Fishroom Tour

[GuppyDude]

I would disagree Clay, in fact, i know several people who raise fish for a living on a similar scale.

 

[Tolak]

Thanks for the complements everyone! They are almost all angels, the bottom 10 gallon has some platys that are breeding, the 20 long on the top of the next rack has a few different corys, the green aeneus breed almost constantly. These get distributed around the tanks once they get a little size to them, excellent cleanup crew, even in fry tanks. The top 29 on the right of the third pic has a group of lemon yellows, Labidochromis caeruleus , that are just about breeding size. The 29 under that has some Apistogramma cacatoides breeding, along with some growing out. These give me a little something different to work with, as well as offer at local auctions. The rest are just angels, with a few corys or plecs for cleanup.

There is a glass block window behind the 55 in the 4th pic, it offers some room light. I also have a dryer vent in one of the blocks, attached to a bathroom fan on a timer. This cycles on 3 times daily for 1 ½ hours to remove humidity. There are a couple of 40 watt incandescent bulbs in the ceiling, with dimmers, as well as flouro fixtures that light 2 or 3 tanks at a time on the lower racks. I’m guessing the lighting averages 1/3 wpg, not counting daylight.

Heating with gas is done in the winter; you can see the heat register in the last pic. I cut that directly into the main trunk of my forced air system, the heater hardly run in the winter. Gas heat is being considered for the summer; the problem being finding a small enough unit, as around ½ of the cubic footage of that room is water.

With water changes I can drain & fill 5 gallons per minute, and have separate lines for draining & filling, so I can do both simultaneously. I’ve timed myself on the 29’s; 50% water change on all 5, with a floss change & bottom vac, 40 minutes. After this I have to wait about ½ hour for the water heater to reheat. Water changes & tank maintenance take about 4 hours weekly, not counting fry tanks. Fry tanks & the bbs hatchery take about ½ hour to an hour every night.

My wife has threatened to kill me, but has not followed through on those threats…yet. Actually she is very supportive of this, to the point of volunteering to be club secretary this year. I always double check my plans sales-wise with her, she has excellent business sense. Anyone who will travel with me through the west side of Chicago (as high crime as it gets) In the evening, in a beat up truck in search of nearly free tanks deserves sainthood. This same wonderful woman drove with me to Crown Point Indiana to pick up seven of those 150-gallon tubs. The list of minor aquatic annoyances is huge I am sure, anyone less tolerant would have taken me out long ago.

I’m averaging around 500 angels per month for the summer, which is usually rather slow. I could max out at about 1,000 per month now, the problem being that sales have to be anticipated 8 to 16 weeks in advance, and spawns pulled & raised accordingly. Once the 40’s are running, and a few more adjustments & tweaks in the room and breeding process & I could put out close to 1,500 per month.

I do this just for fun & a little extra spending money; my full time job is as a pressman for a commercial printing outfit. I do get a kick out of selling angels to a shop, then spending the money on puppy supplies, buying groceries on the way home, or blowing the money on a couple of pizzas. I’ve seen an angel breeding setup that was run as a full time business, that’s where I got the 150-gallon tubs from. Three hundred 40 breeders on a centralized system, a 300 gallon tub for bio filtration, a few 3 foot uv sterilizers, huge ro system with mixing vats, and enough pvc pipe to plumb a dozen houses. This breeder was retiring, and parting out his setup, he was putting out around 10,000 angels monthly. He was also paying 2,000+ for electricity every month. His wife did the business end, paperwork and such; he did the hatchery maintenance, sales & delivery. Feeding alone took him at least 3 hours daily. He was doing this since sometime in the ‘60’s, and was getting up there in years, as well as his wife having some medical problems. This is the size of setup needed to do this full time, and turn any serious profit, I’m happy with a little extra spending money.

 

[iSnail]

Wow impressive!! I am so envious of you.

 

[fish_master]

Im going away nxt year to agricultural college to study aquaculture have been interested in it for along time should be good

 

[Gun]

Hi Tolak

Wow..nice set up Your fish look really healthy and full of colour.

Hmmm...10,000+ fish per month...no problem!

Only joking...this is a worrying issue Not so worrying to put me off of having a go at this, though Give it a go, if successful..expand, if unsuccessful...split the breeding pairs and be happy with a nice personal setup (somewhere to relax) Either way I can't lose...just means if it don't work out I carry on powdercoating

About your setup:

I'm interested in your 'forced air system'. Are those the pipes (in pics) that carry the air? Also, which pump and how much force you getting through the pipes?
The connections to each tanks also...can you drill anywhere along the pipe,add an airtight valve/tap/airline or whatever and have instant air supply over the tank in use....?

I would like to also run a 'water change' pipe/hose system along side this airpipe. My idea is to have 2 taps above each tank (either attached to racks or coming from rear wall/s) one for sucking/other for refilling. The only work I want to do regarding water changes is 'turn a tap' The refilling hose will start outside connected to several barrels...some rainwater/some tap. The barrels will be airated for around 48hrs before introducing the water back to tank.

So that would be 1 plastic pipe and 2 hoses running along the walls...connected with taps/valves/airline to each individual tank. Filtration will probably be 'individual' until I research more in this area (risk of mass disease outbreak, etc) .

 

[5teady_2012]

I would love to do something like this in my garage but im worried about the electric bill lol

 

[tangokitty]

Glad your wife is really understanding! Your fish room is amazing, but do you have a nicely set up tank inywhere in the main part of your house or are you just into breeding?

 

[Bichonbabe94]

Time for another update, which I do every year or so. I figured I may as well do this before I add any more tanks,as it will be difficult to get anything more than close-ups in my small fishroom.

This is the view from the couch, sitting in the family room;

In this picture the door is on the left, from the left brine shrimp hatchery on the wall above a storage cabinet (you can see the brine shrimp settling while I mess with the camera), 15 gallon above a couple of 10’s, 20 above a 29, and a couple of 29’s. These are mainly growout tanks for fry, or pairing tanks for pre-adults;

The rest of the 29’s, with a 15 & a 20 down low;

On the top of this one is a 55, middle rack is a 20 & some 2.5’s. I use the 20’s for breeders, 2.5’s for hatching. The 55 is for potential breeders;

Bottom of that rack, a couple of 20’s with pairs. The blacks in the left tank are spawning;

A couple of 20’s above a 55, the 20’s have pairs, the 55 is potential breeders. I like to use those top 20’s for pairs that are slow to spawn, or new things I am trying to breed, as they are furthest away from any commotion;

These are a pair of 150 gallon tubs I use for final growout. I have five 40 gallon tanks out in the garage waiting for me to build a rack above these tubs. Once I set those up I’ll have a hard time getting unobstructed shots of the fishroom, my goal is to shoehorn as many gallons into a 8’x16’ room as possible. My aquarist friends all laugh at me, I had better not gain any weight or I won’t fit in there;

Look at all that room up there! 200 more gallons & a fry hatchery, no problem!

Hope everyone enjoys, I’ll get pics of the 40’s once those get set up.

do you have enought angles?
lol
it looks greatt
i have always wanted to have a whole room full of fish tanks!

andd do you sell your angles? or keep them?

 

[Jim Curtis]

I thought you were talking about the soffits on his ceiling when you first asked about all the angles, but now I've figured out what you mean. Also glad you quoted all the photos because I totally forgot what we were talking about after I left page one and I truly enjoyed waiting for them to download again.

 

[invader]

I thought you were talking about the soffits on his ceiling when you first asked about all the angles, but now I've figured out what you mean. Also glad you quoted all the photos because I totally forgot what we were talking about after I left page one and I truly enjoyed waiting for them to download again.

 

[Keeper Of Cichlids]

Amazing!

I can tell you like your angels!