Easiest Egg laying fish to breed.

[Dwayne Brown]

Hi all, right now I have been breeding Endlers livebearers in my main aquarium and want to move up to something a little bit more challenging. I dont really have room in my other tanks except for an empty 5 gallon that I could use. right now I am wondering how hard Bolivian Rams are to breed, and if they can be bred in a main aquarium with other fish like tetras around. Also are there any tetras that could be bred in a 5 gallon? 

Thanks 

[carefulest]

I would think that if you plan on breeding fish, you need space to grow out the fry as well as enough room for the breeding stock fish to feel comfortable. So probably there's nothing you could do in a single 5 gallon.

[StevesFishTanks]

convict cichlid are super easy for egg layers. not sure I would house them in a 5 gallon though

[CalmedByFish]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:14 PM, carefulest said:

I would think that if you plan on breeding fish, you need space to grow out the fry as well as enough room for the breeding stock fish to feel comfortable. So probably there's nothing you could do in a single 5 gallon.

This. Unfortunately. But maybe you live in a good climate for putting a container outdoors? Or maybe you could just use the 5 gallon for the fry until they're big enough to put in your tank with endlers? 

I breed endlers too, and have considered medaka as fun egg-laying tankmates. They might be worth a bit of research. 

 

[Dwayne Brown]

After some research I was thinking maybe I could breed some of pristella tetras in a 5 gallon. And house the fry in my 29 main aquarium when they get big enough

On 10/4/2021 at 12:31 PM, CalmedByFish said:

This. Unfortunately. But maybe you live in a good climate for putting a container outdoors? Or maybe you could just use the 5 gallon for the fry until they're big enough to put in your tank with endlers? 

I breed endlers too, and have considered medaka as fun egg-laying tankmates. They might be worth a bit of research. 

 

Medaka ricefish sound super cool. When I said breeding in a 5 gallon what I meant was housing the fish in a community tank while having them spawn in a 5 gallon(which I have read you can do with tetras) As far as climate I am not sure. I live in USDA zone 8. And we get nights down to the 30s in the winter (sometimes into the teens) So i'm not sure how an outdoor pond would fair.

 

But thanks for the Rice fish suggestion I will check them out. 

[StockEwe49]

On 10/4/2021 at 1:04 PM, s1_ said:

convict cichlid are super easy for egg layers. not sure I would house them in a 5 gallon though

Yes I have heard the same thing from KG Tropicals YouTube. Never had any experience with them personally though..

[Hobbit]

On 10/4/2021 at 3:32 PM, Dwayne Brown said:

When I said breeding in a 5 gallon what I meant was housing the fish in a community tank while having them spawn in a 5 gallon

You could definitely do this with rice fish! And I would argue they’re a pretty easy fish to spawn.

Get the 5g planted with some fast growing plants like hornwort, guppy grass, or anacharis. Bare-bottom would work fine. Then add your ricefish adults, wait a few weeks, and take the adults out and put them back in your community tank. The adults will have laid the eggs throughout the plants, and even though they will try to eat their own eggs, they won’t find all of them. I had 60 ricefish in a 10 g and they didn’t find all their eggs! (Bonus—it’s hilarious to watch a ricefish swimming around with an egg stuck to its nose.)

You’ll see tiny fry within a few days of taking the adults out. 😊 Oh and another bonus—their eggs are clear so you can see the tiny fish developing inside!

[StevesFishTanks]

On 10/4/2021 at 4:44 PM, StockEwe49 said:

Yes I have heard the same thing from KG Tropicals YouTube. Never had any experience with them personally though..

They are great parent raising cichlids to watch raise their fry

[Guppysnail]

Celestial pearl danios are IMO the easiest. You just put a dish of gravel in a front corner with fluffy plants ( I make a circle of hornwort with a plant weight and lay flat or moss or water sprite or any short fluffy plant I have). They can’t resist and every morning they spawn. I just lift the dish and sit it in a grow out tank. They hatch that’s it. They are beautiful and can go in a 5 gallon for grow out. 

[Scapexghost]

I would try bn plecos in the main tank. They'll take a little while to reach breeding age but they guard their eggs and lay them in caves so they have much better chance of lasting long enough to hatch compared to most egg layers.

[Andy's Fish Den]

In a 5 gallon, you could have a pair of apisto caucatoides, or rams. You could also do a group of pygmy corydoras.  The big thing is going to be having a tank large enough to grow out the fry. The smallest I recommend to do that in is a 10 gallon, and you would have to be sure to keep up with water changes. 

[gardenman]

Any of the smaller tetras can be bred in a five-gallon tank. If you go to YouTube and look up "Mark's Aquatics" you'll find lots of detailed videos from him showing tetras spawning in a small tank. They're mostly his older videos as he's more into coastal foraging these days, but he can walk you through the process step-by-step.

[binkysmom]

I've colony bred clown killis in a 10 gallon. Can't see why it wouldn't work in a 5. Lots of moss and floating plants. Species only tank.