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Ok, I have cleared my 5 gallon tank and am about to start cycling it. It has an undergravel filter a really small non adjustable heater and an air pump. I have seen several places say that I can breed in those conditions provided several waterchanges nearly daily if not daily. So now that I have gotten this far I am curious as to which of my fish I should try to propagate. The fish that I have confirmed males and females of are my gourami and my Golden Wonder Kilifish two females to one male on both and are in a community tank. The Male gourami and the female that looks like she may be ready to spawn are 5 inches total so they should be able to fit in the 5 accept for the fact that they are big fish and would have little room for swimming and they can be aggressive to eachother. I think I may do the kili especially since they have a short life span and mine are full grown at this point and I would like more.

On the other hand my alb. cory are fairly big well 4 of the 6 are and they could be able to spawn in the five but they would probably be more comfortable in a 10 and I have heard of times when they have managed to spawn in community tanks.


So I am looking for a little guidance on having little ones swimming round the tanks let me know what you think!

Thanks again

You need to keep in mind that if you are successful, you will need places to grow out the fry. I also think a five gallon is too small to breed anything.

When I was into breeding I had 14 tanks, the smallest was a 20 and only one of those and I still never had enough room.

Do yourself and the fish a favor, get set up before so you don't have to scramble to find tanks and set them up in a hurry.

Good luck,

Mike

I have two other tanks, and getting another this month in the next couple weeks and then another for christmas if not two. I am also getting several 10g tanks between now and the new year just for breading and raising cory, lots of them. I just heard 5 was ok for breeding, eh, if anyone thinks that kilifish can be bred in the 5 let me know

The reason, IMO, a small tank does not work well for breeding is that small tanks tend to be a more stressful environment, especially when breeding. Often breeding involves a certain amount of agression, particularly in the early stages, and there needs to be room enough for escape and evasion.

I've never bred Killies so I'm not sure if this is true for them.

Have fun. It sounds like you're getting tanks lined out.

Mike

a 5gal for full grown golden wonders is kinda small. If they are full grown then they should be too big for it

well they seem that they are full grown about two inches each, so I figure that they are ok of course i also figure that i will remove them once the eggs are laid, I am unsure, i may see if i can put a mop into the 30 if they will do it there, one of them looks like she may be ready to spawn but there isnt anything for her to do so... But i have never tried to do something like this so.. hehe.

Fish will not breed if they are stressed. Guppy girls will reabsorb fry or just not instigate another bout of pregnancy if they are stressed or sick. Putting two inch, fairly active fish into a five gallon would likely cause stress, and nothing would come of your breeding. I'd hold off for at least a ten gallon for the killies.

How about instigating breeding in your community tank? Feed rich foods and keep the tank sparkley clean... see what happens.

Good luck!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Well, it looks like one of the killi females is ready to spawwn, i give them flake in the morning and blood worms at night and occasional flies pincher bugs and crickets. They didnt have a mop though, but i had some of that crappy stuff that floats and makes a general mess so I tied it up and they all went to check it out, and seem to be doing a lot of protecting and posturing so mabee i will get lucky and the eggs will start comming if there ready, then i will take the mop and put it into my breeding net, that way the fry don't die.

The water is changed often and levels checked regularly so, crossing my fingers.