55 Gallon Breeding Tank

[Betta_Shark5678]

Hello!
 
I've mention my selective breeding project in a few posts before, but now it's really taking off! I asked recently how I could start up my platy breeding project with a 55 gallon community, a 10 gallon betta, and a 6.6 gallon betta, thinking that 5 gallon was going to be the biggest I'd be able to add.  Turns out I was wrong about the 5 gallon tank being the biggest I can get.
 
Unfortunately my sickly betta, Damien, passed away, he's been sick since I got him so I was happy with his 9 months with me, meaning I have an empty 6.6 gallon tank.  One of my female platys is a few days from birth, so I was planning on planting that tank a bit more and letting her give birth in there.  However, I was at goodwill today and I saw a large tank with a hood and light fixture for $30.  At first I thought it was smaller than my 55 gallon, because it's only about 3' long, but it's taller, and almost twice as wide.  So thinking that it was around the same size as mine I came home and used the handy calculator on this site.  90 gallons.  After talking to my Mom about it, and coming to the "clean your room and you can have it" agreement I cleaned my room.  We're going to see if it's still there tomorrow.  

 
I may be getting ahead of myself here, it might not even be there tomorrow, and even if it is it might be cracked or something.  I can't help it though! Here's my plan.  I make the 90 gallon tank my South American biotope, and the 55 gallon a breeding tank! I'll divide it three ways.  Males, females, and fry.  Males will be closest to the filter, because there will be the fewest males.  Fry will be furthest, for obvious reasons.  Then I'll have my 6.6 gallon as a QT, and mating tank, so I'll set up that tank to actually breed the platys I want!
 
If this seems like a horrible plan PLEASE burst my bubble before I end up killing who knows how many platy fry that I need for this project! I'm just incredible excited, and probably not thinking straight 

 

[ncguppy830]

wow nice find for 30 dollars i like the idea of dividing it three ways as long as the water flows not to much it should be fine the only worry would be overstocking i think.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Wow, what a great bargain! I hope its there tomorrow!
 
I don't have any advice to pass on but I'm interested in seeing this tanks progress

 

[Dreamer03]

It seems like a good plan. Just like mention above. You might get issues of overstocking.
Still seems like a good plan.

 

[Jay0173]

Oh to have 55 gallons just for breeding.....
 
Great find! I will be following this thread very closely. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

We are leaving soon to go get it.  If it's not there I'll be watching craiglist closely for a bargin on similarly sized tanks.  Either way I'll be upgrading! 
 
As for the overstocking, my Mom's plan is to put any unwanted fry in the duck pool.  It seems a little cruel, but not much worse than leaving them all in the tank.  I also might have somewhere to get rid of a few.  My Dad is friends with some people at my doctor's office, and his friends are going to talk to the people in charge about me setting up, and maintaining a fish tank for them! I may slip a few in that, either all males or all females.  I also know a bunch of people who have fish, maybe they'll want some platys!  
 
Anyway, this will be interesting! I'll probably start an actually journal once I really get started.  I'll post pictures of each platy that I'm breeding. 
 
Quick question, if you breed a platy that's had contact with a male in the last 6 months will there be babies from both males (assuming they were different), or will it only be one?  And which one would it most likely be from?  I want to double check on this, as I've heard different things.  Wouldn't want to breed my pet store platys yet if they're not going to give birth to my male's babies!

 

[Lillefishy]

Good luck with the tank, hope it's still there.
Most females have been with males at some point in Lfs.
The only way to guarantee the fry will be from your male is to put the females in a tank by themselves, see if they give birth after a few weeks, if they do then you'd have to remove the fry & leave the females alone for a second month & so on until they no longer give birth to any fry

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Okay, thank you.  It'll be a little while before I get the new tank up and running, I need to order the filter which should be here in a few days, or at most a week or two.  As soon as I get that one ready I'll transfer some media for a quicker cycle, then get the dividers in the platy tank.  Then I guess I'll have to wait a while!

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

Just got the tank home! I measured it, and it turns out we were a little, okay a lot, off on our size estimate.  It's only around 65 gallons... Still, 65 gallons for $30 is a good price! I should be able to find a cheaper filter now too

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I can't wait for the journal.
Make sure to post the link here once its started!

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

What I'm going to probably end up doing is move everything (except substrate, and some pieces of wood) to the 65 gallon until the filter gets here, then cycle the 55 gallon with the new filter.  It'll be a little while, but they'll be using the same kind of filter so I'll definitely use some media from my current filter to help it along.