How to spawn rice fish

This past summer, I bought 10 orange medaka rice fish and by the fall I had 52!

Now, I’ve spawned rice fish a few different ways but today I want to show you have to spawn them the easy way. But first let’s give some specs’ on rice fish:

• Rice fish are extremely hardy and can withstand intense summer heat and the cold of winter. Where I live the temperature during the summer peaks at about 100-102F and in the winters they can live as long as the water doesn’t completely freeze. Here in NC our winters get as low as the 20’s F and my rice fish are still doing fine!

• Rice fish are egg layers and need “something” to lay their eggs on - it could be a DIY spawning mop, or moss, or the roots of floating plants like dwarf water lettuce, etc

• They come in a variety of colors - from white, to black, to orange, and everything in between.

But how do we spawn them, easily?

First, you’ll need a container or tank that is at least 20 gallons. I used a 110 gallon stock tote for my rice fish. But you can use an actual aquarium, a large plant pot, or even 55 gallon barrels.

Above are my outdoor “mini-ponds”, except for the 55 gallon drum…it’s indoors. But these are all great, low cost options for spawning rice fish!

Then, you’ll place your container outside. Yes, outside the summer heat will make your rice fish spawn like crazy. Plus all of the mosquito larva and other insects that will get into your tub will be great food for your fish.

Next, you’ll want to add the necessities like a filter - although the filter is optional! (notice, I didn’t include a heater - that’s because you don’t need one! Unless of course the climate where you live never gets warm…then use a heater! As they can live in cold temperatures but they wont spawn in cold temperatures!)

Then, you’ll want to make sure you have it “cycled” to ensure your fish survives the acclimation process. I typically use an old filter to jump start the cycle on a new tank.

Next, you’ll add lots of plants, wood, and leaves. I find adding a lot of organics helps make the process easier as all of this will create bio-film and being in the sun all day will create algae which will be a natural food source for your fish. The specific plants that I would add are: hornwort, guppy grass, dwarf water lettuce, and water water hyacinth.

Above is one of my water hyacinth growing out of one of my tubs this past summer!

Then you’ll add your rice fish of choice. I typically like starting out with 10 but you can start with as little as 5 and I personally would feed for the first week of summer but once you start seeing a steady supply of insects and mosquito larva, you can stop. The rice fish will lay eggs all over plant matter and once the eggs hatch all the plants, wood, and debris from outside will help keep the baby fry alive until they reach a size where they won’t be eaten by the adults. And by the end of summer, you’ll have a ton of rice fish!

But once you have a bazillion rice fish, what do you do with them all? Well, you keep a good bit for yourself and the rest you can sell to stores, clubs, or simply give them away. I found it really easy to sell rice fish as they always seem to be in demand around the summer and fall time.

Well, that’s it folks! If you spawned rice fish before, let me know in the comments!

Until next time!