Once upon a time a while back I noticed a couple tiny little fry(baby fish) swimming around my plants in my turtle tank. I researched them and realized they were swordtail babies left by a batch of feeder fish my turtle had since eaten. This gave me an idea, why was I paying for feeders when I could raise my own. Now I have about 200 fry under 1/2" about 60 over 1/2" and 7 pregnant soon to be mothers. In fact I have so many now I sell them to my local LFS to sell as feeders.
I looked through this forum and couldn't find a DIY to do this so I decided to make my own. If one exists please delete mine moderators as I don't want to waste space:)
Breeding and brooding livebearers is a lot less difficult than caring for a turtle so I know you will all find it quite easy. After following this you will never have to buy a feeder again and if you can work out a deal with an LFS like I did you won't have to pay for turtle accessories out of pocket again!
As it is not complicated at all I will make it as short and sweet as possible;
Things you will need:
1 10 to 20gal tank, can be any size above a 10gal, tall tanks and hex's actually work great.
2 A bundle or two of hornwort or cabomba, you can choose your own plant types, these are just what works in my experience. Java moss supposedly works well too and they sell fake plants just for this purpose called breeding grass or brooding grass.
3 1 male and 2 females of whatever livebearer species you would like, I like swordtails as there young are hardier, they are extremely fast and nimble so your turtle must exercise to catch them and they just look cool.
4 a filter appropriately sized for the tank with a strainer cloth or bag over the intake. This is to prevent the main cause of fry loss which is getting sucked up by the filter.
5 Perhaps a heater if ambient temps are not right and a grow light if you wish to keep the tank permanently running.
Directions
1 fill tank with well water or tap water that's been treated. Add filter and heater. You must cycle the tank first just like your turtle tanks which means to grow beneficial bacteria to eat fish waste(ammonia)and prevent it from becoming toxic. This could take a week or two but you can speed it up by adding filter media from an already established tank. You will need to test the water regularly and do partial water changes until totally cycled. If you need info on cycling there are a million Ebooks just google aquarium cycling. Try to keep tank between 72 and 78f
2 Once your tank is cycled it is safe to add your male and two females of your chosen species. You may also add your chosen plant. I like to use hornwort and wrap one end around a rock and let the other end float to the top with it covering 75% of the surface. This my take 2 bundles depending on your tank size. Java moss also works good and cabomba. They also make plastic plants just for this purpose usually labeled breeding or brooding grass. I don't like to use it as I had some work it's way through my straining cloth and burn a filter up. But to each his own.
3 Mating rituals vary among livebearers but they all basically become very active with the males harassing the females. It is good to put one male in with two females to avoid stressing the females with 24/7 harassment. Swordtail males will swim backwards very skillfully to show off to females, guppies usually rely on harassment and colorful fins to attract females or make them give in. Either way you will know your females are fertilized when you notice a dark Gravid spot behind behind the fishes belly right above the anal fin. You will have no problem finding it when it's their. Once both females have this spot and it seems to have grown, remove the male. You may feed him to your turtle now if you like, you won't need him again. You might be afraid to dispose of him thinking the fry may be stilborn or early and not survive which is a risk but livebearers save up sperm from an "encounter" with a male and store enough for 6 batches of fry. So losing the male is not a worry and he will harass your females pregnant or not which adds a lot of stress on them.
4 It usually takes 28 to 35 days depending on the species and what part of the world your in from conception to birth. During this time you can feed the mothers cheap tropical flakes(NOT GOLDFISH FLAKES) and also supplement them with whatever staple their care sheet recommends; for instance Swordtails have a 70% staple diet of algae, so I drop a couple algae wafers in for the mothers. This will help to have the absolute best fry you can have with more number's, bigger, and healthier fry.
5 The mothers will find a spot to hide either in the plants or by the heater and give birth to live swimming babies(hence livebearer). These babies will instinctually go for the top to find plants to hide in as the mothers will eat them. To feed the fry just take those same cheap tropical flakes and crush them into a powder, take small pinches and insert into the plants on top of the water in several spots. The fry will stay in the plants mostly for safety so this is where you want to feed them. Some people like to use breeder boxes or remove the mothers after birth but I find this just adds stress to the mothers and if you do your plants right only the retarded of the fry will get eaten which is natural selection and makes for good batches of fry down the road. This is also why I don't add males back after I remove a fry, females store enough seed for 6 batches so there is no need and the male will instantly go to harassing the females again which adds stress on top of just giving birth which usually results in death.
6 Keep feeding powdered flakes and occasionally a powdered staple i.e for swordtails I crush up an algae wafer. Once your fish get about 1/2" long or to big to fit in the mothers mouth you can either leave them in the breeding tank or move to a second one you set up or throw them in with your turtles. I have a seperate tank with just a filter that I house my feeders for the LFS but any I plan on feeding to my turtle I just throw in with the turtles. I put about 30 a time in my 110gal turtle tank and they survive just fine. I am sure you have all dropped a lone minnow in with your turtle just to watch him chase it until he gets it. Well try putting 20 in at once. It's like Zebras and lions, the turtle will chase one until it's distracted by another then chase that one until... and son on and so forth until he gets too tired and gives up. This is the absolute best way in my opinion to have surviving fish in a turtle tank. When your ready to feed him one just catch one and stun it or weaken it and throw it back in. The turtles instincts will take over when he sees an injured one and he'll attack.
Well that's about it, you can repeat the process while your fry are being raised in the plants by adding one or two more pregnant females or just leaving the mothers in their and they will start up again. You can have two batches of fry from the same mother residing in the same plants.
Remember this too, You only have to pay for the parents once so don't go buy dime a fish feeders to breed. Buy a set(2 females 1 male) of fancy guppies or Green Swordtails or Dalmatian Mollies. Get the fancy, pretty ones, they don't eat any extra and you only pay for them once, whatever you choose it will be little versions of them you are growing so for aesthetic purposes I raise fancy guppies and Assted Swordtails.
Tell me if this was helpful or not, hope you all enjoyed and I didn't miss anything.
