I'm interested to hear from breeders the approx age of their parent fish. Izhak Kroshinsky raising ranchu (in Erik Johnson's book) advocates the use of fish between 2 and 3 years old for breeding purposes..but doesn't state clearly why.

I recently had eggs and fry from a 2 year female and a 6 month old baby male!!! And i am wondering if the quality of the male milt was in some way compromised. (I eventually lost all 8 fry from 8 eggs)

Thanks

My mommy Moor I'd had for about a year and I've no idea how old she was when I got her. No more than 6 months old at best. The dad, I'd only had about 7 months. I feel pretty safe to say that both were between 1 and 2 years old.

I started out with 80-something fry and now, 2 months later, have only 14 left. Would there have been more/healthier survivors if the parents had been older? Perhaps. I don't know enough about it to be sure.

Good question, Imo.

Lisa

My male pom was full grown when I got him so I have no idea. Radish the mommy I had for 2 years so she is at least that. So both are not youngsters! I had over 100 eggs hatch and am down to 4 fry, soon to be 3. I dont think it had anything to do with the eggs, milt ect though. I think I am just inexperienced, this was my first time!

When I bought my first fish they were around a year, they usually are when you buy them. They started to spawn in the autumn that year.

Angus and Mac were about a year too, they started to chase Gullet immediately when they got into the pond!

Interesting. thanks for the imput guys . Anette, here -they sell fish from a few months old. All my fish I have bought as babies of about 2 or 3 cms only in size (exc. tail).

Lisa and Erin it is interesting to hear of the die off ratio you had this time. I read in another article about how prof breeders actually cull down to 1 good fish in 50 to 100. In other words they have 1000 eggs- they aim for 10 to 20 good fish only That really shocked me!

Still, wonder why an older fish is better for breeding?

If they are younger the male may not chase enough and you could possibly end up with an egg impacted female. I also think that the older (bigger) the female is she can produce more eggs each spawning so if you are aiming for those 1000 eggs, older is better.