Breeder Tank Journal

[gwand]

Entry #1

I do not have a breeding tank, but I have several species of fish I would like to breed. I only have 30 inches of wall space left in my fish room. Given this limitation, I cannot go with a 40 gallon breeder. I decided to purchase a 29 gallon, 30 inch long tank. I am thinking that the 29 gallon tank with 18 inches of height will provide more flexibility than a 20 gallon long if I ever want to convert the breeder tank into a species only or community tank. Black Friday has provided the opportunity for me to purchase the tank and several of the accessories at a significant discount. I am hoping I can have a cycled tank up and running by mid January.

 

[gwand]

Entry #2
I purchased an Aqueon 29 gallon tank on sale for $49 today. I will pick the tank up tomorrow. I ordered an aquarium stand, Aquaclear 30 filter box, 25 lbs of black sand and a fluval digital heater from Amazon. The equipment will arrive next week.

 

[gwand]

Entry #3
I set the tank up today. I added a sponge filter from a cycled tank to aid the Aqua Clear 30 HOB filter. Tetra Safe Start bacteria added too along with ammonia. Cycling has begun. Now I can contemplate what fish I will try to breed first. I am leaning toward my Apistogramma cacatuoides. They are so neat looking and acting. They are spawning in my South American tank but fry survival is low due to predation. I have a pair of beautiful gold high fin Molly that I will breed and sell the juveniles to my lfs. I will try to breed the anomalochromis thomasi but I would have to add softer water to the tank. Before my water goes through a conditioner it has a pH of 5.5 and a GH of 50 ppm. I can siphon off water before it goes through the conditioner.

 

[Helina]

Before my water goes through a conditioner it has a pH of 5.5 and a GH of 50 ppm. I can siphon off water before it goes through the conditioner.

Wow that's hard water! And acid. We have neutral (lake) water here with just 4 GH and 3KH. A bit low perhaps.

 

[Essjay]

50 ppm (mg/l calcium carbonate) is actually very soft. It converts to 2.8 dH (German degrees). That's the trouble with using different units for the same parameter, and different names for the same units

 

[Helina]

50 ppm (mg/l calcium carbonate) is actually very soft. It converts to 2.8 dH (German degrees). That's the trouble with using different units for the same parameter, and different names for the same units

Ahh! I see! That makes sense. I didn't notice the ppm, indeed it's soft.
And it didn't make sense to me to have such low pH with such "high" GH anyway.
Thank you!

 

[gwand]

Entry #4
Added ammonia to the tank a few days ago achieving a level of ~1 ppm. Tonight ammonia is not detectable according to my API liquid test and also a test strip. So I added more ammonia to the tank. In a few hours I will get a baseline level and then test again in about 48 hours. I’m getting close to adding my first breeding pair. It will probably be a. cacatuoides. I love these guys and gals.

 

[gwand]

Entry #5
The grand opening of my new breeder tank. Today I added my pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides to the breeder tank. The pair were fed frozen blood worms. Tomorrow it will be frozen daphnia. I will keep them well fed. I do not culture my own food….yet, except for infusoria using Matt’s method modified with some hay. The pair of Apistogramma bred in their community tank several weeks ago and there are about 5 survivors thus far. I’m hoping for a better survival rate using the breeder tank.

In my west African Congolese tank Anomalochromis thomasi fry have hatched. I never saw the eggs. This is a community tank so I don’t know how many fry will survive. The parents have been vigilant. I estimate that there are about 50 fry. Very tiny. So vulnerable. I have six a. thomasi adults. I can’t tell males from females. I would like to put a breeding pair in the breeder tank once the Apistogramma have completed their mission. I will make my best guess for a breeding pair.

 

[gwand]

Entry #6
We are off to an inauspicious start. The male a. cacatuoides killed the female on January 11. Not the romance I was anticipating. I bought two more females and now they are in quarantine. We will try this again at a later date.

The Wife Beater

 

[gwand]

Entry #7
I wanted to place a pair of Anomalochromis thomasi in the tank next for breeding but the pair beat me to it. There are fry in their home tank.

So Instead the breeder tank now has a pregnant golden sailfin Molly. The male was badgering her repeatedly so he was put back into the 20 gallon long. I am feeding the pregnant female black worms and other high protein, high fat foods. I expect fry in about two weeks.