I NEED HELP! Should I try and breed Rosy Red Minnows, Guppies, and Ghost Shrimp?!

APAC

APAC

Amateur User
Feb 25, 2009
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Indianapolis, IN
I currently have a 110gal w/ BGK's, a fire eel and Silver Aro. I figure I would save money if I could successfully breed the live food that my fish love so much which include the feeder rosy reds, guppies and ghost shrimp. My questions:
1-Has anyone out there successfully bred any of those?
2-If so, is it difficult and time consuming?
3-Would it be worth it to try and breed these fish and shrimp?
4-What kind of setups would I need?

I currently have the following I can use for breeding tanks:
1-20gallon, 2-10gallons fully setup.
Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
I have breed the shrimp and it is really easy. I recently did the breeding in a 1gal tank for the shrimp. I would get a 10-20 with a heater and filter with a bare bottom with some rocks and fake plants. Also have a filter with a sponge filter. I would let the tank run for like 1-2 months so I can get a steady amount of algae built up. I would than add all the shrimp in and let them eat and breed. I would also feed the shrimp. I am not really sure on the fish though never tried to breed them. I hope you have the best of luck on this adventure!
 
Rosy Reds - I'm figuring easy. But here's something from MFK on this thread (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22694) "BREEDING: This is the interesting part, many people think these fish merely scatter their eggs around, this is not true, and their breeding is far more complex. To induce spawning all you really have to do is provide a 16 hour photo-period with 8 hours of darkness, this with a good diet of things like bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia is all it really takes. When ready to breed the males will develop a spongy pad around their head (hence the name fathead) with breeding tubercles on top. These tubercles look like small white bumps or pimples. He will also turn dark in color, almost completely black. The male will then stake out a territory. He will defend the cave and try to attract a female with the use of pheromones. He will also dance in a figure eight pattern. Once a female decides she wants to spawn with him he will lead her into the cave where they will spawn on the roof of the cave. Sometimes more than one female will spawn with a male. The male will care for the eggs, rubbing them with his spongy nape and snout in order to keep them clean. Spawning usually occurs in the morning."

Guppies - possibly the easiest fish to breed... ever. The "rabbits" of the fish-keeping world. Stick a male and female in a tank and there will be babies. They are live-bearers which (IMO) makes it easier.

Ghost shrimp - Look here http://www.fishforums.com/forum/inv...ding-ghost-shrimp-palaeomonetes-patulous.html


I'd go with just guppies. Easiest thing ever. Just make sure you... errr... forgot the term, but feed them lots of good quality flake food before feeding to your Aro. Gets more nutrition in them... pack feeding... packing... something like that haha.
 
I personally feel that the rosy red minnows would be the most difficult of the three options. My personal preference would be to breed the guppies. Ghost shrimp take a much longer time to breed + maturity time to raise young to decent size.

Guppies on the other hand, breed like rabbits and are fast to mature. Rosy Reds would be egg layers and therefore, even if successful in breeding, would be much more difficult to breed + culture unless you had a outdoors pond of some sort.

I definitely feel that it would be worth your time to do your own breeding. Quite often, the feeder fish in stock at stores are diseased and in poor condition. If you were to breed your own feeders, you could ensure the healthiest live feed possible. Good luck! :)
 
guppies breed like rabbits, but will also eat their own fry so if you are going to breed them you would need a growout tank. when i had guppies in my old tank they would spawn every 28 days or so and are sexually mature at 3 months (though if they are for feeding ive been told just load them up on high protein foods) or a little earlier

as for the setup you could use the 10g tank as the grow out, if you just want it for raising fry then u dont need to go all out on decor just a spounge filter and some java moss will do.
 
newfishkeepper said:
guppies breed like rabbits, but will also eat their own fry so if you are going to breed them you would need a growout tank. when i had guppies in my old tank they would spawn every 28 days or so and are sexually mature at 3 months (though if they are for feeding ive been told just load them up on high protein foods) or a little earlier

as for the setup you could use the 10g tank as the grow out, if you just want it for raising fry then u dont need to go all out on decor just a spounge filter and some java moss will do.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. I have three guppy tanks (guppies are my all-time favorite fish) and I have no problems with my guppies eating their fry. Granted all my tanks are planted, I feel that if you have a cheap fast-growing plant (Najas, java moss, hornwort, anacharis, water lettuce, water sprite, etc) and the parents are actually fed well, the parents will not eat their fry. I have a planted 29 gallon tank right now with fancy guppies with over 30 newly born fry that are free-swimming in the open and the parents and other adult fish are not eating the babies because I feed them twice a day. :)
 
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