Growing out fry - move to grow out tank or what?

[Eva32181]

I am new at this breeding thing but I am trying to get a system established, and I want to hear what your systems are.

First, I put a pair of apistos in a 10 gallon tank. No substrate, but plants attached to driftwood, some caves, and a sponge filter and heater.

Second, they spawn. Yay!

Third, I notice that dad may be picking off babies. This has happened to me with two borellii spawns and one cacatuoides spawn. Each time I have pulled the male and put him in a 10 gallon tank all by himself. (What a waste of tank space. . .)

Fourth, babies grow up. Slooooowly.

Fifth, I remove the driftwood, fiter, and caves and catch the babies with a big net, and put them in a 20 gallon growout tank. Then dad can rejoin Mom.

Is this similar to your techniques? Should I bother transferring the babies to the 20 gallon, or just leave them to grow up in their original tank? And at what size will the babies be too big for adult apistos to eat them? (If I out dad in the grow out tank to get him away from his own babies, will he eat the larger babies in the 20?)

 

[Neil]

Eva,
Sounds like you have about the same process as I do. The only difference is that I usually don't have too many problems with males. More often than not I will leave both parents in the tank with the fry for a month or more and then get the fry out when they are big enough to catch easily.
I sometimes will pull the female, because she is usually the trouble-maker. Most of the time, males are good with the fry for me, but if the are going after the fry, it is probably because they are clearing out the breeding territory for a new spawn. This problem is usually remedied by pulling the female also.
In your situation, if the babies are in a 20g.and are 1/4 to 1/2 inch, they should be OK with the Dad. I think that the key here is seperating the male and the female, so that they don't have the desire to spawn again and jeopardize the current brood.
Having tank-space problems kind of just goes with the territory when you are breeding. You just have to be creative in your space management.
Neil

 

[tjudy]

When I really want to save a spawn, or at least guarntee that I will get a few, I use what I call a 'fry incubator'. I have an apparatus that fits into the lift tube of a hydrosponge that allows me to pump filtered water into a fry chamber wedges into the top of a tank. The bottom of the chamber is perforated (with VERY small holes). I place free swimming fry in th chamber, and there I can really pump the food to them. The chamber hold less than 1/2 gallon, but the tank it is in is 20 gallons... no bad water chemistry fears. I can get some really fast growth rates on Pel. fry using this system.

Write me and I will e-mail you pics and instructions.

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[Eva32181]

Wow, what a neat idea. I raised my very first baby fish in one of those little square mesh-net-lined boxes you hang over the side of the tank. My main problem is that my babies grow very slowly - I have a 20 gallon long grow out tank with maybe 40 or so fish in it. BBS and flake food alone just isn't fattening them up very quickly for me.

 

[Cichlids1]

I've been getting good growth by moving them to grindal worms after the bbs. I alternate feeding with grindals and "Gro-Flakes" - Basically the same as TetraMin Rich Mix but much cheaper for me

 

[tjudy]

By using the incubator system in a 20 gallon tank with 25 Pelvicachromis fry, I have been getting them up to 1/2 inch in about 25 days after they are free swimming. The more fry there are, the longer it takes. 25 seems about the right number.

What I have found is that by isolating the fry in a small space I can actually feed less food, but get a lot more of the food eaten. I can keep some baby brine or microworms on the edge of the tank and use an eye dropper to feed a little bit every time I pass the tank if I want. All the food gets eaten because the fry are concentrated, and the feedings are small and frequent.

Since the incubator is actually a part of a larger tank, I do not have to worry about fouling the water. I keep a group of cory cats below the incubator to clean up what gets through the holes.

 

[Neil]

tjudy,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Ted,
That is one great idea! I have tried a number of similar approaches and thought about a recirculating filter system within a main tank, but it never got far. Everytime I use a specimen container to have the same effect as what you are talking about with a small space, the fry grow well because of the 'more eating with less wasted food concept'. But it is so labor-intensive because I have to do water changes by pouring a little water out and dipping the container in the main tank very regularly, as well as occasionally siphoning out detritus.
By all means, allow us to see the unit, if possible. And more info please. What kind of a chamber are you using? I assume that a Tetraluft foam filter in the main tank rubberbanded to the outside of the container and spilling over (into the fry container) would work, but how do you have it set up?
Neil

 

[tjudy]

If you frequent AB... the thing I use is being sold as an egg tumbler... by me. I am not trying to drum up business.. promise. I do not know how to load up an image (or even if I can) that is not on a web site, so e-mail me adn I will send anyone the directions for how to do it.

Basically I use a carbon cartridge for a goldfish bowl UG filter (Lee's makes them). If you turn it upside down you can attach a 3/8 inch lift tube to the 'bottom', now the top, of the cartridge. Punch a small hole in the lift tube near where it hits the cartridge to insert an air line connector. This apparatus fits snuggly into the 1 inch lift tube of a hydro sponge. When air is run through the lift tube, water is drawn through the sponge and up through the cartidge and out the tube.

Now... get a plastic dish that wedges in between the rim of whatever tank you want to use. Spend an hour or so punch pin holes in teh bottom for the INSIDE. I use a thumb tack. I put in enough holes that a full load of water strains out of it with in a few seconds. Punch a slightly smaller than 3/8" hole in the middle. The lift tube goes through that hole. If it is small, the lift ube fits very snug, with no fear of escape gaps. The incubator is done!!!