Setting up breeding rack after losing all fish

[ZanaZoola14]

Hello, due to my water company changing what they put in the tap, I've lost my apistos and rams. So I'll be completely starting anew. So it means I can now go with what would be best for the fish (also going RO with discus minerals (I am not going back to tap, I don't want to face losing everything again)).

What would people recommend?
How to set up the breeding rack?
What sort of foods have people found work really well?
Flow rate?
Planted, non-planted?
Substrate, no substrate, small amount of substrate underneath the cave/flat(s)?
Multiple breeding locations, or only one per pair?
Is there anything further you'd recommend to do with the water?
(10/12"x15"x15")

I'll set up a tank for breeding rams and another for breeding apistos. I am probably going to go lf german blues, and maybe one other (previously had gold pair bred from a black pair) - with a more significant segment in the middle to raise the fry (same with the apistos until I get a third and fourth tank to raise them fully set up).

Now that I've lost the apistos, I am unsure what way to go. I love the cockatoo orange flash/sunburst; however, local to me have lots of health issues (females surviving well, males not doing so good). I was also going to breed the A. Gephyra I had, after sourcing a female, but now that I don't have Chopstick anymore, I'm not sure that I want to go down that route now - not many people near me that are big on apistos and would like them more for their "flashiness". I'm interested in them further, in a way that is increasing daily - just I'll likely need to be able to sell to afford to keep them running - I've started shipping fish, but I still don't know a lot of people who own them near me to sell to - as my lfs that I work at don't take from non-suppliers for anything, they only rehome them, and the only other close is pah.

England, UK

 

[GaryE]

I bred a lot of Apistos. The big problem is males fighting. I spawn of 30, if you get 15 males, is a bunch of tanks unless you can sell fish with tattered fins. And I stopped because there was zero demand. I only bred wild types - not cultivated mutations.

How to set up the breeding rack? I live in a land of still affordable wood, so I would set up centrally plumbed 15 gallon/70 ltr tanks, end out. Sand in all, planting and caves. I use 2x4, and a lot of screws.

What sort of foods have people found work really well? Frozen, live whiteworms, and live baby brine shrimp.

Flow rate? Can be slow.

Planted, non-planted? Very planted.

Substrate, no substrate, small amount of substrate underneath the cave/flat(s)? No substrate takes away essential behaviour. They are eartheaters. Rams are even "Mikrogeophagus". Let them enjoy life. Btw, I won't discuss Rams because I never bred them.

Multiple breeding locations, or only one per pair? I used 3 caves per tank, one pair per tank.

Is there anything further you'd recommend to do with the water? It depends on the Apisto. For the mcmasteri group, adding peat tea made them breed. It worked with no other group. You have to decide which fish you are going to work with.

The double red and triple red cacatuoides, often sorted from the same brood, sell well. Orange flash less so, but I think it's an ugly variety so don't trust me. A local guy where I was before sold veijita for years, with a steady demand once he got established and gained a reputation. njesseni and panduro also sell. I could sell every mcmasteri, veijita, njisseni and borellii I bred, but I didn't want to run a business with fish. I was breeding them to sell information on how to do it- something that with the internet is now free.