Fish Breeding

Fish keepers start out with a few tropical fish or maybe some gold fish in a small aquarium. But they soon want to know more about how their fish live, and especially how they breed.

General aspects of fish breeding, just like with fish keeping, include proper feeding and providing the right environment. The breeding environment needs to be maintained with proper water conditions and you need to watch for disease or other ailments.
Some fish are easy to breed and will readily spawn in a community tank. But most fish need a bit more help. Understanding the spawning behaviors and needs for the particular type of fish will make fish breeding successful and rewarding.
Carefully selecting the "brood stock" (parent fish) and condition them on a good varied diet is important. A fish breeding tank is needed for many species as well. The breeding aquarium needs to have the right water conditions to stimulate spawning and for the eggs to hatch. Consideration also needs to be given to the fry and their survival. The first foods for the fry, before they become free swimming, and foods for the fry to grow are important. It's also important that they are protected and have places to hide.

For first timers, or those who are new to the hobby, it's advisable to start out with some of the easy to breed livebearers. These include the Guppies and Platies. Then move on to some of the hardy egg-layers, like Danios and Barbs. Experience with these initial undertakings will greatly help in keeping and breeding many other types of fish, including some of the very difficult species.