Setting Up A Breeder Tank

[fluvial]

Hi there

I plan to set up a 26 litre breeder tank, initially for my platies, and then,
once the tank is established, for my Appistogamma Njsseni.

One question though, is it best to add the platies (3 females) to the tank for 24 hrs, then
place some mature media from my community tank in the filter of the new tank, thus allowing for some
trace elements of ammonia to be already in the water ...

or - place the platies and the mature media in the tank at the same time ....

or - place the mature media in the new tank, then wait 24 hrs before adding the platies ??

Perhaps someone has done this and knows what method would work best
Thanks - Chris

 

[JoshuaA]

If you want to rely on completely the mature media "Cycling" the tank I would suggest you put them in at the same time. Fish constantly release ammonia from the gills so the media would be "fed" pretty much instantly. I would say it would probably be better to ensure the media is working by dosing it with ammonia for a week or two. However if you don't want to go that way I stress that you put it in before or at the same time. The bacteria can live for a while without food but you may as well put it in maybe an hour or so or whilst you're acclimatising the fish.

If your main filter is fully matured, apparently according to some "Mature" Members of this forum state you can remove up to 1/3 of your filter media and should not expect a mini cycle. However Mature seems to be claimed as 6 months + after a cycle is "complete" as a rough guideline. I would suggest look at how many fish you have in your main tank or the one you're taking the media from then looking at the platies and making a guestimate on how much you honestly think they will need proportionately, making sure you don't remove too much or too little. I would closely monitor the water parameters though, however if after say a week or two of no Ammonia/Nitrite and Nitrate steadily climbing you could probably safely assume there will be no spikes. However like always water changes will be neccessary if it does show up, a 26 litre... you could probably do a 100% or at least 90% until the platies only have enough room to swim horizontally.

Good Luck

 

[GrayScale]

I would personally put the media in first and let it run for a little bit. Maybe add some ammonia during the process to keep the good bacteria alive. Let it run for 12 to 24hours and check your water specs. If the ammonia and your nitrites are 0 do a regular water change and introduce the fish.

 

[fluvial]

Thanks for the advice.
The mature media is 12 months old now and in a tank with 20 fish.
I plan to remove 1/5th of it for the new tank.
With 3 platies going in that should be more than enough to cope,
without causing a "spike" in the main tank.

I'll add it an hour in advance, and then the platies, and take water samples daily
to keep an eye on the stats.

Thanks again -that was very useful (and hopeful) !

 

[GrayScale]

Let us know how it goes for ya!

 

[JoshuaA]

1/5th from a community tank... I'd expect to see no Ammonia or Nitrite at all from the Platy tank.

 

[mark4785]

I came across a thread once that claimed mature filter media isn't effective instantaneously in a new non-cycled tank so be very cautious when relying on it to set-up a new tank. Like one of the replies above suggested, run the new tank with the new filter media and add ammonia artifically every 24 hours to ascertain whether the beneficial bacteria is consuming it or not.

My guess is that it won't consume the ammonia/nitrite straight away based on the information provided in a thread I read many months ago so in my opinion, I would not add any fish to the tank until you know for sure that the mature filter media is able to fulfill the role expected of it.

 

[JoshuaA]

I think you'll find adding a 4ppm dose of ammonia as opposed to a natural and consistence minuscule dose will probably actually over power the media. After all its not use to such large concentrations and then when we finish our fish-less cycles we then go from a powerful 4/5ppm dose down to a consistent non registrable amount.

I'd probably guarantee that dosing it with Ammonia wouldn't work for some time.

As long as the media is placed properly and effectively into the filter I can't fully understand why it wouldn't pick up with the bioload from the platies within the day.