Tank Size For Breeding Clownfish and Bangaii Cardinals

[smhray]

Hey everyone! I was just wondering how big of a tank I would need if I wanted to dedicate an entire tank just for breeding clownfish and banggai cardinals. Also wondering how big of a tank I should use for the clownfish larvae and growout for both types of fish. TIA for any input!

 

[James M]

20 gallon tanks would work good for each breeding pair and 10 gallon tanks would also do good for growing out offspring

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Order you up some baby brine eggs and rottifers... if ur cheap you can raise your food and clownfish fry in a sterilite tote(cuz theyre lab grade bpa free just double stack)with cheato and a heater then as they get bigger move them to a bigger tank... its really all in whats in your price range? Are you looking to do this for profit?are you looking to do this for yourself?or are you trying to breed for swaps and fish shows? When i was a kid in the early 2000s when dial up was the only internet my dads budy was a master aquarist he would breed his clowns in a 29g long with a flower pot and bare bottom 100w heater, then grow the fry out in 5 gal buckets as low tech as it gets kiss with best results

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Ive been farting around and plan on doing a little experimenting/ breeding myself

 

[UnderseaOddities]

I picked up a 29g long like my dads friend used years ago for his skunks.. i plan on trying to breed out some black icesas these are my favorite ocelaris morph

 

[UnderseaOddities]

I got a darwin and snowflake in qt and a blackice super highgrade(89.99 at lfs)female for sure paired up with just a normal ocelaris to start out that way i dont loose out too much if its a flop i can just keep one pair in the 29 and make a bookshelf nano reef... but fingers crossed clowns are supposed to be easy and hardy... ive bred mollies and tetras. In freshwater so im hoping im sucsessful in my efforts

 

[ichthyogeek]

Which clownfish species are you thinking of? Ocellaris and Perculas will be fine in a 20H, but the larger non-percula complex clowns will most likely need a 40 gallon or more from waht I've seen in the forum.

If you're talking about polyculture, then again, a 20H will be the bare minimum for two banggais and two clownfish.

Look into Big Round Tubs or kreisels for clownfish larvae, and then a few 10 gallon tanks for growout of both BCs and clownfish should work.

 

[UnderseaOddities]

This is what im looking into getting

Edsal 72 in. H x 36 in. W x 18 in. D 5-Shelf Steel Commercial Shelving Unit in Black UR185L-BLK - The Home Depot

You can assemble this Edsal heavy duty steel shelving unit vertically as shelves or horizontally as a workbench for your office or home. Its neutral color goes with everything in your home. You can adjust

www.homedepot.com

along with 2 more 29gs
20g sump(refugium,water staging repurifier) on bottom shelf
And rotifer and brine hatchery on top in 2

5 gal buckets

Cheap probably a 300$ setup to get into breeding

 

[Leo_ian]

I read somewhere that 10 gallons to breed clowns is sufficient and anyway most clown breeders do a 10 gallon for percs and occis

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@Leo_ian you can use anything its all on what you wanna set out to accomplish and factors such as time,space money etc... if the goal is to maximize profit ive seen cuban clownfish breeders in fl use 12 gal(filledup to 10 gals)sterilite totes and use ocean water directly sourced from the atlantic and would put them in patio garage or under plastic party tent in yard to maximize profit...but the quality of life isnt that great. Its all in what you set out to do and the space you have 10 gallons would be ok for brooding fry but i think 20 gal or 29 gal or even a 30 would be more practical for breeding(wait till petco suplies or plus has a $ a gallon sale)because fully grown they can get up to 3" if u get a bigmama sometimes theyre 3.5 or 4 if u feed them a mixed diet of live frozen and dehydrated(plus alot of oceania(AU,NZ,IN)breeders claim selcon is the secret sauce for optimum diet,it puts them in the mood and gives the female vital vitamins,macro and micro nutrients to help in the process of reproduction... but im not saying a 10 gallon couldnt work for you... im just speaking based on personal expirence and struggle a 10 gallon would be to much up keep and due to size it would be hard to main tain propper parameters and youd have to water change more due to bioload(10 to15% weekl plus top off daily with fresh ro) which may be bad in the long run because you could potentially stress out a breeding pair that were otherwise gonna get busy if u wernt poking around their love shack or u can potentially suck up eggs and lack in yield in fry...it like i said its all in what you want and preference and what your trying to accomplish by breeding(preservation,hybridization,
coloration,that newnew or maybe your just farting around the sky is the limit

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@Leo_ian and those crafy cubans get like 200$ for their miami whites which is like a more platinum wyoming white or frostbite and you have to sign a disclosure... but they were bred with sea water in a 12$ dg tote with a flower pot and no filtration just one pump with 12 to 20 lines hooked up and little pond air stones thats what you call entrupernership the american dream!

 

[UnderseaOddities]

This is why i believe mr miguel hurtado makes people sign a disclosure because he knows the quality of his work and has seen others try to extort or change a line of fish that is that mans legacy and life work a truly beautiful fish that took years of selection...ive never seen anyone as devoted to clownfish husbandry

 

[jjencek]

I have been sucessfully breeding both (clowns and banggai) in the same tank for the last 9 months. It is a Red Sea 170 setup. I have had 18 generations of ocellaris black and 5 generations of cardinals. I am also breeding a pair of peppermint shrimp in the same tank, but I am still learning how to raise those.