Breeding of aquarium fish
Breeding aquarium fish – often the main goal
To breed aquarium fish is not only desirable from a sustainable point of view, it is also fascinating and exciting.
Many fish species care for their brood and it’s really fun to observe how the parents protect and look after their offspring.
Breeding by accident
You can find offspring in your aquarium without you having planned it. Your fish just feel comfortable, the conditions are perfect and there are males and females present which like each other. But it may well be that the fry have only a slim chance of survival, and are considered as a treat for both their parents and the other aquarium dwellers. You can only save the fry when you separate the babies.
Either you catch the fry to rear them in a separate aquarium or you use a spawning box ( JBL BabyHome Oxygen , JBL BabyHome pro Air , JBL NBox ), which can be used for the offspring until the juveniles are too large to be eaten. For the rearing of the mini fish you then need the suitable food. For that a special feeding kit has been designed consisting of three tins which have been precisely adapted to the size of the fry ( JBL NovoBaby ).
For the fry the following food sorts are available:
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES S
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES BABY
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
JBL PRONOVO BEL GRANO BABY
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLUID
JBL ArtemioSet
Focused breeding
If you specifically want to breed certain fish species, it is necessary to take the following parameters into account:
Food for fry
There are various sizes and an entire food range to choose from for the fry:
Freshly hatched, very small
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLUID
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES BABY
JBL ArtemioSet
Small to medium-sized fry
JBL PRONOVO BEL GRANO BABY
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
JBL ArtemioSet
Medium-sized to large fry
Now you also can grate your flake food to feed the parent animals.
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES S
Suitable aquarium equipment
Your fish have adapted to their habitat and their breeding is often also closely tied up with the habitat. Some cichlids and long-whiskered catfish lay their eggs in caves. If there is no cave available, the fish have a problem. Make sure you offer your cave breeders few breeding dens to choose from ( JBL Cocos Cava , JBL Ceramic spawning cave ). Some fish species spawn in rock crevices, and some on plant leaves or stones. Please check the spawning habits of your fish to adapt the aquarium decoration accordingly.
Discus fish, angel fish and other cichlids lay their eggs on vertical surfaces, no matter what they are. Because natural surfaces, such as wood and plants contain germs, experts prefer so-called spawning cones ( JBL DisCon ) which can be boiled or just disinfected.
Many cichlids from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika, but also from waters of other continents, are mouthbrooders. The females put their eggs in their mouths after laying, along with some sperm from the male and thus brood the eggs in their mouths. After a gestation period they release their young from their mouths.
Dense planting areas help fish species which spawn freely into the water or in plants. Here the eggs are more or less safe from predators. Experts use grids above the bottom or glass marbles to protect the eggs from the parents.
The right water
Find out which water parameters are important for your fish. Sometimes there are differences between the ”normal“ keeping and ”breeding conditions“. Some fish species, for example, only spawn when the temperature drops slightly or the water flow increases. In nature this is often connected to the rainy season. As a rule most fish prefer a regular partial water change than any fíddling around with the GH, KH and pH. But this may change when breeding: here the right hardness and pH value can be decisive!
Read more about this at Water values .
Conductivity: you will find information about conductivity and breeding for some fish species. This concerns the electrical conductivity of your aquarium water. The more salt in the water, the more the water conducts electricity. However this doesn’t refer to the sea salt, but to any kind of salt, such as general hardness, carbonate hardness, but also phosphates, nitrates or sulphates. If a low conductivity of 80 µS/cm is indicated for your fish to be bred, experts do the following: They use a reverse osmosis unit to filter almost all the salts (95 %) out of the tap water. This way they produce ultra-soft water which is almost equivalent to distilled water. Then they add a mineral salt mix ( JBL Aquadur ) to precisely set the conductance they require. Larger partial water changes of about 50 % often have led to breeding successes too! It’s worth a try!
Current
Some fish species, such as loaches or barbels need a very strong current to get into the mood to breed. The normal waterflow of the water generated by the filter is by far not enough. With the help of flow pumps Pumps you can intensify the current in your aquarium to liven up the fish.
Food
Who wants sex with an empty stomach or when the meal was horrible? What applies to people is also true for fish. Nutrition also plays a significant role for the success of the breeding! You have probably researched the right food for your fish. To start a breeding attempt, variety and some treats need to be on the menu. Sometimes it is enough to feed natural plankton ( PlanktonPur ). With this a lot of breeding attempts have been successfully started. For herbivorous fish (plant eaters) supplementary feeding with salad, peas or cucumbers can be very beneficial. In any case it is important that plenty of food and variety is on offer.
Modifying aquarium filters
If fry are expected you need to insert the intake strainer of your external filter into a foam cartridge ( JBL ProFlow sf for u800,1100,2000 ) so that they can’t be sucked in by the filter. For smaller aquariums it is useful to directly use a “fry safe” filter, such as the JBL CristalProfi m greenline .