Selecting the Parent Fish
Selecting the parent fishes Select the prospective parents, or ‘brood fishes’, for their good physical appearance, colour and finnage, as well as their health, vigour and willingness to feed in your diy aquarium. Preferably, select immature fishes, which you can grow on, or young mature fishes, which will be ready to breed with a small amount of ‘conditioning’. These are much better choices than older fishes that may be nearing the end of their reproductive lives. Avoid repeated interbreeding of parent fishes with their own offspring, and between brother and sister fishes. Although this technique is used in the selective breeding of certain features, so-called line breeding, it can lead to an increased occurrence of ‘abnormal’ fry. Introducing new brood fishes periodically ¡s also recommended. Of the species described ¡n this book, some, such as livebearers and sticklebacks, can mature at just a few months of age. Depending on conditions, the majority probably mature at between 6 and 12 months, while others, such as goldfishes and sunfishes, usually mature at two to three years of age. Size alone can be deceiving, since small stunted fishes are often as ‘mature’ as larger individuals of the same age. If possible, however, try to avoid obviously stunted fishes when choosing brood stock.
Tank Requirements
Tank requirements Although many fishes will breed successfully in a community tank of other fishes, a separate breeding tank often gives the best results. In fact, to breed many species successfully you will need a minimum of two tanks: one for breeding, and one in which to rear the fry or to allow one or both of the parent fishes to recuperate. Although buying extra breeding tanks may seem rather extravagant, these tanks will come in useful as necessary quarantine quarters when they are not needed for breeding purposes. Perforated tank dividers are also useful for quickly and easily converting one large tank into two or three smaller units. Details on how to set up breeding and rearing tanks for individual fish species are provided in Part Two of the book. Fortunately, such tanks do not need to be very large and aquaria of 10-30 litres (2.2-6.6 gallons) will be adequate for most smaller fishes. Naturally, more spacious tanks of 50-100 litres (11-22 gallons) will be required for breeding larger fishes and for successfully rearing large broods of fry. Keep decorations to a minimum in a breeding tank — just sufficient for the needs of the parent fishes and for the safety of the eggs and fry. While vigorous aeraton and/or filtration is flOt usually needed in a breeding tank, for rearing fry provide a safe, efficient filter, such as a foam filter. Avoid over vigorous filtration, however, which may damage small fry. When not in use, empty the breeding and rearing tanks, rinse them well in running water and store them dry together with all the associatea equipment unto tney are required again. To avoid transferring disease organisms between stock tanks and the breeding or rearing tanks, use a completely separate set of equipment (i.e. nets, buckets, siphon tubes, etc.) for the breeding operations. For general advice on tackling diseases diy aquarium background
