How to Breed Wild Shiners

Preparation Steps

• 1

  Locate an area where shiners are known to swim in a public lake or waterway. The idea behind raising wild shiners is that the shiners purchased in bait stores are typically shipped in and have already undergone a lot of stress because of the transportation and temperature differences. A shiner caught in the wild, regardless of its species, is going to more readily adapt to captivity.

• 2

  Cast the net into the water when you see a school of shiners passing by. Take one section of the outer net into your mouth and hold it there. Tighten the leash on the net to one wrist and grab the section of net underneath the leash with that hand and another section with the other. Spin the net and cast it as far from you and the shore as you are able to. Pull in the net using the leash and empty the shiners into a carrying tub.

• 3

  Fill the 50-gallon aquarium with clean, cool water, 70 degrees Fahrenheit is recommended by the North American Native Fishes Association. Fill a plastic bag with the recently caught shiners and submerge the bag into the tank for about 20 minutes until the temperature in the bag is roughly the same as the temperature in the tank.

• 4

  Separate the males from the females. Place the males in the smaller tank and the females in the other. This may prove difficult if you caught them when it is not mating season. During mating season, males are typically more colorful and the females are a little larger, as they are carrying eggs. If you are not sure, place the larger shiners into a separate tank as the larger ones are more than likely the females.

Breeding Steps

• 5

  Simulate a winter season in each tank. Once your shiners have adapted to your tank, cool the water to about 65 degrees and keep them on a cycle of eight to 10 hours of light a day for 30 days. Gently add gravel and or pebbles to the bottom of each aquarium. Raise the temperature in the tanks by five degrees and increase the light cycle to a 12- to 16-hour period.

• 6

  Combine the males and females into the same tank and wait five days. When you start to see small gravel pieces clumping together or scattered eggs at the bottom of the tank, remove the adult fish or they will eat their own young. Keep the egg tank aerated and continue the light cycle. Depending on the species of shiner you caught you should start to see the baby shiners, called fry, emerge within five to eight days.

• 7

  Feed the fry a diet of algae and finely crushed dry food. Expect to lose a few fry to predation and illness. Take heart though because the female shiner can lay as many as 40 to 400 eggs in any one sitting. It will take two years of growth until your fry are old enough to begin mating.