If I wanted to start breeding fish.......?

[kryptoniteqhs]

hmmm.....giving some fish to the chickens crossed my mind, but i didnt say anything, because not only is that not my prime goal with raising fish, but i didnt want to offend anyone. it would be neat, but then again, i would have to pick something small and simple, like minnos or something. i wouldnt dare think of feeding my chickens something as fancy as a betta or anything. i mostly want to do it for fun. i really dont see much of a profit in a small time little fish business. i like to get fairly good at things that i do and have a well understanding of stuff, but i dont have to be the best or anything. i have bred horses, rabbits, and now chickens, i figured fish would be fun....but i think im going to take more time to research and decide on a breed first.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
No, if you try something more difficult, you won't have 300 fish you're trying to get rid of, you will have ZERO

Honest, usually it's one of those things where either it works (=good # babies) or doesn't (=zero). There is no "some".

Seriously, what is your aquarium experience. Have you had multiple tanks for a few years.

If not, you really REALLY need to learn to run tanks and deal with water chemistry and tank maintenance and typical problems and stuff first. (You could learn that with guppies, if you want, and still be producing some babies, but otherwise I'd say just try some nice easy community fish).

Honest.

It is a LOT different than chickens or dogs or whatever.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Bock_Bock]

like it was said before you can do guppies and if you figure out how to breed what you want, you yourself can make some really nice strains that people will pay big money for, but it is all up to how much effort you want to put into it, yes there is breeding guppies as most people think you just let them be together and they will breed, but then there is the real "breeders" who have multiple tanks with the diffrent color and paters in each tank, that dont let fish interbreed with each other, so if you want to start right eathier way as just a watch them breed type or a make them breed type i suggest never get a male and female from the same store cuz 99% of the time they are bred from the same parents, try to get 1 fish at one store then another fish at another store, i also suggest posting on like craigs list, you wouldnt believe how many peoplpe actually breed guppies to specific colors that im sure you would just love, but it is not just color you look at you look at what type of fins you want it to have and also what type of body so i am saying before you think that you can just go buy a few guppies from a store and let them be, they will produce but most likely they will produce deformed and non colored babies, as the more you breed a fish the less color it will pass on especially if you are breeding fish within a family

 

[Solace]

Ok I'm going to agree with someone elses suggestion based on your wants and experience.

Endler's Livebearers would be a great place for you to start IF you like them. They are either a type of 'guppy' or something different all together. The debate on that is still up in the air. They will cross with guppies, but they are rare and in demand and are also very easy to keep.

Glad to see I'm not the only one suggesting Aquabid.com browse around there. You can find some really nice rare fish.

If you look around in this pic you can see 3 of my male endlers. The big fat one is a female. Also another plug for these is they don't tend to eat fry as often as other livebearers.

 

[Bettacreek]

Seriously, what is your aquarium experience. Have you had multiple tanks for a few years.

If not, you really REALLY need to learn to run tanks and deal with water chemistry and tank maintenance and typical problems and stuff first. (You could learn that with guppies, if you want, and still be producing some babies, but otherwise I'd say just try some nice easy community fish).

That's not entirely true. Most people don't bother with water chemistry. We have 13+ tanks here, with fish from bettas and angelfish to tropheus duboisi and piranhas, and we've never mucked with the water chemistry. Unless if you're working with a super delicate species such as discus, your best bet is to acclimate the fish to YOUR water instead of messing around with it. Believe it or not, but most fish WILL breed and reproduce in "unsatisfactory" water conditions (like in completely incorrect pH) as long as they've had time to adjust to it.


Solace, gorgeous Endlers! That's another thing about Endlers, you can get several different varieties! They're not super expensive to purchase, but, they'll turn an ok profit if you know what you're doing. They're pretty hardy little fish (but I admit that I lost mine in a temperature spike in the apartment, tank was over 90F!) and they're pretty forgiving of abuse and neglect from beginners.

Some of them are pretty bad pictures, so I apologize, but it gives you an idea of some of the black bar Endlers that I had here. Mine were registered Class "N", proven strain back to wild collected specimen. Shame I lost them, but I just don't have the time anymore to get more.​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
That's not entirely true. Most people don't bother with water chemistry.

Oh sure, I didn't mean necessarily buy a test kit, but you can't keep fish healthy without keeping water quality within reasonable bounds. Whether you do it by eye or by routine or by kit. And newcomers to aquarium keeping DO usually have problems with water quality IME, most often in terms of insufficiently cycled or overloaded tanks, but other things are common too. And I mean, to an order of magnitude that do not lend themselves to having most fish breed real well. There is a difference between the benign neglect of someone who's done it a good while versus the learning experiences of someone newer to the hobby.

Just my experience,

Pat

 

[ninny]

I love mollies. Some fish stores will buy fry off you.

 

[ksacres]

I've never seen endlers before but they don't look much different than "feeder" guppies. Male feeder guppies can be just as colorful. And they're cheap. REALLY cheap.

I

guppies.


My first fishies were feeder guppies. They can get a lot BIGGER than when you first buy them.

Guppies are without a doubt my favorite fish.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

I didn't have time to read this whole thread but I read guppies a lot... GO WITH CONVICTS!!! They breed almost as prolifically as guppies, are way better looking, are bigger (they eat guppies!

[I find that awesome

]), aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they cross with almost any cichlid (mine crossed with one species and then one of those fish crossed with another pure convict so I have half convicts and 3/4 convicts

).

 

[Bettacreek]

True, I was thinking more along the lines of pH than ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, lol.

As for the wild type "feeder guppies", some can be quite striking, however, they generally have more metallic colors than neon colors like the Endlers, plus wild type guppies don't get the black on them. They are a seperate species however.

As for convicts, they're easy to breed, but a lot of people have trouble giving them away. Guppies can give breeders the same problems, but they're smaller, can be kept in smaller tanks and in larger numbers, and are much more popular than convicts. You also don't have to worry as much about aggression issues with guppies. Convicts are great in their own right, but pose their own set of problems.

Another choice in that same category would be the Honduran Red Points. Still just as easy, but more colorful and in higher demand. Rainbow cichlids or dwarf chanchitos are just as easy, have the same body structure, and are again, in higher demand. The rainbows or the HRP's would probably be the best for a beginner, especially rainbows, they're very docile and a gorgeous bright yellow color.