Breeding Tank Journal (Project X)

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BOGaming_

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I thought this would be a good way to keep track of my fish breeding project!
 
I have an amazing breeding project in mind that i want to do, right now i'm focusing on platy fish. I'm still waiting for them to give birth but love and behold i found one platy about 3 days ago and he's been such a cute guy! I'm planning to move him to my raising fry tank as soon as he is old enough to survive the shock. He seems to be the only survivor from a batch of fry. I'm very excited to raise him or her!
 
My 3 fry that are about 4 months old now are doing well, i've identified that they're all females and i am planning to keep them all for breeding. 
 
In my 10l tank (used only for fry) is now fully setup with a sponge filter, heater and live plants. I'm hoping to put my 15l tank alongside it with more fry soon. 
 
 
[UPDATE]
 
So i moved my possibly pregnant platy from the fry tank to the main breeding tank since i don't think she'll be ready for a while. I actually took a huge risk and moved my 3-5 day old fry into the fry tank... and it seems to be a success, although it's going to take a few days to tell since the shock may not have passed. He seems to be happier in the tank with a sponge filter and it puts my mind at ease knowing that the other fish won't be getting to him/her anytime soon! The fry is starting to show beautiful colouration and i'm very happy to raise him. I'm nearly thrilled!
 
I did a 40% water change today and moved everything about, i'm hoping to start a 100 litre planted aquarium... who knows what the future will hold for them....
 
Update time! I'm still waiting for the big mama to pop sadly :( but i've got HUGE project ready for christmas that involves a planted tank with around 200 litres instead of 100. It's going to be a giant project!

The little guy who i moved is doing well, i feel sorry for him being all alone though... but i'm glad he survived the move, he is defo a fighter, i need to name him. Any ideas?

The mama is starting to show signs of possibly preparing for birth by hiding behind things, but it's hard to tell because whenever i'm there she rushes to be fed! Can't win with that fish... I decided i'm going to keep my 3 fry because they're all females and i'm currently outnumbered of males to females when that girl is already pregnant. So i'm going to keep them. Any new fry will be sold or given away. I'm so excited for my girl to give birth. I'm going to move her to the fry tank as soon as i see her let out her first fry or i'm very convinced she's ready.

See you soon! Also do you think that once i've finished doing my 200 litre i should turn my current 30 litre into a cherry shrimp breeding tank (planted)?

Pictures coming soon!
 
Finally got some pictures of my fry in his lonesome tank!
upload_2016-9-28_11-23-52.png

upload_2016-9-28_11-24-28.png
 
Hey all,
another update. So last night one of my preg platies was being harrassed by the male so i took it upon me to move her into a breeding box in the hatchery tank. I did this and after a bit she seemed calm. left her in there overnight and all was ok.

Today i came into my room to the horrific discovery that she quite literally jumped out of the fry trap and into the water!! the trap was a good inch out of the water too, after seeing that athletic move i frantically searched for my warrior fry and thankfully found him alive & moved him to the hatchery instead, i'm now letting the preg girl be in the main part of the tank as well as the other preg girl and decided to leave the lone fry in the hatchery.

I'm still waiting for births... i'm sure they're going to make me wait!
 
[UPDATE] Still no birth HOWEVER i am planning to go to pets at home to get a load of new plants and possibly a new girl as well as eye up a new tank for a possible new betta?
 
Big Update: 90% convinced my Red Tiger platy is going into labor, i'm also convinced she's the mom of the stray fry.. now coloration is showing up i'm able too see the patterning and it's identical to the red tiger platy. I tried to sex the fry and it's not possible to tell yet.

I'm going to be buying the plants on Saturday. I'm hoping the birth comes soon!
 
The little guy who i moved is doing well, i feel sorry for him being all alone though... but i'm glad he survived the move, he is defo a fighter, i need to name him. Any ideas?

He should be fine by himself for now. :) I had a lonesome fry, now he's nearly two months old in his in the main tank.

[UPDATE] Still no birth HOWEVER i am planning to go to pets at home to get a load of new plants and possibly a new girl as well as eye up a new tank for a possible new betta?

Make sure you get floating ones for the fry!


I love the color of the fry! Such a nice bright yellow.
 
Alright, update, still no babies (ikr) but i've been busy busy busy getting costs together for future plans ect... i actually set up my small coldwater fish tank today and made a decision to turn it into a lovely white cloud minnow tank! I've set it up and added QuickStart, FilterAid and also some dechlorinator and i'm hoping to get 3 white clouds tomorrow and possibly another male platy... here's my shopping list.

  1. a bunch of plants
  2. dechlorinator
  3. white cloud minnows
  4. frozen bloodworms

that's all for now! I'm thinking about getting guppies in the future, what'dya think?
 
Good luck with your platy breeding plans, hope they work out. Afraid I won't be much help in that regard really as never had platies nor bred any species at all.

Though I do agree that floating plants would be greatly benficial for both your fry and main tank. Suggestions may be silvinia natans or water lettuce. I would avoid duckweed or frogbit as these can be notoriously hard to remove from your tank altogether once you decide to change floting plants, and plus these will probably cover the entire water surface of your tank once they get going therefore can be a bit overwhelming and lets in much less light into the tank for your other plants.

One other thing -

How big is this small coldwater tank?

I am a big fan of WCMM and they are a schooling species so at least 8 + should be considered imho (although Seriously Fish suggets 10+ which is even better) but they are a pretty active little fish and requires a little space, so a minimum of a 2 feet length tank would work best, bigger the tank, the better, really for these guys.

WCMM are a temperate specie so obviously this mean they do best in cooler waters than most tropicals. 18 - 22C (64 - 72F) would do the trick to keep them thriving.

White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Quickstart wont do much imho, just a gimmick to get your money methinks, though probably won't do much harm but the benefits would be neglible I reckon. Better off without that quickstart and starting your tank with some established filter media from one of your other tanks to get a jump start on cycling for that tank.

Guppies are a nice colourful specie and plentiful, a staple of many a LFS. I reckon if you really want guppies but not for breeding, then get all males as these female guppies get pregnant real fast and often, so you would be overrun with guppy fry before too long and begging folks to take some of your guppies off your hands before you know it.
 
Good luck with your platy breeding plans, hope they work out. Afraid I won't be much help in that regard really as never had platies nor bred any species at all.

Though I do agree that floating plants would be greatly benficial for both your fry and main tank. Suggestions may be silvinia natans or water lettuce. I would avoid duckweed or frogbit as these can be notoriously hard to remove from your tank altogether once you decide to change floting plants, and plus these will probably cover the entire water surface of your tank once they get going therefore can be a bit overwhelming and lets in much less light into the tank for your other plants.

One other thing -

How big is this small coldwater tank?

I am a big fan of WCMM and they are a schooling species so at least 8 + should be considered imho (although Seriously Fish suggets 10+ which is even better) but they are a pretty active little fish and requires a little space, so a minimum of a 2 feet length tank would work best, bigger the tank, the better, really for these guys.

WCMM are a temperate specie so obviously this mean they do best in cooler waters than most tropicals. 18 - 22C (64 - 72F) would do the trick to keep them thriving.

White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Quickstart wont do much imho, just a gimmick to get your money methinks, though probably won't do much harm but the benefits would be neglible I reckon. Better off without that quickstart and starting your tank with some established filter media from one of your other tanks to get a jump start on cycling for that tank.

Guppies are a nice colourful specie and plentiful, a staple of many a LFS. I reckon if you really want guppies but not for breeding, then get all males as these female guppies get pregnant real fast and often, so you would be overrun with guppy fry before too long and begging folks to take some of your guppies off your hands before you know it.

Hey there, thanks for the info. The tank is fairly small right now and they will be in a school of 3. The filter i used is already cycled anyway but i thought quickstart may just jump boost it. I'm looking more for java moss since it's a hardy plant and thrives well in low light.

The tank is only 12l (3 gallons) but i'll only be using that for quarentine. Then theyll move to a bigger tank.
 
Big update; I decided NOT to get WCM because i didn't feel it was fair to put them in such a small tank, i decided to invest in getting a ton of healthy plants and it's going amazingly well. I got 6 and took out most ornaments from my main and put them in and it looks really healthy plus it's going to provide refugee if any fry are born without me noticing. I took small clippings from the plants i bought and floated them in the fry tank and it should do the trick until i buy java moss. I also bought some Tetra baby food which my fry hasn't tried before, it's much much better than the liquifry i was using.
 

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