What to do.

[jrskater1999]

Hi. I have an empty 10 gallon aquarium. What should I put in it?

 

[Boomer23]

Well are you trying to breed? Or do you want alot of color? Depends really what interests you, maybe take a look at the local pet stores to see what interests you

 

[jrskater1999]

I think I want to start a swordtail tank so I could breed them. I here that a lot of money can be received by selling them

 

[Boomer23]

Yes just depends who you sell to nd the quality of the fish, swordtails are easy to breed as well, its a good starter. Hi-fin swordtails usually sell well becuase they are exotic nd really pretty fish. But i also recomend 2 females to every male nd since your using a ten id say 2 males nd 4 females, if anythin start with 1 male nd 2 females nd see how they react

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

Not to contradict boomer but I believe ten gallons to be not enough room for six fish, I would do the 1 male to 2 female ratio and just have three. Maybe add a couple otos to help control algae growth. Also u may want to look into another tank for the babies because once born they will fill up a ten gallon pretty quick I know from experience. I did this same thing and left the babies in with the adults. 13 fry made it and a tank with 16 fish produces a very large bio load pretty quick. At that point I was having to do 2 -3 pwcs a week to maintain water quality. Remember the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain water conditions.

 

[Boomer23]

Not to contradict boomer but I believe ten gallons to be not enough room for six fish, I would do the 1 male to 2 female ratio and just have three. Maybe add a couple otos to help control algae growth. Also u may want to look into another tank for the babies because once born they will fill up a ten gallon pretty quick I know from experience. I did this same thing and left the babies in with the adults. 13 fry made it and a tank with 16 fish produces a very large bio load pretty quick. At that point I was having to do 2 -3 pwcs a week to maintain water quality. Remember the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain water conditions.

Well said sir, well said.

 

[okapizebra]

I would not put swordtails in a ten gallon tank. Swordtails get too big for one and they have a large bioload. Why not try platies? They are much smaller but just as colorful and easy to breed.

 

[alLexX]

okapizebra is right,20 is the smallest tank they should go in (IMO)

 

[Boomer23]

I would not put swordtails in a ten gallon tank. Swordtails get too big for one and they have a large bioload. Why not try platies? They are much smaller but just as colorful and easy to breed.

Thats funny u say that because i had swordtails in a ten, 2 female nd 1 male, nd they did just fine, ive bred them multiple times but only keepin the fry in for about 2 weeks nd then move them to other tanks. I did also do a water change every two weeks because u are right about the bioload, but plants do help big time as well. Im not sayin ur wrong mayb i jus got lucky, or mayb i had the time to watch nd maintain certain scenarios.

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

+1 on the platies they are beautiful and have so many different bright colors. Some species stay smaller than others but my personal favorite is the variatus platy, probably one of the smallest platies out there. Also there is always guppies but they breed like rabbits having up to 50 fry at a time.

 

[Zevyn]

Water.. lol (someone had to).

 

[Scott F]

Water.. lol (someone had to).

beat me to it

 

[alLexX]

Thats funny u say that because i had swordtails in a ten, 2 female nd 1 male, nd they did just fine, ive bred them multiple times but only keepin the fry in for about 2 weeks nd then move them to other tanks. I did also do a water change every two weeks because u are right about the bioload, but plants do help big time as well. Im not sayin ur wrong mayb i jus got lucky, or mayb i had the time to watch nd maintain certain scenarios.

thats interesting,what were your levels?how long were they in there? how big were they? with water changes every other week,and the fact that swordtails get pretty big,i would think your levels would get bad fast

 

[okapizebra]

They may be able to survive in there, but that doesn't mean they are thriving. Which would you rather for your fish? Stuff fish that can reach 4 or 5 inches into a ten gallon tank just to make a profit of their offspring, or breed fish that will be happy in your tank that you can feel good about making a profit from and fully enjoy them?

 

[Boomer23]

thats interesting,what were your levels?how long were they in there? how big were they? with water changes every other week,and the fact that swordtails get pretty big,i would think your levels would get bad fast

I guess it was, i had them in there for about a year, nd they gave birth mayb 8 times, i was selling them at this point. They didnt get to big because they werr in the ten, dont remember there levels because it was mayb 10months ago, moved on to breeding guppies now(they are all the craze in my area for som reason.) Ur right tho the water didnt stay perfect i had to treat at times until i started doin water changes about every 2 weeks. Plants helped big time nd so did an ammonia bag i think its called, i use it in every tank. Its a bag with like white pebbles in it, i always called an ammonia bag bcuz it helps keep the nitrates nd ammonia down really well. These were also hi-finned swordtails.

 

[Boomer23]

They may be able to survive in there, but that doesn't mean they are thriving. Which would you rather for your fish? Stuff fish that can reach 4 or 5 inches into a ten gallon tank just to make a profit of their offspring, or breed fish that will be happy in your tank that you can feel good about making a profit from and fully enjoy them?

If fish arent happy they will deffinitly let u kno, nd mine never had clamped fins or diseases or even showed signs of stress.

 

[jrskater1999]

Well what type of fish could I have that would earn me money?

 

[Luananeko]

If you're looking to breed, just a warning... You most likely will not make money on it. Breed for the fun of it, sure, but don't go into it thinking it's a get rich quick scheme. It takes good quality stock, a lot of tanks, and a lot of special foods to raise fry that will sell for more than feeder fish prices. Enjoy your tank and fish, because after all, that's what this hobby is about!

 

[jrskater1999]

I know I won't earn much but I just need money for food and fish and stuff. So what kind of fish could I breed?

 

[Luananeko]

I know I won't earn much but I just need money for food and fish and stuff. So what kind of fish could I breed?

Don't count on fish breeding to even earn you that much, especially if all you have is the 10 gallon tank. You'll spend more on raising the fry and keeping the tank conditions right than you will selling babies of anything that would breed and stay healthy in that size tank.

If you still want to do it, figure out a plan on where you'll sell the fry before you start. Your LFS will need your fry fairly well grown before you can sell them to them, which means having somewhere that they can grow out for a few months. A 10 gallon just doesn't give you enough space for growing out more than a few fry at a time along with the parents in that size tank.

If you sell to other hobbyists on Aquabid.com or the like, you may be able to sell them younger, but younger fish tend to be sold at lower prices. You need to have pretty rare or high quality stock to be able to sell the fry faster than new batches are born, so have a backup plan or else you'll be overstocking your tank in no time.

Long story made short, do your research before you get into this... Fish breeding is not something to take on lightly as it takes a lot of proper preparation and planning to do it humanely while still at least breaking even. It can just as easily turn into a money sink rather than a money maker.