Substrate for breeder tanks…

[Magnum Man]

I’m slowly getting ready to start up my last 2 built in tanks, both are 30 gallon longs, they are under my 45 gallon tanks, so not as visible as the top tanks… so when I began to restart tanks a couple years ago, it’s been the plan to use these as breeders… I ran new air lines this week ( see my Big Block thread ) so I maybe should fill the 1st one ( requires cleaning out 25 year old contents, including gravel ) at that point, wondering what to put in for substrate ( I know I could do no substrate ) but prefer something, probably just enough to cover the bottom… trouble is, I don’t know what I want to put in there… 4 substrates I’m leaning towards… 2 are black, polished river rock, like I have in my African tank, and black sand like I have in my Cichlid tank… the 3rd and 4th are either white, or natural beach sand… thoughts???

 

[GaryE]

If I have any substrate in a breeder, it's very fine and shallow. You don't want pebbles, as they are fantastic unwanted bacteria and pathogen traps. You have to feed young fish heavily, and pebbles can be a death sentence for a spawn.

I do tend to have substrates, because I hate bare tanks. I also have a few plants, as fry graze on them. I don't want industrial numbers of fry, because as they grow, what am I going to do with them? Not every fish is wanted by local stores. So if having a substrate is frowned on by commercial breeders, I'm not in that (production) line of work.

 

[Back in the fold]

You never see fine gravel anymore these days, what might be called very coarse sand . What does a guy have to do ? Grind it yourself ?

 

[gwand]

I’m starting up a breeder tank too. I’m going with Imagitarium black sand substrate. I really like it.

 

[GaryE]

You never see fine gravel anymore these days, what might be called very coarse sand . What does a guy have to do ? Grind it yourself ?

I get fine gravel as pool filter sand - chemically inert brown sand that to me isn't sand but gravel. Tomato, tomato, or sand, gravel...

You could crush your own, depending on your hand strength. I'm too lazy, although we all did that before they invented gyms, right? These young aquarists don't know what they missed.

Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won - it's just a song to me now.

 

[Back in the fold]

When I think of gravel it’s only big enough so that a young Convict Cichlid can pick up two or three grains at most when they’re digging .

 

[OldFishKeeper]

If I have any substrate in a breeder, it's very fine and shallow. You don't want pebbles, as they are fantastic unwanted bacteria and pathogen traps. You have to feed young fish heavily, and pebbles can be a death sentence for a spawn.

I do tend to have substrates, because I hate bare tanks. I also have a few plants, as fry graze on them. I don't want industrial numbers of fry, because as they grow, what am I going to do with them? Not every fish is wanted by local stores. So if having a substrate is frowned on by commercial breeders, I'm not in that (production) line of work.

I have stopped any breeding because, in my neck of the woods (Santa Rosa, Northern California), Petco and PetSmart as well as the few remaining LFS's are refusing any locally bred fish...even "Re-Homing" or free donations. As a result, I do not buy from them but look for local or CONUS breeders.

The "imports" these others are selling, along with questionable quarantine practices and untrained staff, have caused enough problems for me. I do not want any more of these problems.

I am hoping for a local aquarium club to form and look to support them.

 

[GaryE]

We still have 2 independent stores that look for hobbyist fish, plus 3 chain types that won't buy locally.

It's an issue here, because shipping to our out of the way small city is expensive, and can add considerably to the price of fish. I'm in the rare situation that if I decide to breed a bunch of a common fish, I could undercut the far eastern farms, because of shipping (up to $1.50 per fish). It's not worthwhile economically because of space and time, but if I were broke, I could make extra grocery money that way.

If were serious about that, I'd paint the outside bottom of the tanks, and leave them bare so I could vacuum every day. Then I could earn 25 cents an hour, totaled up over the 3 months it takes to bring many bread and butter tetras to store size.

If we breed for fun, then the tanks should be fun to look into, and for me, that means substrate and plants.