At first when I got my first tank, I said absolutely nooooo breeding but the more I see people doing it the more I wonder. What's so good about breeding? Would you recommend it for me? And why?
thanks!
There are many pros and cons to breeding your fish. The biggest PRO is that it forces you to be aware of your tank's environment and the science behind it and really gets you to understand the natural world.
Back in the day, the "next step" to keeping fish was to breed them. In today's environment, that's not always a good thing. Many of the current varieties of fish are the culmination of years of selective breeding to get certain traits to stand out. This has created a whole generation of mishaped fish as being the "norm." In light of this, it may also be difficult to get good breeding stock of these mutations as they all could be siblings or related which leads to a whole list of other problems. If you do breed, be mindful to get fish from different sources to increase your chances of better genetics. That's another PRO, you get to learn about genetics and how things work in the real world.
Another Pro is that you can sustain your own fish populations by breeding your fish. Since fish are living things, they will die off at some point so having younger fish available will increase the time you get to watch and be with your fish.
Another Pro is that you can use your breeding efforts to pay for your hobby. I got into breeding fish to supply my mentor's pet shop with fish. In my case, I had to learn about breeding many varieties of fish (Tetras, Danios, Gouramis, Cichlids ( many varieties), Bettas, etc. )This was information I have carried with me for over 45 years. In doing all this breeding, I was able to sell my fish to the LFS and get my food, filter materials, new tanks and all the equipment I needed without going into my savings account to pay for them. With this knowledge, I was later able to take this from a hobby and make it a career. I spent over 40 years in the fish BUSINESS either breeding fish, importing fish or collecting fish. A reliable source of home grown fish are always more desired by pet shops.
The #1 CON ( IMO
) to breeding fish is that it can take up a lot of space. Depending on the fish you breed, you may need at least 2 tanks just dedicated to one spawn. Yes, you hear of people "finding a fry or two" accidentally in their community tank but this isn't really "breeding" fish. Most fish have a spawn of at least 100 eggs. ( This does not include livebearers.) If you raise 50% of them, you have at least 50 fish. If you are breeding for the money, you will need to provide a situation where you eliminate other fish from getting to the eggs and fry ( a.k.a. another tank.) More tanks mean more space which mean more equipment and so on. All this equals the biggest Con in my book, MONEY. It can be expensive to start a breeding program. The good news is if you are successful at it, the fish will eventually pay you back.
Another CON to breeding is with certain fish, they need to take over entire tanks so you will be only having the one pair in the breeding tank. Space limitations can lead to fewer varieties of fish you can breed.
Bottom line, nobody says that you HAVE to breed fish to be an accomplished aquarist. I've know many people over the years who have created extremely successful aquarium habitats that never bred a fish. You do want to keep in mind tho which fish require what space to breed. For those fish, you are best to only keep one of the specie in the tank to avoid territorial problems. This is why it is always best to plan out your tank before you ever get it or get your first fish.
Hope this helps
