, money, glory or both? There are plenty of pricey fish one might breed in tanks. Often the biggest problem if finding the fish available. A perfect example used to be zebra plecos. Illegal to remove from Brazil and harder to find. But the illegal trade fixed that for a while. Now it is almost impossible to find wild caught zebras. However, there are enough folks breeding them in tanks and on a few quality farms that you can still find them without too much difficulty. However, the prices still remain high.

On the other hand something like an L173 is hard to find and the prices are high. Fortunately, at least in my water, most of the Hypancistrus plecos seem to spawn. And that explains the other consideration. One usually gets the best results working with fish that are at home in our tap water.

On observation- I believe most fish we keep in tanks want to spawn. The reality is we do not get them to spawn. Our first job is to provide the proper conditions- i.e. prroper sized tank, proper water parameters, and proper aquascape. After that the one thing we can control is what we feed. As far as I am concerned this is usually the most important thing we do- feed the right foods. In the end, our fish will usually spawn as long as we are not doing things to discourage or prevent it. Also, most require a species tanks if we want to maximize survival for offspring. many can require a separate growout tank to be safe.

Yes there are a bunch of fish who need very special parameters/conditions/foods. Some may need ponds rather than tanks because they are big. But these are not the ones most folks breed unless they have lots of space and specialized equipment etc.

If all you want is glory, then go for the clown loach type fish nobody has managed despite years of tying. Just be prepared to fail. If you are interested in making some level of profit, go for spawnable but hard to find fish which grow slowly and have small spawn. Zebras are pricey because they take a while to reach spawning size, they have a small clutch of eggs.

A lot of your choice may come down to moneny. How big a tank will you need for spawning and then for growout. How much to the fish cost. Will you get youngersters and grow them or will you lookfor adult fish ready to spawn or even proven breeders? It Took me a while to work up to it, but my most expensive breeding fish cost me $1,000 each. If you work with big fish, shipping can become a challenge.

Here is an idea- Altum angels. They have been breed, but by very, very few folks. I keep them and have no illusions about getting them to spawn. I do not have the skills.
Honestly its mostly a combination of both for one I do like the recognition it could bring me and when ever you can get money from something you love is always a plus side. Honestly you make a good point on how the fish that we keep want too breed but sometimes are prohibited in the captive setting because its hardwired in their brain that they need to reproduce. The biggest tank that I’m currently thinking on buying is a 125 and I have a 30 gallon in storage that I may be able too use for fry or grow-outs but it brings me too another point that what is typically the idealistic situation for these “rare” or “common” fish too breed whats the perfect tank size especially for fish that are wild caught and that are used too swimming for miles and miles?What can we do to insure that they do breed to make insurance colonies and too satisfy the growing demand for exotic fish species? Also aren't altums usually described being as difficult too keep like discus?? Also what fish pair did you buy that costed $1000 if you dont mind me asking??
 
Also aren't altums usually described being as difficult too keep like discus??

Altums generally are considered harder to keep than domesticated Discus. Much harder to acclimate them to higher ph harder waters.

Green and Blue Phantom plecos. They have been bred but only by a handful of people. Goal of mine personally as its rare to see but also has a demand for the fry. As you mentioned selling the fish it important to remember the demand for them, rarer the fish generally harder the care and lower the demand. Easy to sell Angels at the fish store but they dont move that many arro's for example.
 
Altums generally are considered harder to keep than domesticated Discus. Much harder to acclimate them to higher ph harder waters.

Green and Blue Phantom plecos. They have been bred but only by a handful of people. Goal of mine personally as its rare to see but also has a demand for the fry. As you mentioned selling the fish it important to remember the demand for them, rarer the fish generally harder the care and lower the demand. Easy to sell Angels at the fish store but they dont move that many arro's for example.
I agree no point in trying to flood a market with rare fish if no one wants them.
I myself will try my hand at zebra plecos, not sure if I will succeed or if anyone will want them. But this is my next project
 
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An interesting example is the Red-tailed Black Shark. Virtually extinct in the wild, in fact I believe that at one point it had been declared extinct until a small remnant population was found in one isolated locale. The fish is bred in huge numbers in Asia by fishfarmers who use hormones to induce spawning activity. It's a magnificent creature IMHO, available dirt cheap almost anywhere...which I'm sure lessens its appeal to folks who only want things that other folks don't have and/or cannot afford.

Because it's selling price is so low, there's little financial incentive to breed it in the home aquarium...but it's exactly the sort of fish I would love to breed...just because. :)
 
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