Looking to breed clowns but have space issues.

[nanomania]

Since i stay in an apartment, its difficult for me to keep multiple tanks. I would like to know:

1) the minimum tank size for a breeding pair
2) can i connect the fry tank to the main setup?
3) what should be the minimum tank size for the fry?
4) since they have a few stages, whats the minimum no. Of tanks required?
5) for growout tank, wats the minimum size required?
6) is there any alternatives to rotifers like infusoria?
7) any technique for easy rotifers and plankton culture?

 

[Abhishek]

This is an epic discussion by itself !

However, I would rather have one of the most amazing breeder answer your question. Looping in @chad vossen .

If you haven't looked at Chad's forum, please have a look at :- https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/vossen-aquatics.940/

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Larry L]

I would add:

8) how much room do I need for growing live foods?

 

[dantimdad]

I will take a stab at this from a small breeder's stand point. I bred 7 varieties for 5 years. Old school.

First thing is first: You have to have backups of your backup equipment so even on a small scale, you will need more room than you think.

If you are wanting to have any marketable offspring to make this worth while, I would say no less than 3 pairs of each variety you want to keep.

For each pair, you want an extra tank at the ready in case of disaster. This means filtration backup as well.

For each pair have 3 grow out tanks at the ready at any one time. Again, with filtration backup as well.

I think you can see where I am going with this.

I had over 60 tanks setup but only 21 of them had breeding pairs in them.

I had empty tanks in the shed out back as well as redundant equipment.

When I sold out, the guys showed up with a tractor trailer. To get my breeding setup, spares and my shark setup.

Not trying to be discouraging at all. I just want you to be prepared. Breeding is a 7 day a week lifestyle. Not really a hobby.

 

[dantimdad]

Oh and I had 3 baby pools setup to grow rotifers and brine shrimp and 6 big barboys for green water.

 

[nanomania]

I will take a stab at this from a small breeder's stand point. I bred 7 varieties for 5 years. Old school.

First thing is first: You have to have backups of your backup equipment so even on a small scale, you will need more room than you think.

If you are wanting to have any marketable offspring to make this worth while, I would say no less than 3 pairs of each variety you want to keep.

For each pair, you want an extra tank at the ready in case of disaster. This means filtration backup as well.

For each pair have 3 grow out tanks at the ready at any one time. Again, with filtration backup as well.

I think you can see where I am going with this.

I had over 60 tanks setup but only 21 of them had breeding pairs in them.

I had empty tanks in the shed out back as well as redundant equipment.

When I sold out, the guys showed up with a tractor trailer. To get my breeding setup, spares and my shark setup.

Not trying to be discouraging at all. I just want you to be prepared. Breeding is a 7 day a week lifestyle. Not really a hobby.

Im planning to start with just one pair. Means total 4 tanks? Plus 2 buckets for roti and phyto? And a brine setup?

 

[dantimdad]

Im planning to start with just one pair. Means total 4 tanks? Plus 2 buckets for roti and phyto? And a brine setup?

At the minimum.

Again, if you are going to do this, I want you to be prepared.

 

[Blue Lip]

A single breeding pair will require a number of tanks. I pull the rock with eggs hatch day and put into a 10 gallon tank to hatch. I split the hatch into multiple 10 gallon tanks. If you are successful you will soon have to many fish for a 10 gallon tank and will need to move them into a larger tank with filtration. It doesn’t take long before another batch of eggs are ready to hatch and the previous hatch is still occupying the 10 gallon tanks so you will need to get more tanks. You will need to culture rotifers. I would recommend using 2 five gallon buckets with air pumps. You can skip culturing phytoplankton. Use Rotifer Diet from Reed Mariculture to feed your rotifers. You can use it also for green water or buy one of their other blends designed for green water. ( I culture phytoplankton for copepods but use Rotifer Diet concentrate for rotifers as they consume a lot!). You will also need to hatch brine shrimp daily after the he fry have been alive for a few days. While feeding fresh hatched brine shrimp I also start feeding TDO . Good luck!

 

[nanomania]

A single breeding pair will require a number of tanks. I pull the rock with eggs hatch day and put into a 10 gallon tank to hatch. I split the hatch into multiple 10 gallon tanks. If you are successful you will soon have to many fish for a 10 gallon tank and will need to move them into a larger tank with filtration. It doesn’t take long before another batch of eggs are ready to hatch and the previous hatch is still occupying the 10 gallon tanks so you will need to get more tanks. You will need to culture rotifers. I would recommend using 2 five gallon buckets with air pumps. You can skip culturing phytoplankton. Use Rotifer Diet from Reed Mariculture to feed your rotifers. You can use it also for green water or buy one of their other blends designed for green water. ( I culture phytoplankton for copepods but use Rotifer Diet concentrate for rotifers as they consume a lot!). You will also need to hatch brine shrimp daily after the he fry have been alive for a few days. While feeding fresh hatched brine shrimp I also start feeding TDO . Good luck!

That was really awesome.. thank u so much... Unfortunately Im from india, so ill have to culture phyto too... Just a silly question, can rotifers feed on spirulina powder??

 

[JerseyClowns]

Since i stay in an apartment, its difficult for me to keep multiple tanks. I would like to know:

1) the minimum tank size for a breeding pair- Depends on pair, I've bred ocellaris in 4-5G tanks, Clarkii's take substantial more space (at least a 40G)
2) can i connect the fry tank to the main setup? Would not recommend it, but you can. I've done in the past, but you don't want to potentially introduce anything negative into your broodstock system, so I wouldn't advise.
3) what should be the minimum tank size for the fry? I've kept them in 4-5G until ~5-6 weeks afterwhich I typically move them to a 20G tank.
4) since they have a few stages, whats the minimum no. Of tanks required? I typically have 3 tank sizes based on size of fish, but you can always use partitions if you don't have the space for additional tanks.
5) for growout tank, wats the minimum size required? I like 20G tanks for grow out.
6) is there any alternatives to rotifers like infusoria? There are, but in my opinion, rotifers are the best, and quite frankly, relatively easy to maintain.
7) any technique for easy rotifers and plankton culture? consistency is key, don't over feed, keep temp/salinity/ph constant, regular water changes.