How to Set-Up a Breeder Tank
If you want to try your hand a breeding any aquatic creature, you will definitely find this article helpful!
What has taken me years to learn I will tell you right here in this article.
This is a 10 gallon breeder tank that holds dwarf sunset platies.
You can see that this tank has it all, including :
Good water quality, an external air-pump driven air-stone, aquarium gravel, some filter floss in the back,
aquarium plants, aquarium decorations and healthy breeder fish.
Here you'll find complete instructions for setting up a freshwater "breeder" fish tank, where you can breed any type of freshwater aquatic critter, including :
* Aquatic Live Fishfood
* Crayfish
* Freshwater Fish Fry
* Shrimp
* Snails
Breeding Saltwater Fish and Inverts is basically the same, except that the water contains sea salt instead of plain fresh water.
Water Quality
Fish-safe water, the tank should be cycled and remain cycled long after adding any breeder fish into it.
Learn More About >> How to Use Water Quality Dip Test Strips
Learn More About >> Aquarium Gravel
Gravel Color
Natural colored gravel is the best type of gravel to use in a breeding tank. Landscaping gravel is an excellent source of natural colored gravel. Landscaping gravel is made up of earthy colored pebbles, stones and rocks. The color of landscaping gravel ranges widely, sometimes including brown, grey, white or tan. These colors help almost any type of fry appear camouflaged to predator fish (which usually includes the parent fish.)
Gravel Size and Shape
Use large, round gravel inside of a breeding tank (marble sized gravel). This will provide more hiding places, since the fry can hide in the cracks between the gravel.
Thoroughly rinse-off any gravel before adding into any aquarium.
Add live aquatic plants and plastic aquarium plants into a breeder tank. This creates more places for fry to hide from larger fish.
Place plastic aquarium plants all throughout a breeding tank to provide your fry with plenty of hiding spots. Fry will swim all over the tank, going back and forth from top to bottom. Float some plastic floating-plants at the top of the aquarium, so fry that are at the surface will have a place to hide. Make sure that some plants fill up the middle part of the tank. This will allow the fry to swim from the gravel to the surface of the tank without getting eaten by a large fish. A breeder tank should also have low-growing, ground-cover plants coming out of the gravel. Anacharis is a live aquatic plant that's perfect to add into a breeder tank.
Suitable live aquatic plants to grow in a low-maintenance breeder tank include :
* Anacharis
* Cabomba
* Duckweed
* Java Fern
* Java Moss
* Salvinia
* Waterlilies
This is a breeder tank.
You can see that there are plenty of aquarium decorations and aquarium plants in this tank.
This will make the fish feel more comfortable, making it easier for them to breed.
This will also give the baby fish more places to hide and the beneficial bacteria more places to grow on.
Learn More About >> Aquarium Decorations
There are many things that you can use for aquarium decorations, including :
* Rocks
* Sea Shells
* Store-bought aquarium decorations, etc.
Add filter floss into your tanks, it's great for any tank because it creates more surface and living area.
Breeder Tank Tip! :
Any creatures that you are breeding should be split up into at least two separate batches so that you can raise them in two separate aquariums. This way, if one of your tanks was to crash and all of the animals in the tank were to die, then you would still have the other tank and it won't be a total loss.
Here you can see that the plastic plants in this breeder tank extend from the gravel to the surface of the water.
This will give the baby fish fry plenty of places to hide from any larger fish.
Temperature
A Room Temperature tank is best for breeding fish. Since the fish will breed naturally with the seasons, you only have to add an aquarium heater in the cold winter months (if required.)
Tank Mates
You can add quite a few aquatic critters into a freshwater breeding tank.
Suitable tank-mates include :
• Daphnia (These may not survive for long in a breeder tank but when they do they make an excellent tank-mate fr a breeder
tank.) (Daphnia are a natural livefood source.)
• Scuds (These may not survive in a breeder tank.) (Scuds are a natural livefood source.)
• Blackworms (These may not survive in a breeder tank.) (Blackworms are a natural livefood source.)(You can substitute
blackworms with microfex worms or tubifex worms.)
• Ramshorn Snails
• Trumpet Snails
• Pond Snails (In addition to many other species of freshwater aquarium snail.)
• Dwarf Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp
• Crayfish
• Cories (Corydoras)
• Plecostomus (Don't add Plecos to a egg-laying breeder tank, they might eat the eggs in the middle of the night.)
Feeding Fish in a Breeder Tank
Feed the fish in a breeder tank at least 2 times a day. Make sure to feed your fish snacks including frozen, freeze-dried and live fishfood.
Always feed your fish a staple food consisting of a mix of the following :
Fishfood Flakes, Shrimp Pellets, Algae Wafers, etc.
Save the Baby Fish Fry!
If you are breeding livebearing fish then you will need to check the breeder tank daily. Especially if one of your female breeders is going to be giving birth soon. Usually you can estimate the time that your livebearing fish will release their fry by looking at how large their stomach is.
Check all around the entire breeder tank looking for fry. Remove any fry that you see. Fry should be raised separately in a tank until they are large enough to be around adult fish.
If you find a batch of fry in a breeder tank do the following :
Use a turkey baster to suck up any fry that are hiding in the gravel. With the help of a net and a turkey baster, try to catch all of the fry out of the breeder tank. Move any baby fish that you catch into a fry tank. Feed the fish in both the fry tank and the breeder tank, they will surely be hungry.
If you are breeding egg laying fish, leave the fry in with their parents until they have been free swimming for at least a week. Then the fry can be moved into a fry tank.