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Breeding brook sticklebacks


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#1 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 20 May 2007 - 11:23 AM

Does anyone know how to breed sticklebacks? Anything on how to breed or take care of fry would be great.

Steve

#2 Guest_fishes2catch_*

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Posted 20 September 2007 - 06:29 PM

Does anyone know how to breed sticklebacks? Anything on how to breed or take care of fry would be great.

Steve



Check out this website:

http://stickleback.u...leback_Research

#3 Guest_seanmc_*

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Posted 20 September 2007 - 09:21 PM

Hmmm....

I have some Brooke Stickleback also, so was interested in this thread. Had a look at the link which appeared promising, but I was hoping to be able to convince them to breed by themselves rather than having me squeeze the eggs out of the female and then kill a male and dissect him to get the sperm...

Haven't finished following all the links so maybe there is some less drastic methods that I haven't found yet. Sure hope so!

Cheers - Sean

#4 Guest_fishes2catch_*

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Posted 21 September 2007 - 12:32 PM

Hmmm....

I have some Brooke Stickleback also, so was interested in this thread. Had a look at the link which appeared promising, but I was hoping to be able to convince them to breed by themselves rather than having me squeeze the eggs out of the female and then kill a male and dissect him to get the sperm...

Haven't finished following all the links so maybe there is some less drastic methods that I haven't found yet. Sure hope so!

Cheers - Sean



I agree it is a bit drastic and not so good for the health of the male....

I have naturaly breed threespine stickleback but I'm sure that it is not very different for brook stickles. In the past this is what I did:

Alaskan stickleback respond to long days, ~20 hours of light. This varies depending on where the fish are from. House a group of 5-10 fish in a 55g tank with plenty of twigs, sunkin leaves, and etc for nest building. Then put them on a 20 hour light cycle until the males start to color. They will have orange throats and blue backs. This may be different for brook stickles, they might turn black. Leave only 1-2 males in the tank and they will start to build nests. In 3-4 weeks of the lighting regime females will start to become gravid. This will be obvious as they will become very plump. At this point the males will "dance" for the females and try to attract them to his nest to lay the eggs. After the female lays her eggs the male will follow and fertilize.

It takes ~7 days for the embryos to develop and hatch. Care should be taken with the females at this point at as they have been known to eat the young. The male will defend the nest for a few weeks. Fry can be feed bbs and are easily switched to flake or a very fine sinking pellet.

Have fun.... Mark

#5 Guest_NativeLover_*

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Posted 22 September 2007 - 11:58 PM

You can actually keep sticklebacks alive in captivity? I never have any luck. I found some the other day, but didn't keep them knowing they wouldn't last too long.

Adam

#6 Guest_fishes2catch_*

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Posted 24 September 2007 - 11:47 AM

You can actually keep sticklebacks alive in captivity? I never have any luck. I found some the other day, but didn't keep them knowing they wouldn't last too long.

Adam



One thing to keep in mind is that some populations are covered with parasites. There are over 20 described parasites associated with stickles. Try keeping them in slightly salty water, around 5ppt. The stickles that I keep are from Alaska and do well in temps below 20 C but I think that this is population dependent. You may have to start them on live or frozen foods. Frozen adult brine shrimp are good as is any red colored foods. They will easliy convert to dry pellets and flake.

Mark

#7 Guest_sumthinsfishy_*

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Posted 27 September 2007 - 08:15 PM

The sticklebacks I used to keep became annoying because they would become aggressive, and when I was trying to feed some of my other fish, they would come up and steal all the food.

#8 Guest_Aphanius_*

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Posted 29 September 2007 - 07:02 AM

I breed a lot of Pungitius pungitius. One from a danish pond close to the coast and one from a small inland springfeed creek.
They are more peacefull that 3-spines, but what triggers them are a cold winter followed by spring. At 12C they start to colour up in aquarias. Last year I wisited a german lab that used 3-spines for their experiments. They need to breed a lot of animals and they had entire rooms with each a season, summer, winter etc. I think they kept a room at winter temps for about 6 weeks whereafter they made longer days and higher temps resulting in breeding.

Martin

One thing to keep in mind is that some populations are covered with parasites. There are over 20 described parasites associated with stickles. Try keeping them in slightly salty water, around 5ppt. The stickles that I keep are from Alaska and do well in temps below 20 C but I think that this is population dependent. You may have to start them on live or frozen foods. Frozen adult brine shrimp are good as is any red colored foods. They will easliy convert to dry pellets and flake.

Mark



#9 PBK

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Posted 07 January 2020 - 09:13 PM

I was lucky enuf to have a couple of brook sticklebacks breed in a 10 gal tank set up with plants and some woody debris similar to the pond they came from. Prior to breeding the male darkened up quite a bit. Soon I noticed a small tube-like nest in the bottom debris. The male herded the female into it, she wiggled, then went out. The male then went into the nest and did his bit. I managed to raise 2 offspring from that event.
Some observations:
The ponds I caught sticklebacks in were full of debris, leaves, branches, some vegetation and lots of water bugs for them to eat. They live in association with mudminnows in the more isolated ponds. Sticklebacks will suffocate in muddy water. The silt seems to clog their
gills easily so keep their water clear.




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