# What Fish species don't eat eggs or fry?



## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

I dont think there is a good answer to this question. Fish need food to live. Eggs and fry are a potential food source. so pretty much any species could and would eat the eggs and/or fry. You'll always hear the story from so and so who kept X species of fish and never saw any eggs or fry get eaten, but thats probably not the norm. Some have success "over feeding" their fish so that they aren't looking to eat eggs and fry. But this is is no sure fire way to prevent it. Maybe live bearers would be a good choice since at least the egg part is taken out of the equation.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

In a community tank, that's not possible but if you were to keep a species tank, I can only think of the algae eater catfish not eating eggs & fry.

Cichlids are good parents. They'd protect eggs and fry.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Dwarf corydoras don't eat their own or other fish's eggs or fry.
I have heard of many cichlid species not eating their own eggs/fry (except the inexperienced fish parents), but not certain on exact species.
Plecos could work, even the more carnivorous ones.
I've had algae eaters multiply successfully in community tanks, I will take them into consideration again.

Since I am downsizing a whole lot on this hobby (sticking with only one or two large tanks), I was planning on doing a high tech heavily planted 125 or 180 gallon tank, mainly focused on growing plants, but thought why not breed some livestock in there as well.

My original plan was to breed dwarf shrimp Neocaridinas, and possibly Caridina tiger shrimp, along with dwarf Corydoras hastatus (maybe pygmaeus and habrosus if I get confirmation they won't hybridize), and maybe some species of snails like pink ramshorn, blue mystery snails, and MTS. Not 100% on snails as I know some people don't like having to worry about "pest" snails on their bought plants. Thinking of a compatible upper water column fish as well, but not sure which. Not looking to really profit, just wanting to make a bit of money back from all I spent on this hobby.

The plan I have above seems like the best combination for the most amount of breeding, but still open to hear other options out as well.
Can be a compatible community tank like above, or a species only tank.

I know that since it's a decent sized tank and has lots of plant cover that many fish species' eggs/fry have a higher potential to survive, but I prefer to just get species that have a guaranteed survival from predation.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

Some goodieds, like trout goodieds, have big enough fry that not much will eat them. I don't think any guarantees can be made for any species though.


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

WaterLife said:


> Just looking to breed some fish that would multiply in numbers without needing me to collect/separate the eggs/fry from the parents to keep them alive (from predation).



Depends on what is your purpose ? Commercial or for fun ?

I agree with mistergreen, some cichlids are the best fish parents.

In my experience, livebearers' fry can survive in some numbers if plant cover is provided. The same can be true for egg scatterers if enough moss is given. In this case you would lose some fry, but some would live their lives in the moss until they are big enough.

It is also a question of fish / volume. Put 5 Danio rerio in a pond (~250G), you get 200 out. Put the same 5 Danio rerio in 12G, you still have 5 .

You also need to think about food for the fry, as in most cases they will starve. You will not feed with the required food, at required levels, do the massive wc in a display tank as in a fry tank.


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

During the last 40yrs I've bred >20 Labyrinth fish species. They don't eat their own eggs or fry, contrary to popular misconception that females will do so. Yes pairs will eat rival conspecifics eggs/fry. Eggs especially have been the preferred food source in my tanks, even more so than mosquito larvae or black worms. I've often provided alpha pairs with the eggs of beta pairs.

If you're looking to breed some fish that would multiply in numbers without needing to collect/separate the eggs/fry from the parents to keep them alive (from predation) then any of the Labyrinths should do.

1/2" Labyrinths are not yet sexually mature. But I've bred 1" wild Betta up to 6" _Trichopodus pectoralis_. Whole colonies or small groups might not work, I've never tried it. I know they'll consume conspecifics, so it'd be a matter of which fry could hide until large enough not to be eaten. A pair of fish can become a small group after only a few months, so eventually we'd need to collect/separate the eggs/fry of siblings to keep them (all) alive. Also, large tanks and frequent water changes are required to handle the increased bioload.

Typical amount of eggs/fry per spawn generally correlates with the size of the fish. 1" _Betta burdigala_ for example gave me ~20. _Trichopodus pectoralis_ too many to count. I had a pair in a kiddie swimming pool which turned out to be too small - I suspect >1000. How often you could except a spawn correlates highly with type/quantity of food, especially in regards to the female, as becoming gravid is biologically expensive. With unlimited live black worm I kept a _Macropodus opercularis_ pair producing every 5-6 days for many months until they burned out. I was feeding their eggs to _burdigala_ fry. That's when I first learned that eggs are preferred more than mosquito larvae or black worm. That pattern has repeated itself over and over again with other species. There's a member here, RainbowGirl I think is her profile name, who has _Trichopsis pumila_ breeding weekly and that's without live food.


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## frog111 (Feb 13, 2006)

Live bearers create colonies quickly in a heavily planted tank. Fry take cover and feed in the plants . There is likely some parental predation, but not so much so that you don't see subadults in short order. In one of my tanks I actually introduced a Ctenopoma species to eat fry. He's doing a great job. 

I'd love to get some Montezuma swordtails. Big flashy swords. That would be a nice display in a planted tank.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Oh, I'd like to add cichlids are good parents until the fry grow up to become competition.


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

@frog111 which _Ctenopoma_? I had _Ctenopoma ansorgii_ (now called _Microctenopoma ansorgii_) years ago. Never could get them to breed. I recently had a large _Ctenopoma acuistre_ which has become common during the last few years. It had an insatiable appetite for fry, I couldn't produce enough for it. I suspect African Labyrinths are more piscivorous vs Asian Labyrinths. They're more likely to patiently lie in ambush vs Asian which blatantly give chase. I'm seeing _weeksi_ and _fasciolatum_ more often now too, whereas years ago none of them were common.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Mossambican tilapia are really good parents., just need a bit of sand or fine gravel to dig a hole in.
They are generally not too aggressive, used to keep them with red fins, which are a small torpedo shaped fish like cardinals, but they are mid and bottom feeders. Really pretty and highly endangered. The population in the stream across the road seems to have completely vanished, I know of one more high up in the mountain.


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## AdamTill (Jan 22, 2015)

Neolamprologus multifasciatus shell dwellers form huge colonies that coexist well with each other, though not sure how they'd do with OTHER species. Hard water requirement would be an issue if you want lots of plants.

I keep pygmy corys and otos together because both are known to be easy on fry. Same with farlowellas.


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## jrh (Sep 9, 2007)

Also Neolamprologus similis (another shellie) and Neolamprologus brichardi will form colonies.


AdamTill said:


> Neolamprologus multifasciatus shell dwellers form huge colonies that coexist well with each other


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

WaterLife said:


> Dwarf corydoras don't eat their own or other fish's eggs or fry.
> I have heard of many cichlid species not eating their own eggs/fry (except the inexperienced fish parents), but not certain on exact species.
> Plecos could work, even the more carnivorous ones.
> I've had algae eaters multiply successfully in community tanks, I will take them into consideration again.
> ...


Pygmies and habrosus wont hybridyze according to planetcatfish. Also pygmy sunfish would be a good option too.


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## Mr. Limpet (Dec 26, 2010)

I've bred Microctenopoma ansorgii, Pseudosphromenus dayi & Betta smaragdina in tanks filled with Java moss & floating water sprite. The parents ignored their young, but older fry would eat their younger siblings. You won't get large numbers of fry with this method, but the one you end up with are the healthiest (or luckiest) of the brood.


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## pony-tail (Feb 17, 2016)

I have Rhadinocentrus Ornatus Rainbows with multiple generations in a tank - Would not say they don't eat eggs or fry but they eat less than they produce .
I am unsure as to whether they are available in the US though - very good in shrimp tanks too ( I only have cherries not the posh ones ) . Not the easiest fish to keep though .
They are ridiculously sensitive to ammonia , and do not travel as well as other rainbows .


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## frog111 (Feb 13, 2006)

@jaliberti

I believe it is ctenopoma acutirostre, African spotted leaf fish. I now have zero baby fish sighted. Effective ambush predator. He also takes pellets.


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## thegirlundertherainbow (Aug 12, 2004)

Sparkling gourami or trichopsis pumila don't seem to eat their own fry, but i don't know that you could keep much else with them when they spawn. Mine went after stationary otos when i had them in a heavily planted 20g long. 
Now i have breeding pygmy cory (LOTS) in a 20g long.. They don't eat their fry nor do the otos or cherry shrimp in with them. Imho this is a cool group since no one bothers fry or potential young of the others.


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