Need breeding (species) ideas

[jarrodaden]

I am ready to try something new and different with breeding. I am looking for a hardy fish that is community friendly but bigger than a typcial livebearer. I don't have much breeding experience so I am hoping to find something fairly easy to mate.

I am open to ideas.

[mark razmandi]

GEOPHAGUS STEINDACHNARI, im tellin ya man!! hahaha

[newb]

why dont you try angel fish. plenty of info on here about how to breed them. or if you want to go a more difficult route...German blue rams.

[marauder_77868]

Mesonauta festivus

[Rico]

Mesonauta festivus

havent seen those for sale in a while. Mike had a few in a display tank a few months ago but some guy came and bought them all.

[thekarens]

ABNs apparently even if you're not trying to breed them they do it anyway

[mgarrido]

+1 with newb.... Angels. Try with marbel, albino or black variant. The problem could be find a pair ready for breed.

[Mzungu]

Into which tank will these new fish go?

Yellow labs are friendly, although they're cichlids, and really easy to breed but fun to watch. I haven't seen them get nearly as aggressive as other "easy-going" cichlids during breeding and fry-rearing time. I don't think I would call them aggressive at all, and they do very well in a community setting.

Angels and rams can be pretty darn mean when it comes time for breeding. :)

[jarrodaden]

Into which tank will these new fish go?

Yellow labs are friendly, although they're cichlids, and really easy to breed but fun to watch. I haven't seen them get nearly as aggressive as other "easy-going" cichlids during breeding and fry-rearing time. I don't think I would call them aggressive at all, and they do very well in a community setting.

Angels and rams can be pretty darn mean when it comes time for breeding. :)

I have a small breeding tank. Once mom is showing, she goes in there. After birth, mom goes back in the community tank. By community tank, I mean the 72 gallon. Eventually, the offspring will go in the 72 gallon as well.

[Mzungu]

So do you want these new fish to spawn/breed in the 72g or the 3g?

[OrandaMan]

I know you said community, but I think there's an available niche for local goldfish breeders.

I know most experienced aquarists don't find goldfish particularly exciting and I can understand why. They're just so common. But as everyone knows, I dearly love orandas and I hope to become a specialist in breeding them someday when I have more experience and a better financial situation that will allow me the equipment necessary for housing a lot of goldfish.

Goldfish are very, very hearty, have wonderful personalities, and are very popular with beginners to the hobby. I'm betting most of you have had a goldfish or two and probably don't regret it, even if you've moved on to other things. And remember that it was so long ago that the Chinese started the art of breeding goldfish (and it truly is an art) that it might be a fun thing to really get into learning. And I'd like to see many more responsible, American breeders of goldfish providing good, quality fish to the American market and possibly expand to exporting, as well.

Aquarium World still has a bunch of lionheads bought over a month ago from a shady local breeder (an upset employee told me about this) that were obviously inbred - a good chunk of them were missing one eye and there was one with no eyes at all. I don't care for the breed of lionheads due to their wens completely covering the poor fishes' heads in the first place, but this was terrible.

So check out the various varieties of goldfish. There are many very beautiful ones that are difficult to find in the US but can be ordered from Asia. And if you manage to get your hands on true "gold"fish (which long ago were designated only for the emperor, leaving the common people with the orange variety most are familiar with here), you could stand to make a lot of money. Or who knows, you might, if you experiment, breed a new variety of your own. And if you wind up really liking orandas as I do (I once saw someone call them "puppies with fins" and that's a very good description), I won't mind the competition and we might even be able to share tips.

Anyway, that's my idea.

[jarrodaden]

I do like the goldfish, but when I did have them I had a lousy ammonia problem. I was told this is a major problem with goldfish but never really checked the information.

[OrandaMan]

The trick is to feed them sparsely and over filtrate. You can start out feeding them sparsely - once a day and just enough to keep them from getting too thin - and that would be enough. You can feed them more when you have enough filtration. The reason is that they're such little piggies, lol.

That said, I have to wonder about the ones you got. Goldfish can survive absolutely horrible conditions as they as often subjected to by people who don't do their homework. I'd actually like to explore perhaps getting into some sort of goldfish (and aquarium fish in general) advocacy, with the ultimate goal of better educating the public.

Anyway, I'll gladly share notes with you if you decide this is a way you'd want to go.

[PhishPhreek]

CONVICTS

really, you should try Gourami. Blues, Platinum, 3 spot, Opaline, Golds, Pearl, Paridise
the are great community fish and can be spawned easily in a 10g tank.

[OrandaMan]

CONVICTS

Are you evil? I respect that.