Animals
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Cat-N-Around Cat Club
Cat-N-Around Cat Club 2007 Annual Show
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Hawkeye Cat Club 2005
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Water Bottles

Bugs
Crabby 500
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Tarantula Night 2006
TarantulaWeen VII
TarantulaWeen 9
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Misc Bugs II  

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Finches
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Parrot Pix III
Dave's Parrots

Lizards
Alligators
Anoles
Bearded Dragon
Beardies II
Calotes
Chamel, Jackson
Chamel, Panther
Chamel, Veiled
Crested Geckos
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Gecko, House
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Gecko, Tokay
Horned "Toads"
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Iguana Update
Cool Iguana Pics
Knight Anoles
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Salmonella
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Skinks Blue-Tongue
Tegus
Uromastyx maliensis
Water Dragon
Misc Lizards
Misc Lizards 2
Misc Lizards 3
Misc Lizards 4
Misc Lizards 5
Misc Lizards 6
Misc Lizards 7
Misc Lizards 8
Misc Lizards 9
Misc Lizards 10


Snakes
Anacondas
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Corn Snake
Garter Snake
Green Snake
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Kids/Red-Tail Boas

Kids at Pet Expo 1

Kids at Pet Expo 2

Kids at Pet Expo 3

Kids at Pet Expo 4

Kids at Pet Expo 5
King & Milk
Python, Ball
Python, Burmese

Snakes Alive
Snakesgiving
Snakesgiving II
Misc Snake Pix
Misc Snakes II
Misc Snakes III  

Turtles/Tortoises
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Box, USA
Races
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Spiny

Sulcata
Water
Western Painted

Live Foods
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Br Shrimp II
Crayfish 1
Crayfish 2
Crayfish 3 
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Fruit Flies
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Glass Worms

Grindal Worms
Infusoria
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Microworms
Rosy Reds

Super Worms

Wax Worms
White Clouds

Decorating
Bubbles
Driftwood
Gravel
Plastic Plants
Rocks
Slow Growing Plants

Miscellaneous
Bob's Acclimation

How to Start
How to Add New Fish
How to Keep Healthy
Which Fish Get Along?
10 Questions to Ask
What is Ich?
Under Gravel Filters

Sponge Filters
Cloudy Water
Cool Water Tanks
Gravel Vacuums
Preventing Disease
Feeding to the Max
Frozen Foods
Green Water
Nasty Chemicals
Overfeeding
Power Filters
Rift Lake Salts
Quarantine Tank
Mini-Tank
2nd Av Bait

Pet World Visit
Dandelions

Aquatic Plants
Amazon Swords
More Swords
Sword Plants III
Anubias
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A. boivinianus
A. fenestralis
A. ulvaceous
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Bunch Plants II
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Hygrophila
Lace
Java Fern I
Java Fern II
Java Fern III
Java Fern IV
Java Moss
Moss Balls
Onion
Vermiculite
Watersprite
Different Watersprite

Many hobbyists want to see their fish reproduce. 

LA Pic
Fatheads just hanging out looking for lunch.

To know that you have provided your aquatic charges with conditions that are good enough to rear their offspring is a great feeling.  After all, no organism reproduces successfully unless proper conditions exist.  If you are the one who has provided these conditions, it says something about how well you take care of your fish. 

LA Pic
Darker ones are the wild fathead color.  The gold ones are the "rosy reds."

Most aquarists have had one or more of the livebearer species (guppies, mollies, swordtails, and platies) breed, often in a community aquarium that wasn’t intended for the purpose.  Egglayers also spawn in community aquariums, but fry are almost never seen.  The eggs get eaten before they hatch.

LA Pic
Gambusia females in a plastic cup.

Look-a-Likes.  Mixed in with your rosy reds you may find gambusia, a drab grey livebearer.  Besides being drab, these gals (the males stay small) get mean.  They can whup lots of fishes.  You can mix them with African cichlids.

Most Get Eaten.  Egglayers are trickier to rear than livebearers.  Most aren’t ready to eat food immediately after hatching.  They are still in the larval stage, receiving their nutrition from their yolk sac.  Newly hatched eggs are very vulnerable to predators at this larval stage. 

Tiny Mouths Need Tiny Foods.  Also, many species have such small mouths upon metamorphosis from the larval to the fry stage that they require microscopic feed (infusoria, unicellular free-floating algae, etc.).  It is usually wisest for the beginning aquarium fish enthusiast to attempt some of the easier species before attempting more difficult ones, as a means of gaining experience.

Start Easy.  Several “easy” egglayers available to try your hand at include:

   ●  Barbs,

   ●  Danios,

   ●  Rainbow fishes,

   ●  Convict cichlids.

LA Pic
Fathead minnows in a five-inch net.  Their skinny shape makes them a popular fish food.

Easiest Egglayer.  The easiest egglayer  isn’t even a tropical fish, let alone a standard aquarium fish.  It is a species native to North America; thefathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, also known around bait houses as the “crappie minnow.”  We sell them as feeder fish for predator fishes three inches long and larger. 

Personal Favorite.  Years ago, I worked for a professor in Animal Ecology at Iowa State University.  He needed bluegills and fathead minnows for aquatic toxicology research.  I took care of his aquatic lab.  I fed fish, did water changes, took care of fry, etc.  We were cranking out the fatheads until they were practically coming out our ears.
 

LA Pic
Seems to be a popular rosy red "pick up" location.

In the Aquarium.  Our basic setup for breeding this fish in the lab was a 10-gallon aquarium with an under gravel filter.  We used 4-inch-long sections of 4-inch diameter PVC pipe for the egglaying sites, two per tank.  A new clay flowerpot laid on its side or a slate cave would work as well. 

Lighting.  Two males and four females went into each breeding tank.  Photoperiod (duration of lighting) was 15 hours per day.   Temperature was 72 to 74 degrees. 

Egg Harvesting.  At peak breeding, I was removing one or both tubing sections with eggs weekly and replacing them with fresh ones.  The ones with eggs were placed in separate aquaria with aeration and treated with a fungus preventive.

Parental Care.  It wouldn’t have mattered to the fry whether they hatched in Papa’s presence or not.  Once free-swimming, the fry are ignored by the parents, so long as those parents are kept well-fed. 

Increased Eggs.  We merely removed the eggs to increase egg production.  Once Papa is done with previous responsibilities, he’s ready to go again.  Females seem to be egg machines.  If the eggs aren’t removed, Papa will clean and protect them until they hatch.

Real “Fat” Heads.  Fathead males earn their name for the pads of fatty tissue they grow about their heads, particularly on top.  This pad makes the male look larger to both potential competitors and egg predators.  It also secretes an anti-fungal substance that he periodically rubs onto the eggs. 

Sexual Differences.  Males also become very dark about the head, and turn almost completely black when actually courting.  Females remain light gray, and never develop the fatty pad, or the little white bumps -- breeding tubercles -- that a spawning male has about the head.

Breeding Season.  Water temperature and photoperiod are crucial to breeding success.  If a fathead minnow perceives itself living in a “perpetual late spring/early summer” environment, it develops and acts accordingly, spawning with wild abandon.  Temperatures between 68 to 76 degrees, with 14 to 16 hours of light daily will do the job just fine. 

LA Pic
Fathead minnows eat whatever you feed them.  Multiple feedings make the difference.

LA Pic
An entire 10-gallon tank to patrol and they choose this flower pot (where we feed them).

LA Pic
Conditioned male in breeding tank.

LA Pic
Stud muffin of the tank pushing the other suitor away.

Conditioning Foods.  Diet should consist of a high-quality flake food (OSI being my preference), and a higher fat component (HBH makes several micro-pelleted foods that fill the bill well).  Be careful not to overfeed.  The micro-pellets especially are very easy to overfeed.  Frozen brine shrimp is another excellent option.  Feed at least twice daily.  Three times is better.
 

A:  Thanks for the excellent info.  I didn't get any rosies in today's shipment.  I'll try it out next Friday.  In the meantime, I'm adding it to my (actually Eric's) rosy red page.  LA.

Fry Foods.  Fry develop quickly.  From the moment they are free-swimming, the fry can take very finely ground flake food.  Newly hatched brine shrimp (frozen or live) would be better.  They grow to adult size in six to eight months and spawn at one year of age.

LA Pic
So-called "rosy red."  Actually, a bag of a 1,000 or so does look kind of rosy.

LA Pic
Here's another batch of the two colors.

“Rosy Red Minnows.”  Often sold as feeder fish, the rosies are a yellow/pink version of our native fathead minnow.  They are much more attractive than the gray color of the wild ones, or the farm-raised ones you buy at a bait shop.  I have heard the rumor that these golden fatheads are harder to spawn than the standard gray.  Whether this is true or not, I don’t know.  I’ve never tried to spawn them.

Minnow Safari.  Wild fatheads are easy to obtain.  A standard minnow seine works quite well.  Fatheads can be found in almost every body of water in Iowa.  You can buy them at the bait shop, as well.  Bait minnows are usually rather stressed from shipping, crowded conditions, and lack of food.  Quarantine them and feed them heavily.  We carry the “rosies.”

LA Pic
Fatheads make tasty skinny bites for predators too skinny to eat goldfish.

LA Pic
Rosy reds kept under "bait house conditions."

LA
Occasionally they "clump up" like this but not often.

Oh, don’t bother to tell the bait dealer what you want them for.  I’ve had more than one dealer snicker at me when I went to buy fatheads to breed myself.  They insisted that these fish couldn’t be spawned in an aquarium, even when I told them I’d done it countless times … Eric

Jaguar Spawning II
Jewel Fish
Keo's Flowerhorns
Keo's Flowerhorns II
Kribensis
Odd Couple Spawn
Oscars 1
Oscars 2
Oscars 3
Oscars 4
Oscars 5
More Oscar
More Oscar II
More Oscars III
More Oscars 2007
More Oscars 2007.5
Oscar Spawn
Peacock Bass
Red Devils
More Red Devil
Red Parrots
Red Parrots Spawn
Red Parrot Spawn II
Pikes
Pink Tilapia
Rams
Red Bay Snooks
Red Bay Snook Spawn
Roger Stephen's Cichlids
Severums
More Severums
Severums III
Tanganyikans
Texas Cichlid
Texas Spawning
Texas Spawn II
Uarus
Misc Cichlids I
Misc Cichlids II
Misc Cichlids III
Misc Cichlids IV
Misc Cichlids V
Misc Cichlids VI
Misc Cichlids VII
Misc Cichlids VIII
Misc Cichlids IX

Livebearer  
Guppies
Half-Beak
Mollies
Moons/Platys
Swordtails

Minnows/Tetra 
Barbs
Barbs, Black
Barbs, Gold
Barbs, Rosy
Barbs, Tiger
Barbs, Tinfoil
Danios
Danio Egg Saver
Distochodus
Fathead Minnows
Headstanders
Killies, Econ.
Killies, Golden
Killies, Peat
Killies, Plant
Misc Mini-Fish
Pacús 
Piranha, Black
Piranha, Red
Rainbowfish

Rainbowfish, Dwarf Neon
Rainbowfish, Irian
Silver Dollar
Tetras, Larger
Tetras, Smaller
Tetras, Spawn
Tetra, Vampire
White Clouds

Pond Fish
Carp
Channel Cat
Gold. Comets
Gold. Fantails
More Fantails
Gold. Oriental  
Gold Oriental II 
Gold. Spawn
Kloubec Koi Farm
Koi
Koi II

Koi III
Oranda Spawn
Plecostomus
Shubunkins

Oddballs  
Af. Butterfly
Af. Lungfish
Af. Mudskippr
American Eel
Archer Fish
Arowana
Bichirs
Borneo Suckers
Brackish I
Brackish II
Brackish III
Brackish IV
Brackish V
Michael Troung's Pix
Butterfly/Wasp
Chameleon Fish
Chromides
Chin Alg Eater
Crazy Fish
Crocodile Fish
Datnioides
Dojo
Dwarf Puffers
Electric Cat
Electric Eels
Elephant Nose
Exodon paradoxus
Flounder
Gars  
Glassfish
Goby Bumble
Goby Butterfly
Goby Dragon
Goby Misc.
Half-Beak
Knife African
Knife Clown
Knife Ghost
Loach Botias
Loach Clown
Loach Kuhli
Loach Weather

Longear Sunfish
Moray Eel  
Peacock Gudgeons
Polypterids
Puffers
Ropefish
Scats
Siam Algae Eater 
Spiny Eels 
Snakehead
Stingray
Stonefish
Wasp Fish
Wolffish
Wrest Half-Beak
Misc Mini-Fishes
Misc Odd
Misc Odd II
Misc Odd III
Misc Odd  IV

Misc Odd V
Misc Odd VI

Sharks  
Bala
Black
Bull
Chinese Hi-Fin Banded
Iridescent
Red-Tail
Siam Algae Eater

Pond Info 
Blank Park Zoo
Bob Humphrey's Ponds
Cattails
Maffett Reservoir
DMACC's Pond
D.M. Botanical Center
D.M. Water Works
Dr. Ervanian's Garden
Duckweed
Dwarf Lily
Ewing Park "Pond"
Jan & Chris's Water Garden
John McDonald's Pond
Hall's Four Acres
Klines' Water Garden
Landscaper Effects
Mini-Pond Pics
Pioneer Corn's Pond
Pond Fish Predators
Pond on 38th Street 
Pond Pics
Pond Plants
More Pond Plants
Pond Plants III
Reiman Ponds
River Scenes
Riverview Island
Selin's Water Gardens
Selin's Japanese Garden
Tom's Used Cars Pond
Urbandale Duck Pond
Water Hyacinth
Water Lettuce
Wild Ponds