How do fish mate in one of two ways? They bear live young or by laying eggs? Livebearers give birth to fully formed fish called fry. The eggs are fertilized and hatch within the female.
Most livebearers have fewer young or fry as we call them than egg layers because the fry needs more room to develop and be large enough to fend for themselves after birth.
Lots of predators other fish and even some parents just love to eat the baby fry.
How Do Fish Mate
The majority of fish mate by releasing eggs and sperm directly into the water to achieve fertilization.
Livebearers give birth to fully formed and functional young called fry. The eggs are fertilized and hatch within the female.
Egg layers mate & spawn in several ways these include egg scattering, egg depositing, egg burying, nest building, and mouthbrooding. eggs are laid and then fertilized the egg then matures before hatching.
Nest-builders and mouthbrooders are generally are usually great parents, protecting the eggs and fry from predators Many cichlid such as freshwater angelfish, are nest-builders.
Egg scatterers, egg depositors, and egg buriers normally leave the eggs and fry. Usually, the fry needs to be separated from the adults to prevent the larger fish from eating them.
Egg-scatterer females lay sticky eggs in various places within a certain area (often in areas that provide some sort of cover), while others set nonsticky eggs adrift in open water.
Egg depositors pick one general spot to lay sticky eggs, usually on the bottom substrate and sometimes on the aquarium glass.
How Fish Act When Mating
Again there are a number of ways fish act before and during mating. Most fish seem to have an in-built ritual for mating. Usually, the male will display more colors and start dancing around his preferred female.
Once paired with each other they will chase each other around. This will happen in and around the spawning area. As most fish are egg layers of some description around 90 % of bony fish are in fact egg laying fish.
After chasing and dancing in and around the spawning area. Which will be plants shrubs etc. After the chase, the female will release her eggs. These eggs will get stuck in the shrubbery as they are adhesive and sticky.
Now, these eggs will not hatch on their own they need the male to fertilize them with his milt. So the male keeps going in and out of the shrubs finding eggs in the tank and fertilizing them.
This is the most common way but there are a plethora of ways fish act while mating. Some egg-scattering fish don’t couple up at all and the females release their eggs and the males all go around fertilizing them.
Some couple up but after the female has laid her eggs she’s off looking for other males. Others mate for life it’s a weird world in the fish world.
How To & Helpful Articles
How to Introduce Fish to an Aquarium?
how to cool down your fish tank: Temp control!
Aquarium Cycling How To Cycle A Fish Tank?
Aquarium sponge filters how do they work?
can aquarium heaters be fully submerged?
How Fish Impregnate Each Other
Well to impregnate the fish need to be pregnant so that rules out the egg-laying fish as they are never pregnant.
So livebearers these fish have eggs much in the way a human female does. And they have sexual intercourse in much the same way. The sperm or milt as it’s called needs to fertilize the eggs inside the ovaries.
The fish have a similar ritual as before males have more color when ready to mate. They will dance and chase each other then they will swim side by side. The male will produce a kind of modified fin called a gonopodium.
Then the male can insert his gonopodium inside the female’s vent. They will shudder and he releases his sperm/milt inside the female and fertilizes the eggs. Those eggs now incubate until they hatch inside the female then she gives birth to live-free swimming fry.
I wonder how long are fish pregnant for what’s the gestation period.
Do Male Fish Have Balls
All male fish have testes most do indeed have two of similar size to each other. So yes male fish do have balls they are usually white in color and it’s where they keep their sperm or milt as we call it in the fish-keeping world.
How Fish Reproduce
Fish reproduce by transferring genetic material from both parents. Both the female’s eggs and the male’s milt/sperm need to combine in order to produce new life. A genetic blueprint is created in the nucleus of the fertilized egg that is the “DNA blueprint”
How Fish Mate Conclusion
Fish mate in a number of ways as described in this very article. The most common way is for them the fish to couple up with each other. Have some courting dance and a chase. Followed by the female spawning and releasing eggs. Usually over some flora of some description.
After this has been accomplished the male can then step in and fertilize those eggs. Most fish will see this as the end of their responsibilities and the eggs will hatch and have to fend for themselves.
Although there are plenty of other species that do care for the eggs and look after the eggs and even the fry once the eggs have hatched.
There are also livebearers that give birth to live fish babies called fry. As we’ve mentioned here in this post. All in all, fish need an egg to be fertilized whether that egg is developed inside the fish or the fish lays the egg it still comes down to an egg and some sperm/milt.
I hope you enjoyed the read and feel free to look around the site for more great content I’m going to leave you with some more awesome articles from the do fish series.
Do Fish Series
Do Fish Hibernate What Is Torpor
Do Fish Feel Pain How We Know A Fish Is In Pain
Do Fish Sleep Can We Tell If Fish Are Sleeping
Pingback: Can Female Betta Fish Lay Eggs Without A Male? Yes | Tankofish
Pingback: Ovoviviparous Fish: When the Womb is Also a Nursery | Tankofish
Pingback: How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant (5) Great Ways (33,000) Species Of Fish | Tankofish
Pingback: How Long Do Fish Stay Pregnant 28 Days On Average | Tankofish