Fish reproduce in a variety of ways. Most are broadcast spawners, meaning that when the time is right, the females release their eggs, the males release their sperm. The gamestes meet and mix producing fertilized eggs that develop into meroplankton fish fry and eventually into adult fish. These snapper are spawning and you can tell by the large cloud of gametes in the water.

By producing a lot of eggs, the snapper hope to overwhelm any predators trying to make a meal so that there is no way all the fry are eaten and some will have a chance of surviving.

Some fish do pair bond. In these instances one or both fish will guard the eggs until they hatch into baby mero-plankton, and then once again, the fish fry on their own. There are very very few fish that provide juvenile care. 

In seahorses and their relatives, the female transfers the eggs to the male to care for until they hatch. He attaches them to his belly (or into his pouch) and once that set hatches, she gives him another to raise. This allows the seahorses and their relatives to constantly produce offspring. This photo is of a male leafy sea dragon carrying an egg mass (pink).