Easiest fish to starting to breed

[plantedtanks1052]

Hi everyone I was wondering what fish would to start learning how to breed with?

 

[H.K.Luterman]

Can't go wrong with livebearers, and there's several species to choose from. Guppies and platies are the most common, and are very colorful. There's also swordtails, mollies, limia, and even endangered ones like goodeids. Hard water is a must, with lots of floating plats for the babies to hide in.

[lefty o]

guppies, mollies, platy's. generally with these livebearers, you stick a male, and 2 or 3 females into a box of water, wait a month or two, and babies appear.

[Levi_Aquatics]

All livebearers but especially guppy or platy strains are great. If you want an egg layer Bristlenose plecos are a fun one. 

[Struggle]

Kribensis Cichlids are pretty easy as long as they are the aquarium strain and not wild. 

[Minanora]

Guppies are the easiest in my experience. Other live-bearers are easy, but guppies... I've never seen anything breed so prolifically. I guess if you wanted a bulletproof breeder, Endlers are excellent as well.

[gardenman]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:12 PM, Levi_Aquatics said:

All livebearers but especially guppy or platy strains are great. If you want an egg layer Bristlenose plecos are a fun one. 

I agree with this. The baby plecos eat what the adults do too, so feeding the fry is a cinch. You don't have to jump through hoops with microworms, daphnia, or anything else. Just add extra food and the fry will be happy.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

I say whatever fish you enjoy keeping the most is the easiest to learn breeding with because you are that much more into their system set up, observation of the tank, and feeding /conditioning the group or pair. Even the percieved impossible species are attainable if I am all in on them. (Betta macrosoma in 2018, Pao puffers in 2021).  

Anything that you enjoy keeping that also exhibits some level of parental care is a good choice in my opinion. The parents do the hard work for you and you can often feed the same foods in one tank vs having a system to get fry from eggs and then raise those on micro foods until brine shrimp etc can be fed. 

I view mouthbrooding, cave spawing, and spawn guarding anything as easier than some  livebearers. Cichlids, a few characin (tetra) species, some betta, and some puffers fall into these categories of spawn guarding.

Livebearers have often been pretty heavy fry eaters (even in heavy plant cover for me) and often seasonal breeders. Goodeids, wild swordtails, limia, and true freshwater halfbeaks have all been fairly hard to keep going for me for these reasons.

My black prince goodeids, Charcodon audax El Toboso, for example are especially prone to that fry eating and are seasonal spawners. They breed every 60 days or so for about half the year 3 or 4 batches a year per female if im lucky.

 

Livebearers - like harder water, heavy plants in my setups

Variatus platy

Guppy ( though ive never really got into them)

Goodeids - big fry are easy to feed day 1

 

Cichlids - like territory suitable to defend in my set ups

Kribs - Pelvicachromis any species you like

Crenicichla regani

African butterfly cichlid ( they never stop up here...ever)

African cichlid mouthbrooders aratus, egyptian dwarf mouthbrooders, etc

Shell dweller cichlids - neolampralogus species and lamprologus species 

 

Betta and catfish - well fed and plant cover for fry to hid and feed in

Betta Albimarginata, macrostoma, antuna, etc mouthbrooders

Corydoras (most species) - heavy plants down low, good food, water changes, no snails. Some survive and grow in tank with enough cover for eggs to avoid predation.

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by mountaintoppufferkeeper

[Johannes]

If you want egglayers i would go with apistos or bristlenose, if your considering livebearers i would go with endlers as these are hardier than guppys abd will not eat there fry as much. And choose some fish that appeal to you because if not you will not have fun, and thats the meaning of the hobby.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I would start with Endlers livebearers 1-2 males and 3-5 females and you'll have more than you ever wanted. 

Neocaridina shrimp, age/mature the tank for >3 months and keep the parameters stablish, and you'll get a lot of shrimp on your hands. 

Killifish are pretty easy put in some guppy grass, moss and some breeding mops with some of the fry living even if you don't pull the mops. You can make a seperate tank to put the mops in and just leave them in there and watch for fry. You can throw ricefish in this same category. 

Plecos - get a group of 5-7, let them age, feed them lots of veggies (cucumber, zucchini, squash, green beans, snap peas) and algae wafers maybe expand to Repashy, provide lots of caves and watch for males sitting on a brood once the plecos get to 1-2 years old. 

The keys I find to get fish ready to breed live and or frozen foods. I find live brine shrimp are great as they tell the fish oh wow theres lots of food available, its not scarce maybe we can breed now. Catfish species cannot resist worms, I have a live black worm culture and it just purs them in the mood. Do a lot of water changes - clean water, happy fish, happy fish = breeding, and when you want some action drop the temp by 2-3 degrees with a water change. Also if you water change around the time of a weather event - storms etc the barometric pressure drops often can lead fish to breed. 

 

[plantedtanks1052]

Thanks everyone. I think  I'm going with breed apistogramma super red or German blue rams.

[Fish Folk]

On 2/9/2022 at 11:39 PM, plantedtanks1052 said:

Thanks everyone. I think  I'm going with breed apistogramma super red or German blue rams.

Those are both absolutely beautiful fish to breed. But I'll tell you from experience, be ready to work very hard and struggle awhile.

Here is how to breed Rams -- full video series with very detailed, explicit steps:

For Apistogramma Cacatuoides Super Red, you need to set up a tank that is conducive for them and really feed them great foods. Here's an intro video on the Cacatuoides:

You'll do well to add lots of dried Oak Leaf litter. Master feeding live foods. Black Worms and live baby brine shrimp are absolute necessities. 

[StevesFishTanks]

Convict cichlid. Just add water and enjoy the show.

[Fish Folk]

On 2/10/2022 at 2:18 AM, StevesFishTanks said:

Convict cichlid. Just add water and enjoy the show.

True! Here’s a video my sons did journaling breeding Golden / Pink Convict breeding…

 

[StevesFishTanks]

 

[Tyler Kaplan]

On 2/9/2022 at 8:39 PM, plantedtanks1052 said:

Thanks everyone. I think  I'm going with breed apistogramma super red or German blue rams.

Although you can certainly have a lot of success and fun with breeding these, I would say that they are not ideal for the first time/novice breeder. If you're heart is set in rams, I would consider something like the Bolivian Ram at first because they tend to be a heartier fish. That being said I wish you luck on whatever you choose to work with!

 

For the apostos, try to get a breeding pair if you can, it will make it a lot easier; and most people will have success keeping them in a separate breeding tank. The females tend to take a much more active role in rearing the fry so that can be a great experience to observe!

[plantedtanks1052]

I can get a female super red apsto from my lfs and have a male in a 20 gallon right now. So that was my thought process