Egg-layer; a single pair spawns on the underside of a broad leaf or overhanging rock, and the male fans and guards the eggs. Remove the female after spawning, and the male once eggs hatch.
Keep a pair in a quiet tank with leaves.
100 L tank with dim light, floating plants, driftwood and a flat leaf or slate.
Warm water, plenty of live food and a water change.
Up to 300 eggs; they hatch in 3-4 days. Fry take brine shrimp nauplii, then fish fry, and are cannibalistic.
Fry feed on live baby brine shrimp, then small live food; they are prone to cannibalism.
One breeding tank for the amazon leaffish, drawn to scale from the breeding guide.
Water: 24–28 °C · pH 5–7
A plan from the breeding guide and an adult size of 10 cm. Tank shape is a standard 2 : 1 : 1.2 box, at least 6 adult lengths long. Check each step in the guide above.
A 120 cm rack for breeding the amazon leaffish in numbers.
In total: 3 tanks, about 500 L of water. A litre of water weighs about 1 kg, so check that the floor and rack can take the weight.
Sizes are worked out from the breeding tank in the guide. Tanks fit a standard 120 cm rack when they can; bigger tanks go on their own stands.
Difficult to sex; the female looks plumper when full of eggs, and during spawning the male darkens and the female shows an ovipositor.
Typical for open substrate spawners
Grow up a group and let a pair choose each other. Give them a flat stone or broad leaf.
The pair cleans the stone and lays rows of eggs. Both guard them.
Wrigglers hatch in 2–4 days and are moved to pits by the parents.
Feed baby brine shrimp several times a day. Parents often herd the fry.
Move fry to a grow-out tank before the parents spawn again.
A general guide for this breeding type. Days change with temperature and species.
Grow up a group and let a pair choose each other. Give them a flat stone or broad leaf.
Set up a virtual breeding tank and see what would likely happen.
An educational estimate from the breeding rules, not a promise.