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Breeding house suggestions

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
Hi everybody,

in the act of getting the tanks\stand built for my softwater dwarf breeding
project and wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions on tank size; Ive previously spawned A. Thomasi; P. Pulcher; L. Curviveps in 18*15*12 set ups;
would these size tanks be ok for Nannochromis; Other Pelviachromis species??

essentially I've got 2 x 4foot banks of tanks to be built so was gonna use 18" tanks end on to maximise species..

any ideas??

thanks
Craig
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Hi, i use 18x12x12 tanks holding 35 litres, in these i keep breeding pairs of Apistogramma, Microgeophagus Ramirez, Pelvicachromis pulcher and taeniatus. I do not have any problems with this size tank as long as they are only holding pairs, for harems with more than one female i use larger tanks.
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Yes i use dithers, i also breed a lot of tetras, barbs and danios species and i usually seperate the sexes before putting them in spawning tanks, i use the apisto tanks to hold seperated tetras, more for a practical point rather than providing specific dithers. Not many to a tank, maybe two to three tetras to each tank. It works fine for me. Although when i notice females blocking up caves i get all other fish out of the tank as tetras and even males can predate on small fry.
 

Randall

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,164
Location
New Jersey, USA
Housing Nanochromis spp.

Hello Craig,

Although breeding most Nanochromis spp. is not especially difficult, males can be very rough on females. Unless you know that you have a highly compatable pair, housing Nanochromis spp. in 18" tanks may not work out. Even after bonding, it is not uncommon for males to kill their mates in smaller aquaria.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn
 

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
thanks for the replys..

Ive got the tanks in now 10 18"x12" as previously stated, I've got room however on the racking to get 2 x 24"x18" so i'm thinking these would give me the extra floor space to keep the females safe if the aggression peaked??

I'm dying to get my hands on N. Transvestitus, and I would like another crack at N(C???). Dimidiatus, had them a few years back and it didn't work out.

I was thinking black neons\ beckfords pencils or a rasbora variant as dithers??
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
firetank, where are you?? if you are in the Uk i can maybe help you source the fish you require?? Let me know.
 

Richgrenfell

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
327
Location
North Haven, CT
I've used breeder nets for aggressive males. It keeps them in sight of one another, but the female is free to roam the tank and become comfortable. Usually after a week or so, the males clams down. I have found it best to wait till the female is ripe to release the male. This method does have some drawbacks however. I have had males that don't calm down, and are pretty unruly when released. This method worked very well when I was breeding. A. Maulbruter, and a few other species.

Rich
 

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
breeding nets an idea I hadn't considered, may take it a step further and divide the tank??

Ste, I'm in Lancaster UK; Ive updated my profile to show!! Would definitely be interested if you got any decent suppliers lined up!
 

Richgrenfell

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
327
Location
North Haven, CT
Yeah dividing may work as well. Though I think that the reason for the males calming down was likely the confinement of the net.
The thing I've found with breeding fish over the years is that anything may work. You never really know till you try. I remember reading an article online years ago about a guy tryng to breed wild discus. He used cool RO water to simulate new rain, a camera flash for lightning, and banged pie plates together to simulate thunder!

Rich
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Im glad your from the UK, im currently on the lookout for the exact same fish..My local Maidenhead aquatics can order some for me but going on their prices they will cost a fortune, i think my best bet is to join the British cichlid association and get in contact with their members and go to the auctions for the more unusual stuff.. If your interested i currently have some juvinile Pelvicachromis Taeniatus and a few different apistos for sale..
 

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
Id wondered the same whether its best joining BCA and seeing if its possible to get any less common species off them..

Trimar has a few Nannochromis but he told me they are all tank bred from europe - probably Czech I would imagine.

I cant drive so it pretty much excludes me from travelling to see what other shops have, and theres very little in or near Lancaster.

What Apistos you got, I'm adding a few pairs to my display tanks let me know..
 

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
heres a pic of the racking and tanks, still need to tidy the celler and lose a lot of rubbish out of there that was stored while we worked on the house but thats the initial setup, im gonna build another rack to the tight to take 2x layers of 4ft tanks, maybe go for 4 * 24"......

image deleted will resize and re add it....

fishroom.jpg


craig
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Looks good, just a couple of concerns/questions. Are you heating each tank individually? if so it might cost a small fortune to run all winter, have you considered insulating the full celler which i assume gets fairly cool? Also are the racks built with treated timber?it looks like 2x2 timber and the blue looks like a fence stain to me, if so watch out for any contamination of the tank water from the wood. Also are you spraying the backs of the tanks or leaving the white wall showing? i have found from experience that my fish prefere a non-seethru back and blacked out sides!!!
Sorry for the negativity but these thing are best addressed before the tanks are up and running and none of us get things right first time..
Keep us updated and keep posting some pics, im sure it will be great when up and running..

Ed how many do you have???
"If you fancy some Pelvicachromis suboccelatus Matadi I have a load in Nottingham...."

Can you post and if so how much..If you would rather, i can send the box, heatpacks ect and you send them in them, are they sexable? let me know as i am certaily interested. One of my goals is to spawn the entire Pelvicachromis group, but down in the north west the hardest part is actually finding them..

Firetank i currently have a sexed pair of Apisto Hoignei for sale that are surplus to requirements, i also have about six male Baenschi for sale cheap with the promise of females when my trio breed.I am trying to breed Apisto Iniridae, Pertensis, Hoignei and Baenschi and my Agassizi(yellow colour form) have about 50 fry freeswimming.I have 25 Apisto sp' steelblue' fry growing out.I also have Pelvicachromis Taeniatus Bipindi Juviniles that are ready to go and adult pairs of Moliwe, Bipindi and Nigerian red that all look like they spawned last week as i did a huge cool water change on every tank and the females are all hiding in the caves since then...
 

ed seeley

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
577
Location
Nottingham, UK
Ed how many do you have???

About 60!


"If you fancy some Pelvicachromis suboccelatus Matadi I have a load in Nottingham...."

Can you post and if so how much..If you would rather, i can send the box, heatpacks ect and you send them in them, are they sexable? let me know as i am certaily interested. One of my goals is to spawn the entire Pelvicachromis group, but down in the north west the hardest part is actually finding them..

Posting them sounds fine to me. Never done it before, but recieved a few packs. I have a box here I could use, but will need some tips on posting in this weather! I don't have any heatpacks!

The fish are sexable and over an inch long. Some are starting to show the spawning colouration too! At the LFS I take them too the guy raves about the colours - so not only I reckon they're good!
From the sounds of the taeniatus that may be spawning soon, we could maybe come to some kind of arrangement rather than worrying about money, if that's ok with you? :biggrin:
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Ed that sounds fantastic, we can do a straight swap if thats ok..the only cost to either of us is the heatpacks and postage. I post fish all the time so i know what to do.. Do you want to swap soon as i have some Taeniatus 'Bipindi' that are ready to be sent..I have two pairs that are spare the rest are all sold!! You will have to let me know if you want them.
DSCF8677.jpg

The colours look slightly washed out but that is just the light over the holding tanks (cheap yellowish B&Q £5 job) Let me know and we can arrange something.
 

firetank

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
68
Location
Lancaster, UK
Hi Ste, thanks for the feedback...


Are you heating each tank individually?

I'm planning to space heat the room as Ive installed a radiator down there when I put the new system in, was planning on a backup electric heater down there to supplement when heating not in use; potentially heaters in tanks where temp needs to be maintained above ambient (aiming for 25*C)

have you considered insulating the full celler which i assume gets fairly cool?

I had considered this but was planning to see how things fared before making that decision, but ive now found 2" 8*4 poly sheets on ebay so may do it first..
ambient unheated room temp is 14\15*C

Also are you spraying the backs of the tanks or leaving the white wall showing? i have found from experience that my fish prefere a non-seethru back and blacked out sides!!!

Im not gonna paint the tanks but I do intend to put some kind of background on and also will visually seperate the tanks side on; Ive used black card slid down the length of the tanks before and will probably do it again..

Also are the racks built with treated timber?it looks like 2x2 timber and the blue looks like a fence stain to me,

yes its 3x2" CLS with a generic external stain; i hadn't considered it a big risk do you think it will pose one??

Firetank i currently have a sexed pair of Apisto Hoignei for sale that are surplus to requirements, i also have about six male Baenschi for sale cheap with the promise of females when my trio breed.I am trying to breed Apisto Iniridae, Pertensis, Hoignei and Baenschi and my Agassizi(yellow colour form) have about 50 fry freeswimming.I have 25 Apisto sp' steelblue' fry growing out.I also have Pelvicachromis Taeniatus Bipindi Juviniles that are ready to go and adult pairs of Moliwe, Bipindi and Nigerian red that all look like they spawned last week as i did a huge cool water change on every tank and the females are all hiding in the caves since then...

christ youve been busy great news... let me know how much you want for the Hoignei.. will probably take some more off you one the tanks are ready..

Ed - same again if you have any left when the tanks are good to go cheers..

I still need to get my electrics in place and sort out the air ring pipework, I want to see the effect the Rad has once its piped up and then will probably insulate I think..
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Sounds good, i was just thinking about your electric bill trying to heat a cold celler 24/7 wont be cheap (im a tight northerner lol).. I only did one half of my shed at first thinking it would be enough but it lost a hell of a lot of heat through the brick walls, since lining with polystyrene and waterproof ply the heating is only on for half the time if was before..My setup is in the link below..
http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=6824

I would think there is a slight chance the stain may leach into the water of tanks below, it is not unusual during maintainence for me to spill water which then drips from the wooden racking to the tanks below!! Mine is untreated so no problems but with a stain!!!! im not sure.

Ed's Pelvicachromis sound good, iv been in touch and im getting a few pairs soon. Can't wait. I asked about Nanochromis in my local maidenhead and got to look at the buying lists, they have a few species including N.Transvestius Guess how much????? £15 each..I laughed my arse of and told them to stick it.. Trimar sell them at £7.50 each and im sure i can find a breeder, for that price it would work out cheaper to import them myself...
 

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