Create A Tropical Fish Aquarium With Katy's Tropical Fish - A Complete Guide

Welcome To My Newsletter Series. In this newsletter letter series I will provide you with information about keeping tropical fish. The information contained in the newsletter comes from my passed experiences while working with fish, conversations I've had with friends and other tropical fish lovers, as well as knowledge I gain while researching material to write the book. So as you can see that the content comes from a number of sources, which I think make for a well rounded newsletter series.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to your friends who maybe interested in tropical fish keeping as well.

BREEDING FRESHWATER FISH

If you are interested in becoming a skilled fish keeper, then setting up a breeding aquarium will get you on your way. When you have healthy fish ready to spawn, now comes the challenge of breeding. Keep in mind that the first step to breeding freshwater fish is learning the way to tell males from females. From there, you will need to make the environment inviting and stimulating so the fish want to breed. Finally, to keep track of everything you do associated with breeding, we highly recommend you maintain a journal.

Sexing Fish

As mentioned, when breeding fish, it is imperative that you sex the fish. Typically, fish are classified as sexually isomorphic or sexually dimorphic. In some isomorphic species, the male fish will be slightly larger while the females usually have a rounder belly. Keep in mind that some sexually isomorphic species have no external differences at all.

On the other hand, sexually dimorphic fish are easier to identify. For instance, the shape of the sex organs along with the size, shape, color, and finnage will tell you the sex. In other words, the males are generally more colorful, they are larger than the female is and the fins are more elaborate.

Parent Fish

After determining your male and female fish, you need to choose a good pair to spawn. Things you would look for in a parent fish include:

• Fish that display good color and markings
• Only mature, healthy fish
• Compatible fish
• Avoid crossing color or stain forms
• Fish of the same species

Reproductive Strategies

Most aquarium fish are egg layers with external fertilization, which are divided into five primary categories to include egg scatterers, egg depositors, egg burriers, mouth brooders, and nest builders. Each has a distinctive role, which is outlined below:

• Egg Scatterers – These fish scatter adhesive or non-adhesive eggs, allowing them to fall to the substrate, into plants, or to float on the water’s surface. Egg scatterers do not look after the brood and in some cases, they even eat their own eggs.
• Egg Depositors – These fish deposit the eggs on substrate, rocks, driftwood, etc. Typically, the egg depositors lay fewer eggs than the scatterers do but their eggs are much larger. These fish will care for the eggs and care for the young. They are divided into cavity spawners and open spawners. The cavity spawners lay eggs in a cave whereas open spawners prefer to choose an open area. The fish will form pairs and offer advanced care for the brood. Once the eggs hatch, the fry are carefully guarded. Keep in mind that a few species of egg depositors do not care for the young to include Killifish, some Catfish, and Cyprinds.
• Egg Burriers – Typically, these fish inhabit the water that dry up during some time of the year. The majority of these fish are Killifish that lay eggs in mud. Parents will mature fast, laying the eggs before dying once the water dries up. The buried eggs remain in dormant until the rains come to encourage hatching.
• Mouth Brooders – These fish carry the eggs or larvae in the mouth. In addition, mouth brooders are broken up into ovophiles and larvophiles categories. With ovophile, the eggs are laid in a pit then sucked up by the female into the mouth. The eggs will then hatch in her mouth with the fry staying for a short period. Fertilization occurs with egg-spots, which are colored spots on the male’s anal fin. The female will see the spots, trying to pick them up. However, she ends up with a mouth of sperm, thus fertilizing the eggs in her mouth. Larvophile are larvae loving mouth brooders that lay eggs on substrate, guarding them closely until they hatch. Once hatched, the female picks up the fry, keeping them safe in her mouth. Once the fry are capable of caring for themselves, they leave the mouth.
• Next Builders – These fish actually build a nest for the eggs, which is usually a bubble nest that is made with saliva-coated bubbles and plant debris.

Livebearers

Livebearer fish bear live young, just as humans do. Livebearers are categorized by ovoviviparous, which means the eggs form and then hatch within the female prior to birth and viviparous, in which no eggs are formed and the young are provided nourishment through an umbilical-like cord. Most often, livebearers are easy to breed and hardy.

I hope you enjoyed this article and look forward to the next article which looks at captive bred marine fish.

Until next time...

Katy
www.kingdomofpets.com/tropicalfish

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