I would like to propose that we document a list of species that have been bred in captivity. Other organizations do this, for example here is a list of captive bred marine species by CORAL Magazine as of 2013:
http://www.reef2rain...-list-for-2013/

Since this is a first draft of the list, we could post personal experiences and links to documented spawnings. In order for a species to qualify it needs to have fry survive to adulthood and be able to themselves breed.

The species that I have bred in captivity are:

• Elassoma gilberti (gulf coast pygmy sunfish). pH 7.5 DH 17 and pH 6.5 DH 2. Room temperature. Fed a diet of live blackworms, live grindal worms, thawed frozen bloodworms, live microworms. Did not eat thawed frozen tubifex worms or flake food. In-tank breeding more difficult than removing the adults from the spawn tank and letting the fry grow up in their own tank.
• Heterandria formosa (least livebearer, least killifish). Fed flake food. They're fairly easy to breed. Just add water! The fry like dense plant cover, especially floating.

Please post on this topic with the species you have bred, if some of those eggs survived to adulthood. You can also post a hyperlink to a breeding account.

http://www.nanfa.org/bap.shtml

We have this Erica. But the thread is worthwhile. Many may not realize it is there, as far too many visit the forum without actually visiting the website.

http://www.nanfa.org/bap.shtml

We have this Erica.

Is there a list of the species that have been successfully bred? I'm a bit lost.

Me too. I read into this differently. Guess that is what I get for scanning.

Back when I had them I bred banded killifish, well... they bred themselves really, I just gave away the young.

Back when I had them I bred banded killifish, well... they bred themselves really, I just gave away the young.

Thank you for sharing What where the pH, hardness if you knew it, and what did you feed the adults and fry?

Thank you for sharing What where the pH, hardness if you knew it, and what did you feed the adults and fry?

I didn't pay attention to the PH or hardness. I didn't feed the fry but they ate something. I mainly fed the adults frozen foods of various kids with the occasional dry or flake. the adults eat anything organic I put in their from garlic scented dried algea sheets for feeding marine tropicals to otocinclus cats i added to control algea, literally, they eat almost anything. (I am lucky 2 or 4 young survived each hatching to grow big enough to see hanging under the surfacer).

One thing I did observe though is that mating usually happened when i was in view of the tank but not close enough to be feeding them (just outside the open door to my room, the tank was near the door). Like the excitement of "owner, maybe we get food" without the closeness of "he's going to feed me" lead to it.

<sup>Here is a list of what I have bred so far.
These were done in hard alkaline water with the temperatures in the low to mid 70's. Food was mostly pelleted food or frozen food.
Cyprinella spiloptera Spotfin Shiner
Cyprinella pyrrhomelas Fieryblack Shiner
Cyprinella galactura Whitetail Shiner
Lepomis marginatus Dollar Sunfish
Heterandria formosa Least Killifish
Pteronotropis welaka Bluenose shiner

Presently doing now in pure rainwater
PH of 6.6 and soft. Temperatures of 74 - 78 degrees
Elassoma gilberti Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish

Bill Flowers</sup>

I've bred eastern black nosed dace, Rhinichthys atratulus.

I've bred eastern black nosed dace, Rhinichthys atratulus.

How? Can you give details about the temperature, food for adults and fry, pH and DH, light cycle, tank size, etc?

I'm accumulating hyperlinks in one place. Maybe one day someone can "Control F" search this topic and find a useful link.

Pygmy Sunfish: http://www.nanfa.org.../elassoma.shtml
Minnows: http://www.fishchann...ng/minnows.aspx
Darter Etheostoma nianguaea: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3566773
Darter Etheostoma caeruleum: http://www.biolbull....4/1/35.full.pdf
Killifish leptolucania ommata: http://forum.nanfa.o...lucania-ommata/
American flag fish Jordanella floridae: http://www.basny.org...a-floridae.html

That american flag fish one is worth reposting, in case the blog goes down. Here it is from the Brooklyn Aquarium Society's webpage, http://www.basny.org...a-floridae.html
"Jordanella Floridae
“Breeding American Flag Fish” by Joe Graffagnino
The Flag fish is a unique specimen for several reasons. First, it is a North American killifish from the state of Florida. Second, the male of the species looks like an American flag. The body has black and blue lines alternating with red lines. When looking at the fish on its side, it appears to have black, blue, red and white dots on its body. Last, there are two types of Flag fish that are identical to each other. The difference is that one type prefers an almost marine environment, with a pH of 8.0, hard water with salt in it. The other type is just the opposite and requires soft water, no salt and acidic pH.
.
I managed to obtain two pairs of these beautiful fish from a pet shop hop that members of Brooklyn Aquarium Society took in the summer of 2010 to visit our sponsor retail establishments. I brought them home and placed them in quarantine consisting of a bare 10 gallon tank with a corner filter containing charcoal and ammonia chips. I also placed a few artificial hanging mops in the tank. The pH was 7.6 and the temperature was 80 degrees Fahrenheit. One male chased his tank mates around for a month. They ate sporadically and showed no signs of breeding. When the quarantine time was up, I moved a pair each into 5 gallon tanks, side by side. To prevent aggression between the males, I placed newspaper between the tanks so they couldn’t see each other. A few months went by with no spawning hints, so I decide it’s time to change the environment.

One tank I set up with hard water, alkaline pH and dropped the temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit and I left 1 floating mop and 1 mop container filled with gravel so it would remain on the bottom. I softened the water gradually over several weeks and lowered the pH in the other tank, while maintaining the temperature at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I also added Amazon Black water extract and almond leaves. This time both mops were weighted and remained on the bottom. Both pairs of fish were goven the exact diet of flakes and frozen food (blood worms and daphnia) with feedings every third day of live black worms cut into small pieces.

After several weeks, both pairs started laying eggs. The pair in the hard water had laid approximately a dozen eggs on the mop that stayed on the bottom. All were soft and fungused even with acriflavin added to the tank. A few days later, the pair in the acidic water laid approximately 20 eggs. I removed the eggs into a plastic container and added acriflavin again, but after a couple of days all the eggs fungused. Six days later, the pair in a water environment of 6.0 – 6.2 pH, temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit and a GH of 3, laid 13 eggs on a black mop and 132 eggs on a green mop. Out of the 145 eggs that were laid, 115 eggs hatched. These fry were moved to a 5 gallon tank and fed live vinegar eels and frozen rotifers. After a week, they were fed frozen baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes. The pair in the hard water environment stopped laying eggs.
.
The American Flag fish is a great killifish that will intrigue you. They are great alone in a tank or with other fish in a well planted, dark gravel aquarium. Whether you want to breed them or not, it is the patriotic fish to keep in every American home. Enjoy them!"

In an email from Brian zimmerman that I recieved as response for asking about Leptolucania ommata, he told he that he successfully bred the killifish in his pond at a PH of 8. Here is what he said, on quote:

"I collected some [L. ommata] from Florida last winter in Late Dec/early Jan. I did breed them in an outdoor pond this summer and just made up the listing to go on the website probably sometime this week. I did not do anything too special for them I bred them in two different rubber lined ponds this year. Both had quite a bit of vegetation and PH of about 8 in very warm conditions. They were in with Bantam sunfish in one pond and Blackbanded and Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish in the other. Both cases all other species in the pond also bred successfully. In an aquarium they do eat small frozen foods and flake food and even pick at shrimp pellets as they dissolve. This is how I cared for the adults from Jan to May while they were in a tank." (Brian Zimmerman in an email to me, 8/9/2013)

It leads me to wonder...might there be more than one population of pygmy killifish with different breeding conditions? Or is there some other breeding trigger independent of low PH which is required to get the micro fish to spawn?

How? Can you give details about the temperature, food for adults and fry, pH and DH, light cycle, tank size, etc?

I have a 55 gallon stream tank filtered by a marineland magnum 350 canister filter and an aquaclear 70 hob filter. I also put in a small UG filter (meant for a 5 gallon tank) with a powerhead for current. My Cryptocoryne's really like the benefits of the ug filter. I feed frozen bloodworms and flake food. My dace didnt start to come into condition to breed until I had a 5 day power outtage starting oct. 29th and the tank dropped to 55 *F. My ph is 7.6. and the tank receives alot of natural sun light. Its in a room with both a south &amp; eastern window by it. Once the tank warmed back up within a few weeks I had 4 spawns. I tried keeping the babies in a net breeder in the main tank feeding them powdered fry food once I bought some. I discovered them by accident when I was about to do a water change. They stayed at the surface of the tank and with the black background I have, I didnt notice them. In the pic you'll see some crumbled up regular flake. My small school is male heavy. I kept finding a male had jumped into the netbasket and I eventually went from 17 babies to none. The largest was 1/2" before it was coughed up while removing an adult from the fry basket. Every fry raid was committed by a male, as they all had faint orange splashes on the pectoral fins. They all, female included, are egg eaters. I witnessed one spawn while eating dinner. I wasnt sure what was going on as they were harrassing the female alot over the large gravel section. When they were done, they all turned around and hunted down the eggs. Which is when it clicked that they just had spawned.

Considering that I had fry in December &amp; January, IMO, breeding is temperature dependant, rather than photo period.

young fry in basket

http://www.flickr.co...N06/9504223377/

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

slightly older fry in mason jar

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

adults-

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Edited by exasperatus2002, 13 August 2013 - 10:44 PM.

As described above I breed a lot of fish for my business in rubber lined ponds outside. These are either 15x15 or 20x20 ft the larger ones hold around 3500-4000 gallons. I just use my well water to fill them which has a pH of around 8 and put in plants in pots and just on shelves around the edges. Unless noted otherwise this is the setting for all of the fish listed below that I have successfully bred. These get very warm in the summer in the upper 80's or low 90's even at times. The couple of ones that say only in swamp were in a man made wetland that I built in high school in my parents back yard. So here is the list...

Amia calva Bowfin (only in swamp)
Chrosomus erythrogaster (in aquarium)
Cyprinella spiloptera Spotfin Shiner
Cyprinella trichroistia Tricolor Shiner (in aquarium)
Lythrurus fasciolaris Scarlet Shiner
Lythrurus umbratilis Redfin Shiner
Notemigonus crysoleucas Golden Shiner
Notropis heterodon Blackchin Shiner
Notropis heterolepis Blacknose Shiner
Notropis buchanani Ghost Shiner
Pteronotropis welaka Bluenose Shiner
Erimyzon sucetta kennerlii Western Lake Chubsucker
Noturus gyrinus Tadpole Madtom
Ameiurus nebulosus Brown Bullhead
Esox americanus vermiculatus Grass Pickerel (only in swamp)
Umbra limi Central Mudminnow
Fundulus lineolatus Lined Topminnow
Fundulus escambiae Russetfin Topminnow
Fundulus dispar Starhead Topminnow
Fundulus notatus Blackstripe Topminnow
Fundulus chrysotus Golden Topminnow
Lucania goodei Bluefin Killifish
Leptalucania ommata Pygmy Killifish
Gambusia affinis Western Mosquitofish
Heterandria formosa Least Killifish
Poecilia latipinna Sailfin Molly
Jordanella floridae Flagfish
Culaea inconstans Brook Stickleback
Enneacanthus chaetodon Blackbanded Sunfish
Enneacanthus gloriosus Bluespotted Sunfish
Enneacanthus obesus Banded Sunfish
Lepomis auritus Redbreast Sunfish
Lepomis cyanellus Green Sunfish
Lepomis gibbosus Pumpkinseed
Lepomis gulosus Warmouth
Lepomis humilis Orangespotted Sunfish
Lepomis marginatus Western Dollar Sunfish (MO stock)
Lepomis marginatus Eastern Dollar Sunfish (SC stock)
Lepomis megalotis megalotis Central Longear Sunfish
Lepomis megalotis Missouri River Longear Sunfish
Lepomis megalotis Mississippi Flood Plain Longear Sunfish (LA stock)
Lepomis miniatus Redspotted Sunfish
Lepomis peltastes Northern Longear Sunfish
Lepomis punctatus Black Spotted Sunfish
Lepomis symmetricus Bantam Sunfish
Etheostoma caeruleum Rainbow Darter (Eggs Stripped and hatched in aerated jar before release into a pond)
Etheostoma edwini Brown Darter
Etheostoma exile Iowa Darter
Etheostoma microperca Least Darter
Etheostoma nigrum Johnny Darter
Elassoma gilberti Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish

That's an impressive list...good work!