How Many Eggs Do Fish Lay The Most Is 300 Million Eggs

How many eggs do fish lay is a fascinating question we know fish have some incredible mating rituals. Fish dance and change colors some fish build nests to mate others hide in caves or ornaments. We also have fish called livebearers these fish give birth to live fully formed fry (baby fish) so when fish lay eggs how many do they lay

How Many Eggs Do Fish Lay

90 % of bony fish lay eggs to be fertilized and then wait for the eggs to hatch. The record number of eggs laid is 300 million this was done by the ocean sunfish. The average amount of eggs laid is 1000 eggs.

This is a bit nuanced as there are so many different species of fish with lots of different ways of doing things.

Smaller Fish Lay Less Eggs

Yes on the whole smaller fish have less capacity to make eggs so they produce fewer eggs. Although their eggs are also normally much smaller too.

Also bigger fish tend to spawn less than their smaller mates. Take the betta fish for instance they lay around 100 eggs. This can be as much as 500 eggs but they only lay their eggs twice a year or so.

Whereas the neon tetra will lay 50 eggs as it’s much smaller but the neon tetra will spawn every 2 weeks big difference.

Although there are always exceptions with the zebra danio for instance. These fish can lay 100 eggs at a time and do this almost weekly.

Why Some Fish Lay So Many Eggs

Fish lay eggs in a myriad of ways some fish lay so many eggs because their eggs are likely not to survive. This is because they scatter eggs in the open and the eggs are nonadhesive so get blown around.

Now the male has trouble finding them in order to even fertilize them. Also, open scatterers tend to eat their own eggs so they need more eggs for the species to survive.

Take Mop Egg Laying Fish

These fish may have fewer eggs usually up to 150 eggs maximum but when they lay eggs they do so in a more deliberate way. Eggs all 150 of these are sticky and very adhesive and the fish lays the eggs over plants bushes or other flora. The eggs get diligently stuck in the bushes and flora giving them a better chance of surviving.

Fewer Eggs Better Survival Rate

Is there a better way of laying eggs there maybe as it looks like there are ways to lay fewer eggs and hatch them all. Those fish that hide their eggs seem to do very well they have a higher fertilization rate and hatch more eggs. This may be because the parents not only protect the eggs but they don’t eat them either.

What’s the best way of hatching all your eggs? Mouthbrooding that’s correct laying all your eggs then picking them up in your mouth to be fertilized and keeping them in the mouth until they hatch awesome.

Fish Lay How Many Eggs

So let’s define the parameters a little better to get some definitive answers here. As this seems a loaded question let me explain why.

First, are we talking about how many eggs are laid in one go? Or are we talking about how many eggs are laid per spawning or per spawning season or per year or even per lifetime?

You can see how this gets interesting if not complicated so ill answer all the above here goes.

How Many Eggs Does A Fish Lay In One Go

The amount of eggs laid in one go is between 50 and 150 eggs on average. Although the lowest is around 30 eggs by mouthbrooding betta fish. And the most is about 500 by tiger barbs.

What About Time Spawning

There are fish that take time in spawning and release a few eggs then take a break and then release some more eggs. This can take hours or even a few days.

10 Eggs being the least but still providing 100 eggs over those 2 days.

Frequency Of Spawning

This is also important as some fish only spawn once a year and lay their eggs all in one go. Take salmon some salmon only swan once just once in their lifetime. These fish lay up to 10,000 eggs and then die after spawning.

It’s believed only 10 % of the eggs survive and the cycle continues. Other fish spawn more frequently.

Some fish like barb and carp spawn at certain times of the year between May and august they will spawn multiple times in that time frame but only in those months of the year. Carp lay 300,000 eggs but over the course of the season.

That’s on or just under 100,00 each time as they spawn 3 or 4 times a year.

Let’s not forget those fish that spawn every month like barbs and tetra and hundreds of other fish. These fish may have up to 500 a month and 6000 eggs a year.

Who can forget the zebra danio who can spawn almost weekly? That’s 100 eggs every week. Or up to 5200 eggs a year.

More Helpful Fishkeeping

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The Benefits Of Deeper Substrate Improving The Walstad Method

The Benefits Of Indian Almond Leaves & Leaf Litter For Neon Tetras

Neon Tetra Breeding How Do They Reproduce?

Fun Facts

The fewest eggs in one mini spawn is 10 eggs by the Pugnax betta mouthbrooder although they will lay 100 eggs this can take many hours.

The most eggs laid in one is believed to be the sunfish at a whopping 300 million eggs. Most in the spawning year were done by the giant grey grouper these fish can lay 340 million a year.

How Many Eggs Do Fish Lay Conclusion

In conclusion, Id say fish lay a multitude of different amounts of eggs depending on the species of fish the climate the conditions of the water, and the size of the fish involved. On average fish lay between 500 and 1000 eggs per spawning. Those fish that have no parental responsibility lay the most eggs. Those who look after their eggs and guard them need to lay fewer eggs.

I really hope you enjoyed the read and learned something new please feel free to look around the site for more great information on fish and fish keeping. I’d like to leave a few articles from our do fish series that may help in your fishkeeping journey.