Prolific Fish

[unknown_7]

Hello everyone.

I just thought it would be fun to know of any stories and such on ridiculously prolific fish you or someone you know may have encountered.

Personally, I haven't had much luck breeding fish...I'm pretty horrible at it actually (i.e., guppies I had a while back only gave birth to 3 fry...ONLY ONCE!!!). However, my father had bought some convict cichlids and you know you what they say...water, then add fish (convicts) and you'll have a bunch of fry. Lol.

Lastly, for comic relief and because I really want to post this,



Look at them go. Lol.

*clears throat*

[neilanh]

Endlers livebearers. The males are gorgeous colors. Everyone warned me, I told myself: "Self, it can't be that bad. So they breed and have babies, no biggie"

Oops

In December last year I got some from a friend. 4 males, 5 females. How much harm can they do? I then went out of the country for all of January and part of February. I came back, and there had to be close to what I though was 100 fish in the tank. I just kinda let it go for a while. Last month, at a local club auction, people were asking for fry (you'd probably rather not know what for), so I started fishing them out. I ended up selling 5 bags or so of 30-50 fry each.

A few weeks ago a friend wanted some. I warned him, but he wanted them anyway. He came by and went home with dozens of babies, juvies, and most of the adults. As I look over at the tank right now, I see about 4-5 adult males, 6-8 adult females, and probably 40 fry and who knows how many juvies.

Want some? I'm trying to tear this tank down. lol

[unknown_7]

Haha. Sweet.

Endlers do seem pretty cool. The males definetly look pretty nice, however REALLY SMALL. The females aren't as cool IMO, which is why I don't really like to keep female guppies in my tank. Come to think of it, endlers and the wild guppy types are pretty similar.

I would take some males off you, but the only tank where they might have a chance of surviving is my semi-aggressive community tank...but I'm sure the tiger barbs, let alone the other fish in there will tear them to shreds.

You could use them as feeders...:P.

[Zagz]

Electric yellow cichlids and my geophagus both breed constantly. I have given up removing the fry out of the tanks as I don't have enough room to store all the fry.

[mom2reds]

Hey Neilan I would love to have some males I can't find them around here. Do you think they would survive the trip?

[neilanh]

Yeah, in this weather I think it'd be no problem, even with 3-day shipping. I have kordon breather bags, but no styrofoam. I've never shipped fish before, lol, so it could get interesting.

Catching them is another story.. lol

[unknown_7]

Originally Posted by Zagz

Electric yellow cichlids and my geophagus both breed constantly. I have given up removing the fry out of the tanks as I don't have enough room to store all the fry.

Really? I also had yellow labs for awhile. One of them had about 3 fry once and they got eaten and that was it. Boo!

I have bad luck with breeding. Maybe I should get another 20 gallon and fill it up with as many livebearers as I can and see where that goes. Lol.

[ezy33]

I had a pair of Texas cichlids produce several hundred fry in one spring a couple of years ago. Cousins to convicts. I would siphon the fry out when they would start swimming and the parents would start all over again. I think I profited about $100 after spending around $300. So they soon became feeders, all tho the parents wouldn't partake. I suspect they could taste her own young.

[neilanh]

Do RCS. they breed like mad too.

[Zagz]

Originally Posted by unknown_7

Really? I also had yellow labs for awhile. One of them had about 3 fry once and they got eaten and that was it. Boo!

I have bad luck with breeding. Maybe I should get another 20 gallon and fill it up with as many livebearers as I can and see where that goes. Lol.

My yellows produce 60-100 fry every couple of months, I even removed a male so I have 1 male for 4 females. the geo's breed every 2 weeks. And recently my albino bristlenose plecos have been spawing every 3 weeks, I am up to about 90 or so baby plecos.

When I did keep guppies, I have 3 males and 10 females and ended up with over 300 fry. I separated the males from the females and the females continued to give birth for the next several months. Female livebearer's can store sperm and can have several groups of fry without males.