# monster spawns?



## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

i have a pair of reds that have breed for me 7 weeks in a row. i was wondering what would be the best food, combinations of food and anything else that may produce monster spawns of a 1,000 eggs or more.

i will share my exsperience and will try anything within reason.

i currenty have 5 tanks of fry and the first batch produced 800 hundred baby piranhas. as my exsperience grows with raising fry i would like to see if that number can be increased.

thanks for the help


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

rm123 said:


> i have a pair of reds that have breed for me 7 weeks in a row. i was wondering what would be the best food, combinations of food and anything else that may produce monster spawns of a 1,000 eggs or more.
> 
> i will share my exsperience and will try anything within reason.
> 
> ...


I think the amout of eggs is in relation to the size of the fish.You could try feeding her all she wants every day.


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

I think the amout of eggs is in relation to the size of the fish.You could try feeding her all she wants every day.
[/quote]

i agree with you on that , but there gotta be something that helps her produce eggs. i have four reds that are about 7" in a 145 gallon tank


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

rm123 said:


> I think the amout of eggs is in relation to the size of the fish.You could try feeding her all she wants every day.


i agree with you on that , but there gotta be something that helps her produce eggs. i have four reds that are about 7" in a 145 gallon tank
[/quote]

Her size and health are the variables on how many eggs she produces.


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

wow what are you going to do with all the fry...are you going to try to sell them?


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

the_w8 said:


> wow what are you going to do with all the fry...are you going to try to sell them?


i been selling them to pet store and trading for food and equipement. it pretty nice walking into the lfs with fish and walking out with cash. i am currently waiting approval from piranha fury to sell some on the site so look out if your in the michigan area for some good deals.

the males are fighting so it most be breeding time again.


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## Malok (Mar 26, 2006)

your going to run out of aquariums soon huh?


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

Malok said:


> your going to run out of aquariums soon huh?


my reds where spawning every 4 days and the spawns were not as big as when they first started. so i decided to stop them from breeding and will try to have them breed every other week basically when i want them to. this way the female will have time to produce as many eggs as possible and i will be able to focuse on a couple large batches of eggs compared twice as many smaller batches.


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

Try using a beef heart mixture. It will increase the output of eggs.

Here is a good recipe.

BEEF HEART FOOD


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

LGHT said:


> Try using a beef heart mixture. It will increase the output of eggs.
> 
> Here is a good recipe.
> 
> BEEF HEART FOOD


thanks for the link, will make some this weekend and will let you guys no how it turns out.


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## geostomp (Apr 8, 2006)

Wa wondering why there is paprika in that recipe? I have herad of putting garlic to fight bacteria in the intestinal tract....or something like that. Any way just figured i would post my recipe which is pretty simple. Two hole beef hearts, fat trimmed only. Two pounds of whitting fish, cheap $1 a pound. A can of peas and a can of carrots. One centrum pill. Make shur to dissolve the pill and distribut in the mix thoroughly. I usually throw it in with the carots and peas and mix for several minutes. Food proceess all ingrediants to peanut butter, mix thoroughly, and place in layers between was paper and freeze. Add cheeze and it makes a poor mans hamburger!!


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

The paprika, by the way, helps keep the mixture a natural red, because the spinach tends to make the mixture look unappetisingly green.

If you like you can just use blood worms, i've gotten the same result with the thawed worms and I think they like it a little more that way. I also add misc vitamines as needed and de-wormer. That mix has done WONDERS for my breeding Angels. I also helps the fish grow a LOT bigger and stronger.


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

LGHT said:


> The paprika, by the way, helps keep the mixture a natural red, because the spinach tends to make the mixture look unappetisingly green.
> 
> If you like you can just use blood worms, i've gotten the same result with the thawed worms and I think they like it a little more that way. I also add misc vitamines as needed and de-wormer. That mix has done WONDERS for my breeding Angels. I also helps the fish grow a LOT bigger and stronger.


can you tell me more about the kinds vitamins and dewormer that you use. like the brand name and where you buy these products at? do you use frozen blood worms or live? It sound like it a good combination of foods.

have you notice an increase of the number of eggs laid?

thanks for your help.


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

I usually just treat for general bacteria problems in very small dosses if at all.

Since there is so many different types of bacteria I rotate betweeen gram-negative and gram-positive treatments.

The easiest to find is minocycline (-) and tetracycline (+).

Both work well and will kill most bacteria, but is still safe for your bio filter unlick penicillin which will kill off some of your good bacteria. Although these treatments are not "required" it's helpful when you have new fish and to keep a healthy tank.


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## tileguy8 (Aug 1, 2006)

what are you feeding the fry when they first hatch and what do you feed next, my rbs are breeding now as well and I have a tank full of fry, 25 gallons for now, im sure i will have to move them to a larger one , any tips would be very helpful


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## barbianj (Aug 3, 2003)

There first food has to be live baby brine shrimp (bbs). After 2-3 weeks of this start to try frozen bbs then crushed pellets, flakes, crushed mysis shrimp. At this stage the food still has to be VERY tiny.


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

tileguy8 said:


> what are you feeding the fry when they first hatch and what do you feed next, my rbs are breeding now as well and I have a tank full of fry, 25 gallons for now, im sure i will have to move them to a larger one , any tips would be very helpful


you have to hatch baby brine shrimp have you ever done this before? you don't feed anything until they are swimming around and the yok sak is gone. what i do is hatch the eggs in a 10 gallon and when they are swimming and excepting brine shrimp for a couple days they are moved to a 29 gallon tank. in another week they are moved to a 50 gallon until they are sold.

when doing water changes from eggs to about a week and a 1/2 the babies are very sensitve with new water being added so you have to use a airline as a syphon to add new water it is a very slow process.

the most important is to learn how to hatch brine shrimp. in michagan there a store i go to it is called wet thumb aquatics you can search this on the web. they have all the breeding supplies you will need and don't forget to pick up some sponge filters, brine shrimp eggs

if you need help on hatching drine shrimp let me know or anything else.

rob


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## barbianj (Aug 3, 2003)

One more thing. Introduce a new food in small amounts when they are hungry . Then finish feeding with something they like.


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

I've also had GREAT success with microworms if you don't want to do BBS. I usually keep a few cultures of worms going all the time in case BBS don't hatch or you need extra food. There good for the first few weeks. After that try pearls or hikari first bites.


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

just want to give an update on what i have done to have monster spawns. my reds where spawning every 4 days and the amount of eggs they were laying was getting a little small in nunbers.

i never tried the receipe you guys gave me just haven't had the time to make it.

someone did tell me that if you get the reds to stop breeding for a while then when they do spawn the amount of eggs will be much larger in numbers. so the reds where seperated for 2 weeks and lightly medicated to help heal some wounds. after two weeks the dividers where taken out and 1 week later we had eggs again.

the last spawn they had before being seperated yeilded 1,400 baby piranhas.

the first spawn after being seperated yeilded 3,200 babys all which were counted by hand.

they were counted at 3/4".

in conclusion it seems time is a main factor in producing large spawns.

rob


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## barbianj (Aug 3, 2003)

Good idea with the dividers.







Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. Plus giving the adults a chance to heal. Good job.


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

Yeah time does help the femail build up her protein level, but you don't have to wait just give them more protein. The receipe takes a few to do, but if you make a lot you will only have to make it once every few weeks. I have some that last about a month because my breeding angels don't eat nearly as much as adult Reds!


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## Gee32 (Aug 16, 2006)

rm123 said:


> i have a pair of reds that have breed for me 7 weeks in a row. i was wondering what would be the best food, combinations of food and anything else that may produce monster spawns of a 1,000 eggs or more.
> 
> i will share my exsperience and will try anything within reason.
> 
> ...


Is that all from one pair, I've been trying to figure out how many you could get from one spawn. so is the 1000 over a 7 week period or is it from one spawn.


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## rm123 (Apr 2, 2006)

> Is that all from one pair, I've been trying to figure out how many you could get from one spawn. so is the 1000 over a 7 week period or is it from one spawn.


i am able to raise up at least 1,500 fry from each spawn and every week they spawn so thats about 6,000 fry every month.

the most fry ever raise to 1" from one spawn was 3,200 all from 1 pair.

rob


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