Reply To: For multi-breeders of fish…
Yep i know im a fish geek…. :oops:
I have been keeping fish since i was 16, i am now 30 this month. I started with basic community tanks and i kept a large oscar for 2-3years in my late teens. Mostly it is trial and error, but i love to read, i read everyday and if its not a book it is on the net, i prefer to either read or work in my fishroom rather than sit infront of the telly.
I have always had a good collection of fish books but lately i have been building my collection of very old books from the beginning of the hobby, the oldest i have is Tropical fish in the aquarium by J.M.Lodewijks 1963.
The best book about Breeding fish i have come across is the series by Dr Herbert.r.Axelrod simply called ‘Breeding Aquarium fish’ It is the most indepth series of books about breeding i have read yet, the first one was published in 1971 but the info is not out of date at all, sure their equipment is completely different to the modern stuff we use now but the fish still breed the same and thats what counts.
However reading is only a guide, try and do it yourself and work at it, nothing beats practical experience, years ago i lost 6 full broods of pencilfish fry due to various reasons. Now i can raise a brood of 60-70 with losses as few as 5-6 over 3 months, same with everything else. I had never bred corydoras before this year now they will not stop and i have answered a lot of my own questions..Where do they spawn? Which are male/female? how many eggs? how often? how long to hatch? do parents eat fry?
I could of got 100 different answers from 100 diferent people on the net but now i know cos i did it myself.
Getting rid of fry is the most hard work of the lot, you can take them to the petshop(and get penny’s or cents), offer them on Ebay or similar(mailorder) or advertise localy bred fish for sale. I put mine on ebay for collection only, although i have today posted my first lot of fry..I hope they survive..