breeding captive crappie

Has anyone had crappie breed in their aquarium? What would you say is the smallest aquarium they can be in to spawn? What triggers them to spawn?

I'm not going to attempt this anytime soon nor do I think it would be easy, but I just thought I would ask.

I think, if I remember correctly that they are nearly impossible to spawn in an aquarium. The larval fish go through a pelagic phase where they feed on "plankton". It is very difficult to replicate indoors, and without a large body of water.

They can be spawned in aquarium but must be primed by good nutrition in fall followed by winter conditions with respect to temperature and photoperiod. Winter conditions can be simulated and compressed. Breeding behavior similar to bluegill except less violent and easier to do pairwise. A 40-galllon breeder tank is big enough if female can hide behind something. This works with 10" adults. Larvae are the problem as Skipjack noted. They are very small and require very small eats like rotifers during the first week. Quality rofifers will be your biggest challenge. The crappie fry feed train easily after on brine shrimp for a couple of weeks. Tank reared fry generally tougher than wild caught.

I knew I had read that somewhere, after looking around I see that larval crappie are roughly 2 MM when hatched. That is pretty darn small.

At hatch they are 2 mm. By exodus / leaving nest / first feeding they are pushing 5 mm. They are still a shorter and a lot lighter in weight than bluegill of the same developmental stage.

The hatched part does not mean as much when hatching as prolarvae / sac-fry.