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
- Prebiotic aquarium fish food with garlic: dedicated dietary fibres in the food supply the beneficial intestinal bacteria with food for healthy digestion
- Natural raw materials without artificial additives for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish. Tested on JBL research expeditions in the tropics
- Very high acceptance even with choosy fish species thanks to high-quality raw ingredients such as salmon, squid, shrimps and garlic. Ideal for community aquariums due to fish and shrimps, but also plant components such as spirulina
- Promotes the colours of all ornamental fish species with natural astaxanthin (a very high-quality carotene) from krill and spirulina. The declaration squid stands for molluscs such as mussels and snails, which are eaten by many fish
- Package contents: original sealed air- and light-tight, completely recyclable tin with dosing aid inside the lid
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES BABY
- Prebiotic, sinking juvenile fish food: dedicated dietary fibres in the food supply the beneficial intestinal bacteria with food for healthy digestion
- Use: the 3 bags contain food of increasing size from powdered food to mini flakes, always suitable for the growing juvenile fish
- Very high acceptance even in choosy fish species thanks to high-quality raw ingredients such as salmon, squid, prawns and garlic
- With the very high-quality natural astaxanthin from krill and spirulina, which ensures perfect colour formation in ornamental fish
- Package contents: 3 original sealed, light-proof and recyclable bags with 3 different food sizes
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
- Varied diet: treats for tropical fresh and saltwater fish and shrimps. Fresh and pure plankton
- High nutritional value and optimal colouring thanks to natural astaxanthin: natural food from artic waters for aquarium fish from 2 to 6 cm in size
- No water clouding: better water quality thanks to better digestibility of the food, which reduces the fish excrement
- Fish choose JBL food: 98.5% of all fish species ate the JBL food immediately during research expeditions in freshwaters. Natural food from 100 % plankton
- Package contents: PlanktonPur S, for small fresh and saltwater fish
JBL PRONOVO BEL GRANO BABY
- Complete nutrition, optimal growth and beautiful colours thanks to brine shrimps. Powder food set with 3 pouches of different food sizes for juveniles of all aquarium fish
- Nutritious and easy to digest: ideal nutrient composition for all baby aquarium fish from 5 to 20 mm in size
- No water clouding: reduced algae growth thanks to balanced phosphate content, better water quality due to better digestibility of the food, which reduces fish excrement
- Natural raw ingredients without artificial additives for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish
- Package contents: 3 original sealed, air- and light-tight, recyclable freshness pouches with separate dosing spoon as feeding aid
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLUID
- Complete nutrition: ultra-fine homogenate (very fine food dissolved in water) made from over 50 natural ingredients
- Nutritious, easy to digest and ideal growth thanks to brine shrimp components. Ideal feeding conditions for young fish which are still too small for powder food
- No water clouding, better water quality due to optimal digestibility of the food, which reduces fish excretions
- Natural raw ingredients for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish
- Package contents: 1 bottle with dropper for the exact dosage of the liquid feed included
JBL ArtemioSet
- Artemia nauplii home-grown in 24-48 hours: cultivation equipment with stand and air pump
- Assemble culture device, connect air pump, add water, salt and Artemia eggs, allow 24-48 h for hatching brine shrimps to run out, and catch them in sieve. Feed crustaceans to the fish
- Effective: maximal hatching rate as a result of the naupilia’s constant movement and funnel shape, separation of the nauplia from the breeding water with Artemia sieve (0.15 mm mesh size), nauplia removed using harvesting container
- Extendable by combining with other breeding containers, several containers with staggered setting up times: continuous supply for sensitive young fry
- Package contents: 1 breeding kit for live food, ArtemioSet. Incl. 1 funnel shaped breeding container with dome cover, 1 stand with screws, 1 air pump, 1 harvesting container, 1 Artemia sieve, 1.8 m air hose, 1 check valve
Focused breeding
If you specifically want to breed certain fish species, it is necessary to take the following parameters into account:
Do you really have males and females? Two females can also spawn, but the eggs don’t become fertilised.
Unfortunately, there are no general rules for distinguishing characteristics in male and female fish. The males are usually more colourful than the females, but there are exceptions to this. Example: guppies, Yucatan mollies, many gouramis.
In other live-bearing toothcarps, males and females are coloured the same, but the females are plumper and have an anal fin instead of a mating organ (gonopodium).
In many cichlids, the males are more beautifully coloured than the females. The exceptions to this include angelfish, discus and butterfly cichlids.
Sometimes it’s easy to distinguish between the sexes with the cichlids from the East African lakes Malawi and Tanganyika and sometimes it is difficult. With juveniles it is always as good as impossible to recognise their gender. Only sometimes, when their colours develop, does a visible sex difference (sexual dimorphism) appear.
In Central American cichlids there is the formation of forehead humps in males.
Many gouramis have clearly visible colour differences between the sexes. These include pearl gouramis, dwarf gouramis, honey gouramis and a few more. In the others, the dorsal fins of the males are usually more extended than those of the females and the females have a fuller body shape.
With many juvenile fish, the sexes can only be distinguished when the animals have reached sexual maturity. Before then, they all look the same and the strongest males will change colour first! Suppressed males do not show a beautiful "male colouration” either, so that they are not fought by the highest-ranking male. Only when the highest-ranking male dies will the next male change colour.
Brood predator: Many tetras and barbels lay their eggs freely in the water or plants. Afterwards they are left to themselves and the later hatching fry is eaten. Here you either need to remove the parents or the eggs/fry from the aquarium.
Livebearers: As the name indicates, guppies, platties and other live-bearing tooth carps give birth to living young. You can put pregnant females into a spawning box ( JBL BabyHome Oxygen , JBL BabyHome pro Air ), where they give birth to their babies which are protected by a grid from the mother, who may regard the fry as food.
Brood carers: all cichlids, labyrinth fish and many other fish species lovingly care for their brood. This doesn’t always work the first time, but they learn and eventually they rear them, often even in the presence of other aquarium dwellers. You only need to make sure that they feed their fry. Fry hatching from eggs are significantly smaller than live born fry.
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
- Complete nutrition: ultra-fine homogenate (very fine food dissolved in water) made from over 50 natural ingredients
- Nutritious, easy to digest and ideal growth thanks to brine shrimp components. Ideal feeding conditions for young fish which are still too small for powder food
- No water clouding, better water quality due to optimal digestibility of the food, which reduces fish excretions
- Natural raw ingredients for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish
- Package contents: 1 bottle with dropper for the exact dosage of the liquid feed included
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES BABY
- Prebiotic, sinking juvenile fish food: dedicated dietary fibres in the food supply the beneficial intestinal bacteria with food for healthy digestion
- Use: the 3 bags contain food of increasing size from powdered food to mini flakes, always suitable for the growing juvenile fish
- Very high acceptance even in choosy fish species thanks to high-quality raw ingredients such as salmon, squid, prawns and garlic
- With the very high-quality natural astaxanthin from krill and spirulina, which ensures perfect colour formation in ornamental fish
- Package contents: 3 original sealed, light-proof and recyclable bags with 3 different food sizes
JBL ArtemioSet
- Artemia nauplii home-grown in 24-48 hours: cultivation equipment with stand and air pump
- Assemble culture device, connect air pump, add water, salt and Artemia eggs, allow 24-48 h for hatching brine shrimps to run out, and catch them in sieve. Feed crustaceans to the fish
- Effective: maximal hatching rate as a result of the naupilia’s constant movement and funnel shape, separation of the nauplia from the breeding water with Artemia sieve (0.15 mm mesh size), nauplia removed using harvesting container
- Extendable by combining with other breeding containers, several containers with staggered setting up times: continuous supply for sensitive young fry
- Package contents: 1 breeding kit for live food, ArtemioSet. Incl. 1 funnel shaped breeding container with dome cover, 1 stand with screws, 1 air pump, 1 harvesting container, 1 Artemia sieve, 1.8 m air hose, 1 check valve
Small to medium-sized fry
JBL PRONOVO BEL GRANO BABY
- Complete nutrition, optimal growth and beautiful colours thanks to brine shrimps. Powder food set with 3 pouches of different food sizes for juveniles of all aquarium fish
- Nutritious and easy to digest: ideal nutrient composition for all baby aquarium fish from 5 to 20 mm in size
- No water clouding: reduced algae growth thanks to balanced phosphate content, better water quality due to better digestibility of the food, which reduces fish excrement
- Natural raw ingredients without artificial additives for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish
- Package contents: 3 original sealed, air- and light-tight, recyclable freshness pouches with separate dosing spoon as feeding aid
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
- Varied diet: treats for tropical fresh and saltwater fish and shrimps. Fresh and pure plankton
- High nutritional value and optimal colouring thanks to natural astaxanthin: natural food from artic waters for aquarium fish from 2 to 6 cm in size
- No water clouding: better water quality thanks to better digestibility of the food, which reduces the fish excrement
- Fish choose JBL food: 98.5% of all fish species ate the JBL food immediately during research expeditions in freshwaters. Natural food from 100 % plankton
- Package contents: PlanktonPur S, for small fresh and saltwater fish
JBL ArtemioSet
- Artemia nauplii home-grown in 24-48 hours: cultivation equipment with stand and air pump
- Assemble culture device, connect air pump, add water, salt and Artemia eggs, allow 24-48 h for hatching brine shrimps to run out, and catch them in sieve. Feed crustaceans to the fish
- Effective: maximal hatching rate as a result of the naupilia’s constant movement and funnel shape, separation of the nauplia from the breeding water with Artemia sieve (0.15 mm mesh size), nauplia removed using harvesting container
- Extendable by combining with other breeding containers, several containers with staggered setting up times: continuous supply for sensitive young fry
- Package contents: 1 breeding kit for live food, ArtemioSet. Incl. 1 funnel shaped breeding container with dome cover, 1 stand with screws, 1 air pump, 1 harvesting container, 1 Artemia sieve, 1.8 m air hose, 1 check valve
Medium-sized to large fry
Now you also can grate your flake food to feed the parent animals.
JBL PlanktonPur SMALL
- Varied diet: treats for tropical fresh and saltwater fish and shrimps. Fresh and pure plankton
- High nutritional value and optimal colouring thanks to natural astaxanthin: natural food from artic waters for aquarium fish from 2 to 6 cm in size
- No water clouding: better water quality thanks to better digestibility of the food, which reduces the fish excrement
- Fish choose JBL food: 98.5% of all fish species ate the JBL food immediately during research expeditions in freshwaters. Natural food from 100 % plankton
- Package contents: PlanktonPur S, for small fresh and saltwater fish
JBL PRONOVO BEL FLAKES S
- Prebiotic aquarium fish food with garlic: dedicated dietary fibres in the food supply the beneficial intestinal bacteria with food for healthy digestion
- Natural raw materials without artificial additives for a natural diet and healthy aquarium fish. Tested on JBL research expeditions in the tropics
- Very high acceptance even with choosy fish species thanks to high-quality raw ingredients such as salmon, squid, shrimps and garlic. Ideal for community aquariums due to fish and shrimps, but also plant components such as spirulina
- Promotes the colours of all ornamental fish species with natural astaxanthin (a very high-quality carotene) from krill and spirulina. The declaration squid stands for molluscs such as mussels and snails, which are eaten by many fish
- Package contents: original sealed air- and light-tight, completely recyclable tin with dosing aid inside the lid
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.
Fish species that build foam nests are happy if you support their nest-building efforts by adding floating plants and if there is no or hardly any current in the area of the nest. These fish species include a large number of labyrinth fish (gouramis, some species of fighting fish and macropods).
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 .