Breeding Tropical Fishes
Food and Feeding
Contents
Regardless of
how good the qualities of dried foods nowadays, they are not good enough
to condition fish for breeding. Spawning will be improved by feeding
your breeding stock live food, or they’re frozen equivalents, or recently
killed meaty type food. Live food that is fed to your fishes should
be bought, or cultured if you know how too. Live food that has been
caught from the wild, a garden pond for instance, could introduce diseases
into the aquarium. Also be sure to fully thaw out frozen food before
offering it to your fishes, and never re-freeze any food. Various live
foods can be obtained from aquatic stores; these include daphnia (water
fleas), Bloodworms (the larvae of flies or midges), and Brineshrimp,
to name but a few. When bringing larger fish into breeding condition
offer them chopped earthworms and Bloodworms, and conversely, if you
have fish that need vegetable matter in their diet give them blanched
lettuce and spinach leaves, or soft peas.
When bringing fish into breeding condition feed them three times a day
at regular intervals. Ensure that any uneaten food is removed after
a few minutes, although live food can be left in the aquarium for your
fishes to browse on.
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Food for the Offspring
The offspring need special care and attention if they
are to grow and be healthy. They need high protein content in their
diet if they are not to become stunted, therefore adult fish flake,
even when ground up, is not at all suitable. Foods that are specially
produced for rearing fry, which also promote growth, are available from
aquatic stores; these can also be supplemented with certain live foods
that will be particularly good for your fry. The fry should be fed more
often than adult fish, probably four to five times a day. Be careful
how much you put in at any one time.
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Infusoria
The fry of egg-layers are usually first fed on “Infusoria”,
this is by enlarge an obsolete term, but is still used by fishkeepers
to represent a variety of minute or microscopic animal and vegetable
organisms, which develop in an infusion of decaying organic matter.
Infusoria cultures can be prepared quite simply; the spores are airborne
so there is no need to obtain starter cultures. All you need is an open
jar three quarters full of aquarium water, to which you add either a
small amount of potato (lightly boiled may be of benefit), banana skin,
dried lettuce leaves, or hay, allow this to stand for about a week,
after which it will become cloudy with Infusoria. When it is time to
feed the fry just pour a little of this cloudy water into the aquarium,
then top up with aquarium water again.
If you have a few of these cultures on the go at once it will give you
a constant supply of Infusoria.
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Brineshrimp
As your fry grow the next food after Infusoria is newly
hatched Brineshrimp. Unlike Infusoria, to cultivate Brineshrimp you
will need to purchase the dried Brineshrimp eggs from an aquatic dealer.
They will be supplied in sealed airtight containers and it is imperative
that they remain in a dry and cool place; otherwise, if they get damp
they will fail to hatch.
Some species can be fed straight away on Brineshrimp, but it is always
a good idea to include Infusoria as well, just in case some of the smaller
fry can’t manage the Brineshrimp, that way none of the fry will starve
to death.
Take a one litre plastic bottle and half fill it with
tap water, the water should be kept at 75ºF (24ºC), add to it one and
a half teaspoons of salt (aquarium or sea salt preferably), then add
a quarter of a teaspoon of the eggs. You will then need to place a piece
of airline into the bottle and attach the other end of the airline to
an airpump. Run the airpump, which will circulate the eggs in the bottle,
after about 36 hours the eggs will have hatched and the shells will
float to the surface, at this point you can remove the airline. Wait
for a further 30 minutes and you will see the newly hatched Brineshrimp
at the base of the bottle, place a plastic tube into the bottle and
siphon the minute shrimps through, either clean dry linen, nylon, or
paper towel. They can now be washed in fresh water and fed to the fry.
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Microworms
This minute worm is also bought as a culture; you may
be able to obtain a starter culture from another aquarist. Microworms
feed on the surface of cereal-based foods, therefore you will need to
mix up some oatmeal with a little water (porridge), be sure to only
use water. Let the mixture cool then spread a layer of it, about 1cm
(0.4inch) thick, onto the base of a container or saucer, take a small
spoonful of the culture and place it onto the porridge, put a lid or
cover (which must have a few small air holes in it), over the container,
and keep it in a warm place 70º-75ºF (21-24C).
After a few days the worms will have multiplied and
will be climbing around the sides of the container, you can wipe these
off with a small brush and feed them directly to the fry.
You will need to start fresh cultures after about five days, after that
it starts to turn foul. All you need to do then is make a fresh porridge
mix, and place some of your old culture on to the top of your new porridge
mix. If you use about three containers you will have a succession of
cultures for continuous use.
Microworms make a good second are third food, you can
also start to introduce good quality fine dry foods in small amounts,
as well as sifted daphnia, to get them used to variety.
Many fishkeepers evolve their own variations and techniques when culturing
live foods, experience leads to individual preferences.
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