FISHES BASED ON EGG LAYING

Egg scatterers:
Egg scatterers swim into clumps of plants or along the sides of objects or even just in the gravel and spray eggs on them. The male and female will push against each other and wiggle as they release sperm and eggs. A good spawning medium for egg scatterers is java moss or artificial spawning mops. Some species of egg scatterers include most barbs, tetras, and danios.

Egg depositors:
Egg depositors lay eggs on a surface or in a nest. Some lay eggs under a rock or plant leaf like the fathead minnow, who will also use a broken flower pot. Others lay on the top surfaces of rocks or plants like angelfish. Some fish lay in gravel pits in a sort of nest like some species of cichlids. Some fish, like otocinclus, lay all around the surfaces of small plants. Cories and other fish may stick eggs to vertical glass as well as on plants and ornaments.


Live bearers:
Live bearers are a special case. Species include guppies, mollies, swordtails, platies, halfbeaks, mosquito fish, and more. The males use a gonopodium which is a modified anal fin to inject their sperm directly into the females. She carries her eggs inside her body where they develop. She can raise several batches from one mating several weeks earlier. The fry are born live. These fry have the ultimate pre-natal care but once born are on their own.

Labyrinth fish:
Most labyrinth fish, or anabantoids, make bubble nests. Males make the foamy nests by blowing bubbles of saliva and air onto the surface of still water with floating plants to hold the nest together. He defends the nest until the fry are born from other males and females that are not ready to spawn. Species include the Siamese fighting fish or betta and many species of gourami. A few labyrinth fish, such as the kissing gourami, are egg scatterers. A few others are mouthbrooders.

Mouthbrooders:
Some species of cichlids and arrowana protect their fertilized eggs by carrying them in their mouths until they hatch. The parent does not eat much during this time.