What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned breeding fish?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I know I’ve had my fair share of challenges and had to face some hard truths when it comes to breeding fish. I’m curious; what’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned when it comes to breeding fish?

Mine would definitely be, to not overdo it! When it comes to the numbers of fish I breed, anyways. 
 

I learned this lesson early on with my Kribs. I kept the first whole spawn, and found it so fun and interesting that I kept the whole second spawn, and I’m still paying for it today. I have ~30 Kribs that I’m still trying to get rid of… This helped me make sure I produce/cull numbers to a point that is manageable and easy to get rid of. It’s much easier to tell my LFS “I have 20 Angels at X size, do you want them?” Vs me growing out a full spawn and hoping I can move a couple hundred. 
 

Case in point, I have a spawn of Angels I’m currently working on. The fry are eating bbs and going well, probably 2 weeks old at this point. Tonight I came home, and the Angels spawned again. I pulled the spawn and washed the eggs down the drain. As hard as it may be, I know I have 20 that are about to sell, a whole different spawn coming behind them, and I simply don’t have the room or the market for a second entire spawn. 
 

What’s the lesson that you had to learn the hard way? Chime in!

[CJs Aquatics]

Hardest lesson I’ve learned when it comes to breeding fish is probably similar to this and it’s be prepared. We all want to see our fish breed, to grow them up, etc. but I started with guppies like I would imagine a lot of people do, and was not prepared. For illnesses, equipment failures, tank space, I was not prepared to handle the load breeding added. I wanted every strain, and bought a lot of them, now I have a nice mutt tank and a few strains because unless you are fully prepared for everything that comes with breeding, it can be too much… if I could do it over again I would pick one fish and dedicate my time to that rather then want them all…what’s that material your angels laid eggs on if I may ask?

[WhitecloudDynasty]

My hardest lesson I learn breeding fish is..knowing when to stop, knowing my limits

[Golden Rams]

I have been breeding fish now for over fifty years. Its time lots of time. Time learning, feeding and cleaning. The most important item is cleanliness and I cannot stress this enough. Others may have a different opinions then me, but a clean tank is a healthy tank, it has work for me and that is the key. Now that I'm up to 93 tanks it great to have so many grandkids. LOL This hobby takes time, as I have heard Dean say people fail because they don't put in the time. Never a truer word spoken. IMHO

Edited September 26, 2022 by Golden Rams

[anitstuk]

My lesson would to ALWAYS watch the new fish in a aquarium with other fish.. The other day, I put some Pygmy Corys with my Blue Dwarf Gourami and I came back the next day to see that only two Pygmys survived.. All the others had tares in their fins.. It broke my heart. 😞 

Edited September 26, 2022 by anitstuk

[Fish Folk]

Echoing the answers already given, my breeding lessons group around these issues:

(1) Breeding more than I can really raise and care for well.

(2) Breeding projects that fail on account of my time-limits.

(3) Breeding that does not prioritize quality, but reproduces bad traits.

(4) Breeding too many different species at once.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Thanks everyone!

@CJs Aquatics It’s just a tile from Home Depot or Lowe’s. The other side looks like granite and is completely smooth, but they always spawn on the side that would be glued to the wall. Not sure if they like the rougher side (maybe the eggs stick to a rougher surface better?) or if it’s because that side faces the side wall of the tank, creating a nice secluded area for them to spawn in 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

I'm prettymuch in the same boat as everyone else but my biggest one is I keep and try to breed fish for my enjoyment and education first. 

If I don't love the fish already it is a ton of work; if I do love the fish already it is my enjoyable hobby well worth my time and effort. 

There is no incentive out there that would be worth my time, effort, and resources to raise, cull, and move on to others any species I wasnt already all in on. These puffer projects would be happening without the internet or outside interest in my fry because they are so much fun for me. The rest is just a bonus.

I've tested myself way too many times but am old enough now that I have finally learned the lesson work with fish I am passionate about until I am no longer passionate about it then move on to the next passion project or take a break.  I always see the fish I am not interested in to that level as a waste of my time because those fish take away from my true fishroom interests. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by mountaintoppufferkeeper

[Nyssa]

I quickly learned the hard way with livebearers (as I'm sure many of us do), that you need to separate them out in a timely fashion, otherwise you'll be overrun. Luckily I was (sort of LOL) fast enough to stop the vicious cycle and ended up with a lot of interesting color combinations from my original 4 platys! My pride and joy of all the spawn is a perfectly white mickey mouse platy, her name is Luna 🌙

I don't think I have it in me to be a proper breeder, I get too emotionally invested! But that was a fun/hectic introduction to the hobby for sure 😅

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:53 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I know I’ve had my fair share of challenges and had to face some hard truths when it comes to breeding fish. I’m curious; what’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned when it comes to breeding fish?

Mine would definitely be, to not overdo it! When it comes to the numbers of fish I breed, anyways. 
 

I learned this lesson early on with my Kribs. I kept the first whole spawn, and found it so fun and interesting that I kept the whole second spawn, and I’m still paying for it today. I have ~30 Kribs that I’m still trying to get rid of… This helped me make sure I produce/cull numbers to a point that is manageable and easy to get rid of. It’s much easier to tell my LFS “I have 20 Angels at X size, do you want them?” Vs me growing out a full spawn and hoping I can move a couple hundred. 
 

Case in point, I have a spawn of Angels I’m currently working on. The fry are eating bbs and going well, probably 2 weeks old at this point. Tonight I came home, and the Angels spawned again. I pulled the spawn and washed the eggs down the drain. As hard as it may be, I know I have 20 that are about to sell, a whole different spawn coming behind them, and I simply don’t have the room or the market for a second entire spawn. 
 

What’s the lesson that you had to learn the hard way? Chime in!

Never take anything for granted: your Apistos may have spawned, but that might all fungus tomorrow.

Murphys Law: What will go wrong shall go wrong.

[Cinnebuns]

On 9/25/2022 at 9:53 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Mine would definitely be, to not overdo it! When it comes to the numbers of fish I breed, anyways. 

Amen! I'm def dancing with this line right now. I'm at the edge of what I can handle with the urge to add more. 

 

On 9/26/2022 at 6:07 AM, Fish Folk said:

(4) Breeding too many different species at once.

I feel personally attacked. Lol 😆

On 9/26/2022 at 9:39 AM, Nyssa said:

quickly learned the hard way with livebearers (as I'm sure many of us do), that you need to separate them out in a timely fashion, otherwise you'll be overrun.

I saw this issue from the beginning luckily and have never had a problem. I actually have only kept 1 female guppy pregnant at a time for several months now. I'm gonna add 1 maybe 2 more soon. 

On 9/25/2022 at 9:53 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Mine would definitely be, to not overdo it! When it comes to the numbers of fish I breed, anyways. 

Amen! I'm def dancing with this line right now. I'm at the edge of what I can handle with the urge to add more. 

 

On 9/26/2022 at 6:07 AM, Fish Folk said:

(4) Breeding too many different species at once.

I feel personally attacked. Lol 😆

On 9/26/2022 at 9:39 AM, Nyssa said:

quickly learned the hard way with livebearers (as I'm sure many of us do), that you need to separate them out in a timely fashion, otherwise you'll be overrun.

I saw this issue from the beginning luckily and have never had a problem. I actually have only kept 1 female guppy pregnant at a time for several months now. I'm gonna add 1 maybe 2 more soon. 

[tolstoy21]

I'll echo what everyone else has said and add one . . . . 

At the end of the day, it's work, and you have treat it as such during those days when you're just not in the mood for your hobby. This is much different than caring for the one or two display aquariums you may have.

Then there is also the logistical and business side of it (so you're not just throwing money into your aquariums like dollar bills were flake food). You have to learn to enjoy those aspects of the process, otherwise you might find yourself just throwing money into your aquariums like dollar bills were flake food (did I already mention that?).  😉 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Ken Burke]

I’ll add one, always have an exit strategy/end game.  What are you going to do when you are done a given species? What is your plan for the fish you spawn?   If you don’t have that planned out going in, getting out could get sporty…..

[cavdad45]

Dont go nuts and try to do too much

Stick to one or two projects at a time

Know how to keep the fry alive,,,anad have a plan for the survivors

[PineSong]

1) A large Amazon sword can hide 100 dark blue platy fry so well that you don't know they exist.

2) In a planted guppy tank, there will always be a bunch of fry that hop into any net that enters the tank, and there will always be  'that one fry' who hangs out in the back among plants and never comes to the front so you can check for a gonopodium. That one fry is always male.

 

[DiscusLover]

Be prepared! When my angelfish first started spawning it was a very exciting moment indeed. But I had no idea what to do. It was their first spawn and surprisingly there was a lot of eggs. Unfortuanetly I lost all of them due to my lack of experince with fish spawning and it feels terrible losing all of those offsprings that I could have raised. But that taught me a lesson and ever since that had happen I have been taking good care of my new offspring.

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

I'd hate to think that my hardest lesson is yet to come!

[sumplkrum]

Hardest lesson:

Not culling the second-line fish.

I want to give everyone a fair chance, but it takes space and resources away from my prime breeders.