Conditioning for Breeding Ok, so now you have chosen what type of fish you want to breed from, and housed them according to their Species requirments. Now what? Time to get them in top condition of course ;o) I always find it best to add a propietary general treatment when taking new fish on board, such as Methylene blue, it was traditionally used to treat slime disease, flukes, white spot and velvet. It is also used to prevent fungus on fish eggs. It can also be used as an antiseptic directly on the fish if it is damaged in any way (not a bad product to have in your cupboard). Before adding any new treatments to your fish, try and find out if they have been treated for anything immediatley prior to you purchasing them. and remember to read the instructions, most treatments require the removal of any activated carbon material in your filter (otherwise it absorbs the treatment), and several treatments can be quite hard on delicate plants, if you have another tank, I would suggest that you move any plants you are worried about into it (plants can also absorb treatments btw). Food is an important factor in the conditioning of prospective parents, check the species pages to find out which food is your paticular type of fishes favorite. However it isn't always possible to obtain 'specialist food', nowadays a well balanced diet can be provided easily in the form of high quality flaked or similar prepared food. Bloodworms, frozen or live are excellent for conditioning most fish. All my fish, even the algae eaters love bloodworms, the general rules are, feed just bloodworms every other day or so, no more than 3 times a week, if you are in any doubt ask your local aquatic dealer for advice. Also check Live Food Cultures for possible conditioning foods. |
