Breeding/fry Tank Setup

[Darren5591]

Hey guys,

Going to have a go at breeding some mollies, just something I fancy trying as I have a spare tank with the equipment. I think I have everything, however i'd like to be certain in case i've forgotten something crucial.I have read the FAQ's for advice and I am confident I am up to the challenge.

25litre Clearseal glass tank with lid
25 watt heater
Gravel or sand substrate?
Fresh plants
Breeder net
Hand net for capture/movement
Liquid fry food

I need some assistance on choosing a small filter and pump. I had an Aqua 40 tank before which had a small filter, and it is currently working well in my girlfriends tank. I was thinking it might be worth getting another of these filters? I don't want to spend a fortune, and I dont mind going for a used one either as it doesn't have to be particularly powerful being a 25 litre. Also for a light, I have a clearseal tank which doesn't have one so I need to source one. For now while I get the tank cycled, I shouldn't need one yet should I?

Any other advice would be very useful,

Thanks!

 

[Curiosity101]

Personally I don't think that tank alone is large enough to breed anything in. It would make a perfect birthing tank and temp grow on but it wouldn't be big enough for the adults long term and would barely be big enough for fry short term.

Unless you have more tanks to hand I really wouldn't suggest trying to breed fish in it, you are likely to just end up with alot of dead fry.

 

[Darren5591]

Thanks for your advice. I also have a 64 litre tank available, the idea is to get the fry to a level in which they are "generally" safe from being eaten, then move them over. If plenty of the fish survive, I will probably take them to the LFS as I get credit for them. As a first timer I thought it might be worth a go, especially as I have the tank going spare.

 

[OldMan47]

The 64 litres will barely be big enough for your early growth tank for mollies. I used a 37 litre tank as a birthing tank and moved the fry to a 55 gallon, about 200 litres, tank for a grow out for these baby mollies. They are now 1 1/2 years old and look like fully mature fish but things go slowly, even in that larger space, when you are growing mollies.

Mom and fry at 6 weeks

Fry at 6 months

My total fry population was about 60 fish, so that impacted the space each one had available.

 

[Darren5591]

Hi mate,

Thanks very much for your advice and guidance

I saw these pictures on one of the FAQ's and did question myself to whether I thought they would be larger. Would you suggest another type of livebearer that would be more suitable? I'd really like to breed, and i'm prepared to put the time and effort into making it happen. Thanks again, #42###

 

[Curiosity101]

If you really want to breed fish (as opposed to just raising fry) and are willing for a bit of a challenge then why not consider egglayers? You tend to get less fry...

I personally would start with pre-ordered killifish eggs so that you can get to grips with raising tiny fry and culturing live food cultures.
Then you could move to a shoaling fish such as a rasbora/tetra species. Keep the adults in your main tank (the 64l) till you're ready to breed, then move them to the 10gal to condition with live foods etc. Once they spawn, remove them back to the main tank and raise the fry in the 10gal.

 

[Darren5591]

Thanks again, good ideas. I have some rummynose tetra in the 64 litre at the moment, with them being a shoaling fish I decided that it was best to give them the room to shoal in. How difficult are these to breed? Would it be a good idea to set up the birthing tank anyway, get the filter media established etc? Java moss essential? Do you have any FAQ guides to this type of fish breeding and fry raising? Thanks

 

[Curiosity101]

I'm not sure about rummynose imparticular but I reckon they're 'ok' too breed as far as egg scatterers go.
You'd need to set the birthing tank up for them to spawn in, put lots of moss and such (or a spawning mop in there), but probably leave it bare bottomed. Put the adults into the tank once it's cycled (you can use some media from the 64l to speed things up).

Condition them using lots of life food (live food will help with the raising of the fry so learning how to grow your own by practising on the adults is a good plan). Live foods you can/should use, brineshrimp, blood worm, black worm, white worms etc. Most coultures and info can be found on ebay/google.

As for an actual breeding guide, there may be one on here somewhere (not sure off the top of my head), but you will definitely find guides via google. Search something like 'breeding egg scatters' or 'breeding rummynose tetra'

Another question... how many rummys do you have? And are you sure that you have a mixture of males and females?

 

[luckyliam13]

hey about your filter i just use my standard filter watever it may be. but i get the mesh they sell garlic in and wrap it around the filter intake. this stops all but the most persistant fry from getting into the filter. ive bred bristle nose cats for a while and it works great all my tanks filters which have fry in them are all wrapped in mesh hope that helps

ps plattys are a smaller live bearer and readily breed ive bred them in the past with reasonable sucess just be prepared to move the adults

 

[OldMan47]

Contrary to what C101 said, I find that egg layers produce far more fry when you breed them than livebearers. Livebearers must go for fry size over quantity so they seldom produce more than 50 fry at a time. My own experience, which I will admit is somewhat limited, shows me getting well over 100 fry with each laying and the darned egg layers will lay as often as every 5 to 10 days. If you "save" all of the output from egg layers you will be totally out of control on fish that need a space to grow out. Any fish, egg layer or livebearer, will produce far more fry than most of us can cope with.

 

[Curiosity101]

Contrary to what C101 said, I find that egg layers produce far more fry when you breed them than livebearers.

Sorry I should have expanded. I totally agree they have more fry because egg layers go for numbers vs size. But I've found from reading on here that the mortality rates are significantly higher (partly to do with the whole numbers vs size thing) leading to a lower volume of fish in the long run.

 

[Curiosity101]

My own experience, which I will admit is somewhat limited, shows me getting well over 100 fry with each laying and the darned egg layers will lay as often as every 5 to 10 days. If you "save" all of the output from egg layers you will be totally out of control on fish that need a space to grow out.

I also agree with this. But the simple solution is to move the parents to the 25l for spawning and then return them to the 64l once the first batch has been laid. That way if they spawn again the eggs are dealt with quickly by parents/other fish.

The above is another reason I suggested egg layers over livebearers. The live/larger fry survive much better in a community set-up leading to the possibility of becoming over-run... this doesn't happen with your 'average' egg layer. I say average because if you throw something like convicts into the mix then it dramatically skews things.

 

[Darren5591]

I'm not sure about rummynose imparticular but I reckon they're 'ok' too breed as far as egg scatterers go.
You'd need to set the birthing tank up for them to spawn in, put lots of moss and such (or a spawning mop in there), but probably leave it bare bottomed. Put the adults into the tank once it's cycled (you can use some media from the 64l to speed things up).

Condition them using lots of life food (live food will help with the raising of the fry so learning how to grow your own by practising on the adults is a good plan). Live foods you can/should use, brineshrimp, blood worm, black worm, white worms etc. Most coultures and info can be found on ebay/google.

As for an actual breeding guide, there may be one on here somewhere (not sure off the top of my head), but you will definitely find guides via google. Search something like 'breeding egg scatters' or 'breeding rummynose tetra'

Another question... how many rummys do you have? And are you sure that you have a mixture of males and females?

So leave the tank barebottomed, plenty of java moss and fresh food (live bloodworm is sold down the road from me from the LFS). I've got plenty of time to get the tank cycled, I dont know whether its worth trying to cycle it fishless, or because i've got fish available, use them for their bio load.

I'll have a look in the egg scatter sections to see if there is any info on this. I have 10 rummynose tetra, however as I am not with them right now I can't determine the sex just yet. I imagine there is a good mix, but you never know with the LFS. Are there any prompts to get them to breed, temp changes etc? I'll probably find this on the internet, but you might know

I have access to the following fish, which might be easier to harder to breed with giving the tank space I have available.

Rummynose tetra
Danio (mixed)
Platys
Mollys
Gourami (female needed)
Minnows

 

[Darren5591]

Just to add, the idea wouldn't be to keep them all on. Some would be taken to my LFS, as they take in any fish (to an extent) and offer credit. This isn't a money making scheme ha, just a good way to offload some of them if i find I have more than expected.

 

[DJ Day 1]

a little tip i found in regards to breeding; cut the foot off a pair of nylon tights (with permission of course) and place it over the inlets of your filter. this stops the fry from being able to swim up into your filter for a certain death. also, if you place the other foot of the stockings over a floating breeding tank, they can't escape to be eaten.