A Useful Trick For Breeding Trap Users

[5teady_2012]

Hi all,

So i have read a lot lately that quite a few people are using breeding traps,and also talking about parents eating thier fry.

I found one of my old videos on youtube and il show you a decent little trick that will help to stop the mother eating fry whilst in traps.

Usually when purchasing traps you get a divider, this can be useful in another way, in the vid u can see i have used a divider (the one with slits in) from another
trap, simply wedge it on a angle and turn your tank lights out, and attach a pen light, or any sort of light to the outside of your tank, to attract the fry


The light i used was a small desk light.

The reason for this is that the fry always swim towards the light and in this case, out of any possible danger Especially in the upper level. Once the mother has finished giving birth,simply remove the light and also take her from the trap.

Here is the video

 

[Ludwig Venter]

My objection to using breeding traps is mainly because the mother gets confined and movement gets restricted causing her to stress and then delivering dead fry..... The additional devider restricts the area even more and than also..... In my experience..... the fry darts for the dark areas the moment they are "released" from the mother.....

But... I guess if this has worked for you..... fine, but... I'll never recommend breeding traps in any way......

 

[5teady_2012]

My objection to using breeding traps is mainly because the mother gets confined and movement gets restricted causing her to stress and then delivering dead fry..... The additional devider restricts the area even more and than also..... In my experience..... the fry darts for the dark areas the moment they are "released" from the mother.....

But... I guess if this has worked for you..... fine, but... I'll never recommend breeding traps in any way......

The trap the video is 8" in lengh, 6" high 4" depth, to be in that only 2 hours is adequete room, when a livebearer gives birth they are pretty static to a secluded area hidden away from other fish most of the time,and the only way they abort dead fry is if the female is put in the trap at to much of a early stage and stress causes her to abort, stress is caused by been in traps for a long period of time, and this is why we recommend no more than 48hours.
Fry dont dart for dark areas, their first initial instinct is to dart towards light, which you can clearly seein the video.
The majority of times (in my 15-17 years of breeding them) you always tend to find fry in top corners of tank, around the top and around internal filters, in plants near the surface, this is cos they head for the surface light.

Traps can be great if not misused,

3 big advantages.

1. Stops males harrasing females when they are giving birth. (which as we know, stress from male harrasment can be the biggest form of stress..
2. Saves fry from dangers and death.
3. Will house the fry for a good few weeks giving time to find another home,or lfs, or even setup new tank.

Obviously people use the heavily planted tank method (i do myself)
But for people who do use traps, extra info does not harm anyone and this thread is directed at people who do.


Also, everyone is entitled to thier own opinion, and different methods work better forsome than others.

 

[OldMan47]

I must agree with Ludwig in general. He has been a long term guppy breeder on a semi-commercial scale with outstanding results. When a female starts to have any difficulty, you will see her put on little bursts of speed to try to get things moving again. Small traps defeat that instinct that she is showing. An 8 inch trap, with no divider is probably just big enough for a guppy female and is far too small for any of my other fish. I also have one about that size but it has a slotted floor so the fry fall through and I can let a guppy female use the whole length. I do not trap any of my fish these days but at one time I did quite regularly. It is amazing how much stuff builds up even though you no longer use it.
A properly sized breeding trap is another matter entirely. Commercial swordtail breeders in the US are advised by the Department of Agriculture to create some 2 foot squares of open screened area and place their breeding fish into that cage. At 2 feet square we are talking about a volume of around 60 US gallons, not what I would call small. The cage is placed into prepared multiple thousand gallon rearing tanks and the cages of fish adults are allowed to breed freely with a ratio of 5 females to each male. Needless to say, that cage is the adults' permanent home and the fry are always safe as soon as they fall through the bottom.

 

[5teady_2012]

i totally understand what you both are saying, even myself i rarely use traps now, but people who do, i think extra info for them to help minimize stress on thier fish etc just may help them a little more This thread is directed simply at people who use traps who do not have options of more tanks due to room etc, and have less options than others.