Breeding Rack

[Apistogramma]

I want to get into breeding Apistogrammas, they have just become available to us and I am trying to buy them all so I will be the only ones with them. Anyway this is what I want to do.

Take a 2x6ft tanks and place dividers that allow flow between each tank ever 2ft. have one on top of eachother and let it flow down into the one below then into the sump where it is pumbed back up to the top to start again. Does anyone have any pics on what I want to do? I am very keen to breed them.

 

[tjudy]

Central systems have their strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I would never use one for breeding. Pairs are too valuable to risk losing to a disease that hits a system. I just had a run of velvet in my fish room that would have been totally decimating if I had been using central systems. However, a central system has advantages when raising several different broods of fry at once. Larger water volume is more stable, and a system of small tanks allows broods to be kept in small spaces and still have the advantage of high water volume. You still risk a disease wiping out all your fry, but that is less damaging to a breeding program than losing the breeders.

Your idea of using a 2x6 tank and dividing it may not be cost effective. Those tanks are very expensive compared to standard 20 or 30 gallon tanks because of the thickness of glass used. Three smaller tanks will also weigh a lot less than that larger tank, allowing you to build a less expensive rack. A central system on separate tanks woudl allow you to shut each tank off of the system if you need to, whereas a flow through system with dividers in a larger tank would not.

I do not know where you are at, but if you are in the USA and have access to Perfecto tanks you can order a tank with the dimensions of 30"x24"x12"... this is the Perfecto 30-breeder. Excellent size and shape for apistos. A 90" rack of those can easily hold four rows so long as you are not too concerned with being too close to the ground. All-glass 30-breeders are also very good, but they are 36"x18"x12" so a 12-tank rack would need to be 18" longer.

 

[Graham]

I agree with Ted - breeding stock in a multi-species system has too much potential to wipe out all the source fish. It's not worth the risk. It's also not worth having to subject healthy fish to treatments affecting the other fish, etc.

Also consider that you're going to need significantly more space for the offspring than for the breeders. Lots more. If you have half the activity I've had, you'll need to plan on keeping at least 100-200 of each species around until the oldest spawn is large enough to sell. I see a pretty regular pattern of about 3 weeks of brood care until the female spawns again. There are exceptions, but realize that spawns can and do come often.

By keeping the breeders in their own tanks, you can more easily prevent yourself from getting ahead of yourself space-wise. Unless you have alot of area to devote to grow-out, I'd limit myself to 3-4 breeding pairs total until you know what you're getting into.

I leave them in the breeding tanks for 3-4 weeks, move them to a 10 gallon for another month and then into larger tanks.

For growout, it comes down to electrical usage and upfront equipment costs for me. That's why I can't justify growing out each spawn in its own tank. I end up using divided large tanks. I live in MN where the heaters are on about 8 months of the year. I'd probably use up 20 amps of power with heaters and lights alone! Also filter maintenance, tank cleanings...for me it just makes sense to grow out a few spawns of each species in their own larger tank (40-50 gallons).

Going vertical is about the only way to maximize your space. If you're handy DIY-ing, you can build 2x4 stands and racks real cheap. I also do some acrylic work and while the material cost is more than glass, I can make tanks any size I want. The cost of all-glass breeder size tanks is disproportionate IMO (too spendy for what you get), so the acrylic cost isn't much more. I can make a 48x15x12 tank for about $90. That'll grow out a couple hundred Apistos as long as I change water a couple times per week.