Making Decisions About Keeping, Raising, And Selling Fry

Successful fish breeding is always exciting for the enthusiastic or serious hobbyist. There is nothing like feeding and maintaining adult fish so well that they mate willingly and produce healthy young. It is then also exciting to rear the fry well so they grow and develop fully.

However, no matter how good the care of the fry, hobbyists are almost certain to encounter some problems.

Making Decisions About Keeping Or Giving Away The Fry

First of all, what do you intend to do with all the fry? Do you have space to rear them all in tanks or ponds that are big enough to accommodate them comfortably even after they reach full adult size? Do you have the time to clean and maintain so many tanks? If you plan to sell or give them away, do you have enough contacts who are willing to take them over or buy them from you? What will you do if you cannot find enough buyers or takers?

It would be well to consider all these matters before you start breeding your fish.

Making Decisions About Separating And Segregating The Fry

If you have just enough room to raise one batch of fry to adulthood, you will have to separate the males from the females before they get old enough to reproduce. Otherwise you could soon find yourself with many, many more fish then you have space for.

Make sure you learn enough about the species of fish you are raising to know what differences there are between males and females, so that you will be able to tell them apart as early as possible.

Also know when individuals of the species usually reach maturity, so that you can separate the sexes before then. Find out as much as you can by talking to more experienced breeders of the species, or by reading fishkeeping books or articles on the Internet posted by reliable sources.

Making Decisions About Selling The Fry

If you are a serious and experienced fish breeder who knows how to consistently produce show quality specimens of the species that interests you, then you surely have contacts who will be all too willing to purchase such valuable fish from you.

If you are a beginner or casual hobbyist, however, think before breeding. The fry that are produced through your novice “fish matchmaking” efforts may not develop into sufficiently promising specimens to attract other fishkeepers who know what they are doing. If you are prepared and able to keep all the fry in good condition, go ahead and breed your fish; if not, reconsider.

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