Ideal Breeding Tank?

[Konigwolf]

Just wonderingthe ideal breeding tank set up?(furniture/plants/friends not water stats)

Community planted tank - No LOL

I assume only intended Breeders, adding maybe a bristlenose and/or snail after fry are free swimming to help mop up extra food

Plants? if so how heavily?

Substrate?

Cave spawners - 1->2 caves per female?

Tank located in a quite area?

Andrew

PS tank sizes?
5gallon LOL
10 gallon minimal
2'x1'x'1 OK
3' better?

 

[fishgeek]

your going to get lots of answers here

the fish will like heavily planted densely decorated setups AND they are a complete nightmare to catch fry from when they do breed
this leads to situations wher one fry is missed hiding somewhere and then that elder fish snacks on the next bunch etc

i now try to plant in pots or attached to small wood/rock that can be removed more easily

no substarte is easier to clean
peat mulm type substrates(once the peat is pretty well leached) make nice fry homes and give added security, again they are harder to catch fish in when removing them
sand is mouthed a lot by apisto's and they seem to like it
the ada soils work well for some
larger gravel may allow fry to drop through to the bottom of the tank and be lost

my best breeding tank , as far as most prolific was a trio in the 2ft on the kitchen bench with direct sunlight a hugh piece of bogwood that swelled and wouldn't fit back out! and then just jave moss everywhere so postion didnt seem to bother these guys

it's a toss up between prviding security natural hiding places spawning sites and maintainability

andrew

hope that works

 

[tjudy]

My breeding tanks for most Pelvicachromis or Apistogramma are 15 - 30 gallons, a very fine gravel, but not sand, with a depth of 3/4" max. Driftwood pieces, some with plants. Floating plants that cover the surface at least 50%. Two or three spawning sites. A couple danios or platies as dithers. Very small bnp.. usually 1.5".

 

[blueblue]

hmm... there is no ideal/optimal breeding tank as different people have different preferences. For hobbyists in Hong Kong, we used to have ADA
aquasoil as the substrate and the apisto tank has 1 male and 1 female.
In order to entice spawning, we separate the male and female fish temporarily and well-feed the female fish for 1 week. Afterwards, we put them together and most species will breed naturally...

 

[Mike Wise]

blueblue is correct, there is no perfect system. If you are only looking to produce fish, then the best indoor system for producing the most fry is a very large tank (over 100 gallons/400 litres) filled with PVC pipe of different diameters and lengths (simulates leaf litter, but much more easily cleaned). Use no plants, no dither fish, no substrate, no lighting (within reason; you have to be able to see in them). Have continuous flow water changes. Add 5 to 10 trios, depending on species. Feed quality live foods & watch the fry appear! Since I consider my fish more than just "livestock", I prefer a more natural system that produces much fewer fish, but keeps me (and them) happy.

 

[Konigwolf]

Thanks for the opinions I really appreciate them. I came to the conclusion a couple of days ago I had been doing things all wrong. Wanting to breed for a-the challenge and b-a much cheaper alternitive then buying them in a place where they can be scarce as hen teeth and more than worth their weight in gold so I could have more than a pair/trio here and there all this and wanting to have wonderful fish in my display tanks (up till now I havn't had a dedicated breeder) things just weren't working . So I have bit the bullet and dismantled two of my small display tanks and placed a cacatuoide pair and agassizii trio between them (small 1-2mm pebble substrate, lightly planeted and more caves than girlies) to see if this will work giving them good quality dry and frozen foods lots of water changes, the cacatuoide girl and one of the aggies looked nice and yellow before this so hoping it will work. basically breeding and then community tanking them instead of both at the same time

Andrew