What have you bred and how did you do it?

[jgentry]

Lets list everything that any of us have bred in this thread and how we did it. What special care or changes did you make to get these fish to succefully in our tap water. This is were you need to list all of you advise and secrets for all of us to use.

I'll start working on my list and get it up soon.

[jon carman]

Great idea

[angel]

Ok for many fish I have no real secrets so I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about them. My answers are simple for them. But some of them there is a trick or two that works. Here goes.

Red Jewel(African) - key is to give frozen live food at the time you want them to breed and then do a water change with cooler water. This makes them think it's the rainy season.

Mbuna - Good quality flake food and clean hard water, and more females than males.

Hap(Tramitichromis Intermedius) - Breed fine as a group. Only one male will color up, and he will be the one to have ALL the females whether it's one or a half dozen. Hard water and good quality food.

Christmas Fulu - More than one male may be present but need to have separate areas, so block off the line of sight in the tank and males will establish territory on one side or the other of the visual barricade. I use a huge piece of holey rock.

Peacock(Firefish) - A male and one or more females will do the trick. Give him an area he can clear out for her to lay the eggs.

Angelfish - Breed fine in our water, as long as the food quality is good. Bloodworms seem to trigger a spawn. Keep a spawning slate vertically in the tank, for them to lay their eggs on. They tend to eat them, so removing the eggs is the best way to get babies. Keep something on hand to stop fungus--methylene blue works great for this. The slate can be quickly transferred to a jar with an airstone and a drop of methylene blue, and kept warm the eggs will hatch in a couple of days. I use a 2.5 gallon tank so I can hang a heater on it. When the babies are freeswimming, transfer them to a barebottom 10 gallon and feed them BBS. Keep the temp at 80 F.

Bettas - Requires male and female to be kept separately. Bring them within sight of eachother. When the female is gravid, and has vertical bars on her sides, and the male has made a bubble nest, put her in with the male. Remove her after the spawn is finished. She will be beat up during the process. It's natural. Her fins will grow back. The male cares for the young . When they're freeswimming remove him, so he doesn't eat them. Feed them infusoria or eggfood, and then BBS within a couple of days. After a couple of weeks they can and should have chopped up bloodworms.

Ptychochromis Grandidieri East Coast Gold - The one biggest tip, and the one I can see that does work, is to add extra salt to their water. Salt triggers a spawn.

[angel]

Will we later compile these to make a tips item for each kind, combining the best methods for each from our members?

[jon carman]

Africans, for the most part all have different breeding behaviors within each species- but having said that most mbuna are pretty much the same and most peacocks are the same and so on. This thread will be best served by leaving out all the jibber jabber such as I am doing now and keep it clean- simple list with a few recommendations for each.

And yes, some day we can maybe compile it by species. I am still wanting to work on a data base, but it will probably not work for me until I quit my day job.

[jtrotter77]

Here is list if i have remembered them all.
Biggest advice I can give is lots of water changes and feed worms when trying to induce breeding. Always works like a charm.
one week a month for once a day during feed a few live earthworms. after the week. do a major water change. and watch the mating begin

Lots of various peacocks,
Albino Ngara peacock
Albino sunshine peacock
albino sunburst peacock
Ob firefish peacock
Firefish peacock
Strawberry peacock
German Red Peacock
Ruby Red Peacock
Benga Peacock
Albino Benga Peacock
Albino Eureka Peacock
Eureka Peacock
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Hongi Is.)
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Otter Pt.) (Caroline swallowtail) Malawi Butterfly
Lemon Jake
Mbenji Peacock, Blue Regal
Red Top Lwanda Peacock
Bi-color 500
Sulfur Head Peacock
Aulonocara nyassae
Red Shoulder
Blue Neon
Aulonocara steveni
Flametail Peacock
Flavescent Peacock
Sunburst Peacock,
Maleri Sunshine Peacock

various Mbuna


Cynotilapia afra (Cobue)
Cynotilapia afra (Jalo Reef)
Rusty Cichlid
Labeotropheus trewavasae (Mpanga) Mpanga Red
Marbled *blueberry* Trewavasae
Yellow Lab, Electric Yellow
Melanochromis auratus
Melanochromis brevis
Melanochromis chipokae
electric blue johannii
Black and White Auratus"
Cobalt Zebra
Ice White Cobalt Zebra
Red Zebra
OB Red Zebra
Ice blue greshakei
Albino Ice Blue greshakei
Red Top Zebra
Yellow Tail Acei
Pseudotropheus crabro Bumble Bee
Pseudotropheus demasoni (Pombo Rocks)
Pseudotropheus elongatus
Pseudotropheus flavus
Pseudotropheus polit
Pseudotropheus socolofi
Pseudotropheus socolofi (Albino)

a few Haps

Livingstoni
Copadichromis azureus Haplochromis chrysonotus
Red Fin borleyi
Yellow fin borleyi
midnight mloto
Placidochromis milomo Super VC-10
Protomelas fenestratus
Taiwan Reef Albino
Taiwan Reef
Tangerine Tiger
Super Red Empress
Iceberg, Hap Ahli, Electric Blue

Tangs (very few)

Gold head comps
blue flash
black and white calvus
firefin comps
sexfasciatus
brichardi
albino brichardi
transcriptus (zaire and gombe)
Julidochromis Ornatus
Julidochromis regani
Julidochromis marlieri
Firecracker orange leleupi
daffadil pulcher


NOn African

various Flowerhorn
red texas
green texas
Jack Dempsey
vieja Bifa's
black belt
convicts
Mayan
red devil
REd Terror
Tiger Mota

Maybe a few more. ITs been so many over the years.
also bred dwarf channa once before they were illegal.
*that was a really long time ago.* Was a really cool fish

[jgentry]

I guess I started when I was 6 with a 10g with some guppies, swordtails, and mollies. I was a little kid but still was able to breed, or should I say couldn't screw it up enough to stop them from breeding from there I have added a few to the list

All of these fish breed great in our tap water in a 20g or larger tank with a flower pot. Just by a pair of a group of juvies and grow them out to get a pair.
Convicts
Herotilapia Multispinosa
Cryptoheros sp "Honderun Red Point"
Archocentrus Centrarchus
Neetroplus Nematopus
Archocentrus Panamensis
Archocentrus Nanoluteus
Cryptoheros Sajica
Cryptoheros Myrnae

All of these fish I have been able to breed by using lots of water changes with aged water that is a little warmer, generally around 82. Good food and lots of clean aged water and you can do it in our tap water

Green Severum
Geophagus Orangehead

These fish need the same thing but require you to lower the PH to has success with the eggs hatching

Heros Notatus
Hoplarchus Psittacus
Discus

These fish I had success spawning in groups in at least a 55g aquarium

Geophagus Steiny's

These fish I have only had success spawning through a divider due to aggression from the male. Generally use a 75g or bigger with an eggcrate divider

Herichthys carpintis Escondido
Silver Saum Green Terror
Astatheros Robertsoni
Amphilophus Labiatus

These fish I have had success spawning outside in the spring. I move them to my outdoor pond as soon as the water hits 50 and they generally spawn when the water warms up around 70

Gymnogeophagus Quillero
Gymnogeophagus Sarandi

I'll just add to the list as I have more new fish spawn.

[jtrotter77]

I never had luck breeding Saum. I only tried it for a short time. Though Male was really beating the female. Tried the divider and she seemed to stay away from it.

[jgentry]

They don't seem to interact as well if completely divided. My male is a lot larger then my female so I just cut a hole in the divider large enough for the female so she can go over and interact with him and yet get back to saftey on her side of the divder without getting beat senseless. This method works really well when the female is smaller with most aggressive new worlds.

[jtrotter77]

I have seen that done before with flowerhorns and Midas.
I may have to try that sometime.