Nest-guarder: the female builds a circular floating nest from clipped water plants and releases floating eggs on it; both parents guard the eggs and then the fry for several weeks. Not recorded in home aquaria; bred in large outdoor aquaculture in China.
Needs a large, mature pair; very hard in tanks.
Pond or very large tank (5,000 L+) with shallow plant cover.
Seasonal cooling and warm spring, high-protein feeding.
About 1,300-1,500 floating orange-yellow eggs per spawn, with up to five spawns a year (annual fecundity roughly 22,000-115,000). Eggs hatch in about 28 h at 31 °C, 45 h at 25 °C and 120 h at 18 °C.
Fry feed on live plankton, brine shrimp and small fish; both parents defend them aggressively.
One breeding tank for the northern snakehead, drawn to scale from the breeding guide.
Water: 4–26 °C · pH 6–8
A plan from the breeding guide and an adult size of 100 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 row of tanks on their own stands for breeding the northern snakehead in numbers.
In total: 3 tanks, about 25,000 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.
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.