Easiest method for breeding egg scattering fish species -
Step 1 -
Once it’s warm enough in your area set up a 30 gallon tub as a temporary pond for the summer. No filter or water changes needed, but if it gets very hot where you live add a pump to keep the water moving for oxygenation. If it doesn’t rain a lot and water evaporates top it off. You’ll want it to be densely planted for a natural filtration and to give the fish plenty of places to lay their eggs and not eat them immediately. Water hyacinths are the best plant for this because they develop massive roots systems. Water lettuce is acceptable but not as good. I also add hornwort, and usually a water lily or two just to have it look nice. Water hyacinths and hornwort just float but the water lily will need to be planted in a baskett at the bottom.
Step 2 -
Add the fish once it’s done cycling. 6-10 is a good number of adults to have in one 30 gallon tub. You will not and should not feed often for the sake of keeping the water clean. They will have plenty of algae, mosquito larvae, random drowned insects, and copepods to eat. The high temperatures and live foods will trigger them to breed. You will see them darting and circling around the plants when they’re laying eggs. Every couple of days take out about half of the water hyacinths and put them in a separate tub or bucket with no fish. Leave them in there for a few days and the eggs will hatch. If you do not take out the plants from the main tub, the adult fish will eat the majority of the eggs and small fry. This system works with all kinds of egg scatterers, but white cloud mountain minnows, danios, and rainbow fish are super easy compared to most tetras and rasborras because they spawn more frequently and lay more eggs. Just to try it for the first time I’d recommend starting with the mountain minnows.
Step 3 -
Once the fry have hatched, just move them to an empty aquarium or tub to grow them out. If you can leave them outside in a separate tub it is ideal because they will grow faster with all the live food and have nice colors.














