Mixed fry in grow-out?

[Phyrex]

Would you guys/gals put all fry from different fish (e.g. kribs, rams, apistos) in a large grow-out together or would this be a pain later trying to sort them out? I'm definately dealing with lack of space so 3 different 30 gallon tanks are pretty much out of the question.

 

[tjudy]

I mix fry all the time, but only species that I can easily separate and that will not bother each other. For example, one of the 40 breeer gorw out tanks has Steatocranus casuarius, Chromidotilapia guentheri, Hemichromis sp. Guinea 1 and Melanotaenia trifasciata i it.

 

[Bev N]

I too mix fry. I put angels, rams, apistos, ancistrus, tetra, corys in tanks together. Like Ted said. Anything that will get along and we can easily sort later. I do not mix apistos with other apistos. Even with a larger number of tanks if you want to carry a lot of variety you'll eventually have to start mixing it up. I do keep new arrivals in seperate tanks.

 

[Gillie]

Due to space issues I mix Apistos, the only one that gets it's own tank are the Cacatuoides. They seem to grow alot faster than most other Apistos and tend to eat them(then they grow really fast).

 

[Phyrex]

What is more important for a grow-out the surface area or the length? If, for example, the fry consists of apistos, rams, kribs would a (WxLxH) 24x18x18 or 30x12x12 be better suited?

 

[Mike Wise]

Surface area/foot print is more important in my opinion, but volume is very important, too. In this case the 24X18" (432 sq. in.) is better than the 30X12" (360 sq. in.) tank. If the volume of a tank with less area is significantly greater, pollutants will be less. In this case, 'the solution to pollution IS dilution'. In your case, the 24X18X18" (33.6 gal. tank) is a better choice than your 20 gallon long tank in both respects. One more caveat: once the cichlids become adolescent, they will want to take a territory. Usually in a very crowed tank this isn't a real problem since usually no one fish is able to defend a territory against a large number of fish (think Mbuna type stocking). If, however, you do get a very aggressive fish, you might have some losses.

 

[electric eel]

keep an eye on them.i mixed about 60 gold ocellatus with some orange australe kili fry(fairly small ones) i figured the occies might kill the kili's(i was'nt too worried about that) but the kili's killed about half my ocellatus.i watched them and they would pick at the fins on the ocellatus.they were so fast that the ocellatus could'nt catch them.

 

[tjudy]

Mike's point about having a crowded tank with cichlid fry is important, but it creates issues with regard to water quality.

I have converted the filtration in all my growout tanks to a Poret foam wall on on end of the tank (www.swisstropicals.com). Prior to that I was using multiple hydrosponges. The difference is amazing. In a ten gallon tank the 2 inch think Poret foam wall has the same surface area as 10 Hydrosponge 1 filters. I used to do 30-50% water changes on a ten gallon tank with 30-50 small fry every day. Now I can do the changes twice a week and get the same growth rate. Price difference? The Poret foam wall in a ten gallon costs about $10 with the pvc lift tube... that is a lot less than ten Hydrosponge 1 filters.

 

[Bev N]

I keep mine pretty crowded and have really not had an issue with aggression. The cacs will even spawn under those crowded conditions.

We have been doing a ton of water changes and have been looking into the foam as well. We are in the process of working with a company to get the foam made for us. We have some samples that we have been testing and so far it's working great. Our plan is to replace all the hydro sponge filters are they wear out with the 2" foam along the back of the breeder tanks and on the end of the growouts. Not cleaning sponges every month will be wonderful not to mention being able to cut back on the water changes.

 

[tjudy]

If you are looking at having the foam produced here in the USA please keep in mind the stiffness of the foam. Have you seen the Poret? I know that Hans got a lot of it. It is not dense, but it is very stiff. It does not collapse easily, but is still very light. Even when it has been in water for years it does not lose its rigidity (unless you squeeze it to clean it, which is not the way to clean it). I would love to see a domestic producer of a similar product. Poret is produced in Germany, but the process for making it has a chemical byproduct that is illegal in the USA... so the exact same foam cannot be made here.

 

[Bev N]

Yes I have seen the poret. This is stiff like that...not a soft foam like the foam filters. We only have it made up as corner type filters right now and it's doing pretty good. We are going to get more sometime in the near future and set it up in some of our 20 gal grow out tanks.

 

[electric eel]

american foam in(i think providence) rhode island makes a very similar polyurethane foam(i'm pretty sure they make pond filters for tetra) it costs about 10 cents a square foot.a major fishroom supplier(who out of courtesy i decline to name) told me about them.he told me that it was crazy to pay the prices for the poret foam and in good conscious he declined to handle it because he felt guilty charging people that much for it.

 

[Bev N]

I haven't broken it down yet but I'm pretty sure that is less than what we were being quoted. I am still trying to wrap my mind around a bun of foam which is 12" x 48" x 118"!

 

[electric eel]

i googled their website,bev and i think mr.x told me it was the polyethyline foam not the polyurethane(not sure but i'm sure they will tell you if you call and also will send samples).he knows the people personally and from what i gather the process for making it mildew resistant etc involves more manufacturing steps which actually is more expensive then making it for aquarium purposes.i don't know why he isn't selling it.from what i gather he has a pretty full plate as it is but i believe he told me he had them make him some replacement sponges for hydrosponge type holders and that they will cut them into about any shape you want.