Out Door Breeding

[Mikaila31]

I'm planning on starting some outdoor breeding this summer. I know some people around here that do this with tropical fish. I was planning on having two outdoor tubs. Both about 40-50gallons. Since this is my first time trying this I want to go with hardy easy to breed live bearers. I was going to have Endlers and some type of swords in one tub. The other tub would be koi swords and maybe high-fin platies.

Following advice from my local group here, the tubs will not have heater, filter, or water changes (apart from rain). They will have lots of live plants and I'm planing on seeding them with pond water a couple weeks before adding fish. This way there will be lots of stuff for them to eat.

Opinions on this? I'm not sure if I should have 2 types of fish per tub or just stick with one type in each tub .

 

[jackyb07s4]

i'd say one type in each tub, but thats just me

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Stick to one species per tub, & make sure they do not mix..... I started off in this way, & by just transferring some floating plants, I accidently introduced Platie fry into my mollies exclusive tub, and currently, the platies are dominant in this tub....

I also (accidently) got my platies & swords mixed up,.... now it is impossible to tell them apart before they are fully grown.....

The only reasonable compatable mix (if you have to) is to mix your guppies with mollies..... Do not try any others together... one will be dominant, but avoid it completely if you can.

 

[Tolak]

I did this last summer for the first time, since I had a spare 150 gallon tub in the garage. I'm not too far south of you so it isn't a whole lot warmer, but I did start in early April, with a heater. I would consider some filtration just for aeration if nothing else. Water lettuce seemed to do the best out of all the plants I put in there. It also provides hiding spots for fry, as well as shade which reduces algae blooms.

Go with one type per tub, as Ludwig stated you may never sort it out. The water will get warm in direct sunlight, I didn't think it would, one it approached the mid 80'sF I got a sheet of white styrofoam to cover it during the hotter months. I had platys, as well as a group of corys and about 6 bristlenose in there. I still have platys left for auctions & such.

Water changes via nature will depend on how much rain you get, and how much water you lose to evaporation during drier times. I did water changes during the drier times, watering the garden with tub water. During heavy thunderstorms it did change its own water several times.

A friend of mine, who has done this before, suggested parking the tub under one of the downspouts for my house. This will without a doubt do some huge water changes automatically, but I'm a bit leery of any contamination from roofing materials. I may try this with a bucket & some angel culls, just to see if roof water has any adverse affects, if not it will mean much less maintenance.