Breeding Ranchu Made Easy - Natural Spawning and Hand Spawning Technique

Breeding Ranchu - Natural Breeding


We would like to present an article which I first posted in Yahoo Ranchu Forum a year ago and would like to present this article on breeding ranchu once again, here, for Petsfanatics. There are two types of ranchu breeding techniques, natural spawning and manual or hand spawning. Both have their pros and cons, but at the end of the day, it will be up to you to try it out and see which one suits you the best.

We will first touch on the preliminary preparation, then the natural spawning, then later on we will be covering the techniques on manual (hand) spawning techniques. Breeding is not difficult, particularly in smaller scale. The most difficult, however, is to try to achieve the desired results. Success depends on how hard you work, and how much you are willing to sacrifice your time, resources and efforts. We will present this article in two parts.

Ranchus spawn when there’s a change in temperature (colder) such as the entering of autumn or winter. Ranchu spawn once a year in area with severe cold weather and more in warmer climate. In Thailand, ranchu spawn twice a year on average, during monsoon (July-September) and winter (November-January). However, we do have several breeding pairs that give 4-6 broods per year. At Absolute Ranchu we do not breed fish that is smaller than 13cms, since those fish will not produce good quality eggs. Young ranchus (under 1 year old) are capable of spawning, as well, but the offsprings are usually of inferior qualities with mixed size. Older ranchus will give offspring that grow uniformly in size and qualities.

Natural Spawning: You will need to have one female, two males and a pond of about 1mX1mX40cms with ropes tied up in bunch in the middle of the pond to catch the eggs. The pond should also have an adjustable air pump or valve; this is to control the amount of air in the pond at different stages. The pond should also have an overflow system, thus the cleaning of the top water is possible.

When the female is ready to spawn, their stomach will become noticeably bigger. The stomach will bulge out sideways, and when you lightly touch the bottom of the stomach, the stomach will feel soft and seems to be filled with liquid. Ranchu’ stomach is usually hard. As the female gets closer to spawning the color of the ass will turn from white to pink or red and the ass will stick out noticeably. This is the surest way of checking if the female is ready. (Some fish, the stomach will get soft too, right after they have just eaten.) For the female, we usually do not do anything special, in preparation for breeding. we just stop feeding her any color enhancing food and increase more live feeds.

For the male, which should not usually be kept with the female, we have to be sure that they are also ready for the spawning. You need two males that are ready for this. We usually keep the males rather skinny, since this is the only way to be sure that they will produce enough sperms for breeding. Males usually produce small amount of sperms therefore, two males are needed for the most efficient breeding. When the male is ready, you will clearly see a number of white dots that appear on their swimming fins. If the male do not have these spots, then they are not ready.

When all three fish are ready, then we will put them all together in the prepared pond, usually in the afternoon. The pond must be in a cool place, with no direct sun light. The water quality has to be kept very clean at all times. We usually feed them normally that after noon. Ranchus spawn at dawn, thus I usually get up a bit before that, usually 5.30-6 o’clock. When your fish are ready, you will be able to watch the progress from the very beginning after you release the fish. The male will develop more dots on their fins, and will start to harass the female. The male will start to hit the female on the side as they swim and will continue to do this until spawning. This is the way the male fish gets the female ready. In the morning, the female will start to lay eggs, and then the male will automatically secrete the sperms. We usually have to wait 15-20 minutes before the fish is done, but this time is up to you. Usually we will move the parents when the female start to eat the eggs. We figure if the female starts to eat, then she is done with spawning. You have to remove the parents, or else, they will eat all the eggs.

After spawning is completed, we usually will clean the bowl thoroughly. I clean the top water, religiously, and I keep extra pale of water (with the exact same temperature as the water in the pond, this is crucial!) to change the water. Be very careful, sudden changes in temperature will destroy the eggs. There are usually a lot of protein and sperms and soiled eggs in the water, and it is very important that you have to keep the water very clear, cold and clean. I keep the air on high while the eggs are not hatch yet. As soon as they start to hatch, we will turn the air to very, very low. There should not be any strong movements of the water or in the environment since the fish can get easily damaged at this stage.

After the fish hatch then cleaning will be too difficult, and management will be much harder too. You have to keep the eggs from direct sunlight, for if the water gets too warm, the eggs automatically hatch, no matter how deform the fish may be. You also need to have good air circulation for the pond, and I do not recommend putting any kind of lids on the pond. The following day or night, you will be able to inspect and see how many usable eggs you will get. Use a flashlight, shine on the eggs, if the eggs are clear then it’s a good egg. If the egg is opaque and unclear then the eggs are usually no good. We usually use a small air tube to suck out all the bad eggs, but this is optional. We often find that the bad eggs will get soiled after a day or two and they will get moldy in the water. We take them out in order to prevent any bad things happing to the good eggs. This is, however, very tedious and time consuming, and very eye straining.

The eggs will start to hatch in 2-5 days, depending on your weather at home. The first 3 days of their lives the black babies do not need any of your help. They have enough food to last them the first three days easily. When they are first born, they usually lie motionless at the bottom of the pool. They will become more active when their food reserves are spent, and they will start to swim around. When they are all swimming around then they are ready to be fed for the first time. We usually prepare the artemia a day before it is needed. The first meal is very important and you have to feed them constantly and all the time, while keeping the water clear, clean and cold. This takes around the clock tending, and you can’t let up. The first week is very important for the overall development of the fish. If you do not feed them enough at this time, they will never grow into their potentials. At the beginning (at least the first month), use only live feed. There is no substitute. We usually give them so much food at each feeding that they will not be able to move afterwards. You have to also use your experience in observing and noticing the little changes in the fish condition and developments. Little changes can be devastating to the quality of the fish at the end. One must learn to know when the fish has eaten enough, about to get sick, or still hungry. This can be done by just watching the fish eats everyday. Watch how they swim regularly, before feeding, and after feeding. Watch the size of their stomach. The stomach must not get bigger than the head, ever. Learn to use the oxygen tube to suck out the wastes and leftover feeds, and use them religiously and carefully. How successful you are is often directly correlated to how crazy you can get at this time? Try it out and tell us how it went.

This concludes the first part of my article. Hope that you are able to follow my writing. Please kindly give me a feedback of what you think. Your input is most welcome. The next part, we will be talking about manual or hand spawning methods.

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