Three Tanks on a Mission

[Beanie Seagus]

Hey Guys,

I'm really just getting started on my fish room. But very excited about some of the species i'm breeding!

Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

Also, please offer your advice or recommendations, especially for the nursery tank. I've got a lot of spawning going on, but getting the eggs to hatch into healthy fry is another issue altogether. Much obliged for your help, and happy viewing!

~Beanie

 

[CSnyder00]

Couple of things:

1) Good idea to keep video log. Only wish I had done this for the many years I've had fish.
2) The SA cichlid tank with the convicts, jacks, green terrors, and kribs will be a nightmare tank in 6 months. Get ready to buy more tanks or rehome some of them. Too many fish and too many large angry species to be kept together in harmony once breeding commences.
3) You will have some loss of eggs removing them from the parents. The bromethymol blue is good, but temperature, water flow, and water conditions all play a factor. You'll have to play around until you get it right.
4) Don't keep too many Convict fry. They will overrun you VERY quickly. Only keep more once you have cleared out/sold your juveniles. Otherwise you will need 10+ tanks just for the fry. They breed constantly and are excellent parents. They could become food for your SA juvenile tank as a secondary option.
5) Those Jacks look good! (They came from me!)

Keep up the good work. I look forward to more videos!

 

[chriscoli]

Another suggestion.....several of us on here (myself included) don't tend to watch videos. I know it's all the thing right now, but I just don't for various reasons. So you might also want to cross-post your thoughts as text as well to promote discussion.

 

[Beanie Seagus]

The video does a really good job of illustrating just how many tanks i've crammed into my 900 square foot apartment, but i'll try to convey the madness through text and photos!

Heres the tank list:

1x 55 gal planted aquarium Community Tank, about 17 gallons of this are sectioned off for a mated pair of angelfish, the remaining portion of the thank hosts 3 mated pairs of German Blue Rams, 2x clown loaches, a gold ram, 1x pearl gourami, and three harlequin tetras. The idea here is that even though its a community tank, the german blue rams feel comfortable enough to breed. When they do I remove the eggs and put them in a nursery (a partially filled and heated ten gallon) The angelfish spawn about once a week, the GBRs a little less frequent than that. The angels have been spawning for a while now, but i cant get the eggs to hatch, they all die off due to some white fungus or bacteria, even when placed in metheylne blue. Any ideas on what might be going wrong or what i should do?

1x 55 gal with rocks and drift wood Semi Aggressive Cichild Tank, right now its filled with various types of juvenile Cichlids including; 6x Kribensis (2 male and 4 female), 6x Jack Dempseys (sex unknown yet), 1 mated pair Green Terrors, and 6 Convict Cichlids. My plan here is actually fairly similar to the plan for tank 1, in that i'm hoping the fish will spawn in the larger tank, and then i'll move the eggs to another tank when they are ready. No one in here has spawned yet, though the green terrors are starting to do their mating dance. I'm eventually hoping to breed each species in this tank.

Aside from these two large "semi-show" tanks I've then got my work bench of tanks, which consists of a stand designed to hold 2x 60 gallon tanks, which i'm using instead to hold 2x 30 gallons (1 long 1 tall) 2x 20 gal longs, 2x 20 gal talls, and 2x 10 gals, all sideways.

The two 30 gals are still cycling so they aren't holding anything yet.

1x 20 gal long is my holding tank for fish that have passed QT but i don't have plans to breed or display. Right now this consists of 5x juvenile blue gourami, 13+ x Endlers Livebearers, and a pair of Ameca Splendens (Butterfly Goodeid) . These fish are all for sale or for trade so make me an offer if you are interested.

1x 20 gal long is my QT tank for fish that just came in. I take a lot of donations, and trades so this tank is sure to be a fairly happening place. Right now its holding two Glo-fish tetras and a rather large ("6inch) pleco, species unknown. These guys were rescued last night.

1x 20 gal tall is a grow out tank filled with a batch of 3 week old convict cichlid fry, they are growing out nicely and already showing signs of looking like their parents

1x 20 gal tall is another grow out tank filled with a batch of 1 week old convict cichlid fry and their parents. The parents haven't turned hostile yet so i'm letting them hang out.

1x 10 gal is an Endler's Livebearer Colony consisting of about 30 fish. With this colony i'm trying to breed a strain of black bar endlers with black and red top fins, as well as very well pronounced tail fins. I'm calling them black sail/black bar endlers. I'm not seeing too many fry though, not sure if they are getting eaten, or what the deal is. Any Ideas guys? Don't mind the algae bloom!

1x 10 gal is a collection of Platy Fry and Guppy Fry that i am growing out. I would be happy to breed these guys eventually, but they are likely a few months away from reproduction age.

Finally, I have the nursery, which consists of a 10 gallon tank filled about 1/5 of the way, and dosed with methylene blue. I keep this tank heated to about 80 degrees, and have an airstone in there to help with water movement. This is where i move all spawnings from tank 1. Currently it hosts about 10 or so itzy bitzy GBR fry, but i'm hoping this is going to pick up quite a bit now that the nursery is finally established (just set up this weekend)

Other notes: Soon i will merge both batches of chiclid fry to free up tank space. I will soon need the 20 gallon talls to host more batches of eggs/fry from Tank 2 as i'm hoping the green terrors will be spawning some time in the next few days.

I'm just getting started so none of the tanks a really very integrated (they all have separate filtration) though i do try and use the two biggest tanks to culture water that i then transfer to other tanks when cleaning/doing water changes.

Your comments and ideas are most welcome! Thanks for looking!

~Beanie

 

[chriscoli]

Ah, you've gone above and beyond, thank you for making things easy. I don't have many comments but did have a few. Sounds like you're doing an excellent job with everything and finding your way pretty well with the various tanks. It's always a good sign that things are breeding....means you're providing them with what they need.
- you mention white fungused eggs no matter what you do. Sounds to me like they might not be fertilized. This can happen if there's a problem with one of the parents, but can also just be that the female's being aggressive and not letting the male in to do his job.
- I'm a bit concerned about the 55 with the Dempseys and Terrors. Are you planning to leave everything in there, or move it to a bigger tank as they mature? I think things may get too rough in there for all of that.
- cycling your 30's. Dude! With that many tanks, you shouldn't really ever have to cycle a tank. Take a sponge filter out of an established tank and transfer it the 30. Or, if you have a HOB or canister filter, transfer half of an established tank's media to the 30. Presto, instant cycle. Many of us on here do it all the time. When I set up my new tanks, I squeeze a sponge filter from an old tank into the new tank and let the new tank's filter pull out the particulates. The tank looks disgusting for about 12 hrs, but it's ready to go right away. You're sitting on a goldmine of valuable bacteria already. No need to wait. Also, if you have driftwood or rocks in a tank, those are also full of beneficial bacteria too. I've seeded a tank before just by transferring over driftwood (it was a small tank and a lot of wood).

 

[CSnyder00]

I agree. Seeding tanks is so easy. When I moved tanks from PA to MD, I kept about 2 inches of water in the bottom of the gravel and also kept as many pieces of driftwood wet as I could. I also kept the filter media wet as well. When I got to MD and set everything up, I used the old stuff for about a month and never had an ammonia spike. Use what you have. Bacteria colonies grow fast enough and you can go instantly. Only folks with no established tanks have to cycle.