Opinion on my breeding project..

[rubarb]

Hi guys,

Time for a bit of brain picking..

I am currently in the slow process of setting up a new breeding project which I was going to purchase 3 types of Tropheus sp. to breed until I was talking to a LFS owner who told me that he would recommend a colony of these fish not a pair / trio therefor, he would suggest that a tank with minimum size 6x2x2 for these fish. Idea down the drain:frown:

My new tanks are 4x (1100x500x450) which are going to be hooked up to a sump (to be built) on a DIY stand (to be built). Now I have decided these tanks are going to be used to breed my apisto sp. veijita & pandurini as well as my pairs / trio / colony of differet type of bristlenose. I was thinking of dividing these tanks in half again to have two types of fish per tank but I am unsure of how many fish I can have per divided tank? Given the height and depth of the tanks they will be decent size even divided.

Is the sump a good idea from your perspective given the 3/4 types of bn and the apistos will enjoy the soft acidic water I plan to give them.

I could just keep rambling on and on about how much my current 9 tank set-up really annoys me it's a 9 tank 2ft rack which I have to sell to make room for my new bigger tank set up.

Any thoughts on tank set-up and stocking numbers will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[samcsd]

sounds like quite a set-up.

first thing that i would say is that a sump may suck up free swimming fry so unless you intend to convert to air box filters when you have fry and turn of the pump you may find little fish all over the place in your system - dead or alive.

I wouldn't section of the tanks as if you put the them in half there would only be 1.75 (ish) foot left and if you have fry that could be alot of fish in a small space. if you want to fil the space a little why not add some tetra's (i.e black neons for an SA species) they will then look nice and become a distraction for any dwarfs that may get bored and eat their own eggs. the extra size will also allow you to add a group of fish and allow them to pair off naturally.

hopefully that has been of some help, went through many many many ideas when building my own shed, and settled on less individually filtered and heater tanks rather than one huge system

 

[rubarb]

I am opting for the sump as the tanks i acquired already have the holes drilled as they were from one of my LFS and they were just going to break them and bin them. so I took the opportunity to build a new set up. my current two foot set up just take too much time like having to fill up the tanks all the time, reconnecting the air pump to the filters all the time and dealing with inconsistant water quality (the more I try to make the water consistantly the same the worse it got). So then i moved to internal power filters and heaters which has lead to an AUD$800 per quarter power bill. so this system is aimed at having bigger tanks as well as reduce the power bill [hopefully].

OK, how many apistos per tank do you think would be adequate? 2 males 4 females + dither fish or what would you suggest? and should i go for a full planted setup or barebottom? which would be best?

Cheers for the help so far

Matt

 

[Apistomaster]

You will need to make some provision to make the outlets to the sump fry safe. Coarse filter sponge material like that used in AquaClear HOB filters has 20 pores per inch and is less prone to plugging up. Just cut plugs to fit. Check them very frequently as any straining system in a wet/dry system can plug and cause unwanted floods.
It is best to keep one species per tank and I recommend using a thin layer of fine sand on the bottom. Less than 1/4" thick is plenty of sand. In my experience, the survival rates of fry is higher when a thin layer of sand is used with fry. I always use some for almost all my fish but it is especially helpful for tanks used to raise Catfish and Cichlids.

 

[rubarb]

I have been rethinking my whole project and I think I'm gong to opt for two separate racks and house my apisto sp. in their own 2x1x1 tank and in just pairs rather than colonies I was thinking before. And as for filtration I might just get 2 massive air pumps and some sponge filters, as for the heating, we've just starting spring and then summer so have a plenty of hot months ahead so my garage should keep the tanks heated enough. As it was last night, my tanks with heaters weren't much warmer than my Silver Perch tanks which doesn't have a heater. So maybe I'll just see howthat goes for the summer and re-evaluate then. Will keep updates coming once I can get rid of my old rack and build the new one.

All for now,

Matt