# Breeder tank questions



## Mikolas (Jan 16, 2010)

Howdy all, I'm new to breeding and I'd like to start a couple of breeding tanks but have a couple of questions before I start.

I don't have access to having too many breeder tanks, and the fish that I want to breed tend to eat their eggs/fry, so I'm looking for an ingenious way to be able to separate the parents from their fry without having to relocate them into another tank every time. I'm also trying to figure out how to separate the fry and have a section to their own when they are "of age". 

Any ideas? I don't really know how to set a breeder tank up in general, so any thoughts would be great.


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## tscott (Jan 7, 2011)

I'm new to breeding also, but one think that is necessary is a sponge or something over the filter intake. Live plants, in my opinion are a must and give a great place for the fry to hide, also if you are talking eggs, fish will lay eggs on the plants themselves. In my so called breeder tank I also have small stones (1/2 inch and a little smaller) in the bottom instead of gravel itself. all my baby fry tend to hide in between the pebbles.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

What kind of fish do you want to breed? Different fish require different things. Are you wanting to raise fry in the same tank as the parents or will you set up a separate fry tank?


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

How many tanks do you have to work with, total, and as snail said, what is the species? Some species have tricks, like removeable breeding mops or a layer of glass marbles that keep egg eaters from eating their eggs, but it will depend on the species.


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## Mikolas (Jan 16, 2010)

I'm looking to create 2 tanks dedicated to this project, maximum would be three depending on the circumstance.
I want to maximize the fry's survival potential.

The fish that I'm considering to breed is a small fish called celestial pearl danios. Somewhat rare, but I understand that they have been over harvested to a degree and there aren't enough breeders quite yet. I'd like to sell these back to the locals as well as the local pet stores to both make back some of the money I used up on fish tanks (I spent way too much for a college student, mom almost disowned me haha), and to reduce the need for the stores around here to buy them from exporters. 

I'm trying to figure out a way to divide the tank between the parents and the fry without having to interfere (by sticking my hand in and moving stuff around/catching stuff), because I imagine that would be very stressful. Removing the parents each time and transferring them to another tank, having to acclimate them, etc, is very stressful no? I also feel that netting/catching/etc the fry when they are newly hatched is also counter-productive to their survival. Is this just my imagination or does this make sense?

I understand the concept of marbles, but they seem bulky and a hassle to work your way around when you want to try catching the fry or need to do maintenance or something. 

This is what I intend to do, I'd like your opinions please. 

I'd like to make something similar in concept to a tank breeder net only much larger using plexiglass and some sort of mesh. This will cover approximately the length and width of the 10 gallon tank, but only about 8 inches deep. I will cover the bottom of the tank with substrate, java moss, and a variety of other plants, along with a sponge filter. The breeder net will be suspended in the water and hung onto the top of the aquarium and have a decent amount of java moss on the bottom. With this, I am hoping to breed the celestial pearl danios in the large breeding net, and have their eggs fall through the mesh onto the bottom of the real tank itself. Then the real tank portion can serve as the main home for the fry to eat, grow until they are large enough to be transported onto the second tank. Thus, a tank within a tank concept.

I'm not sure how plausible it is... but that's what I want you guys to consider. Let me know if you have any other tips to consider. 

Also, anybody know what meshes I can buy that are safe for aquariums in terms of chemicals and the material (don't want fish to get damaged by it)? It also needs to have large enough holes that can allow eggs to fall through, but not the parents themselves (I don't know how small or large eggs are suppose to be). 

Additionally, I'm not sure which sponge filter brand (I heard hydro) is the best for breeding purposes, and should I purchase one with with a higher rating? I don't know if it's overdoing it to purchase one that's meant for 40 gallons, for a 10 gallon tank. I'm aware a lot of people including myself like to have as much filtering for main tanks, but I'm not sure if breeding tanks should be the same.

What glue should I purchase that is safe, which will allow me to put this contraption together?

Finally, what do people feed these fries? I have seen so many different opinions and methods, I would appreciate it if somebody broke it down a bit better for me. I'd like something that is easier to handle.


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

any nylon mesh will work, be readily available and will be pretty chemically stable (won't leach chemicals into the water) plus it isn't that hard to sew and you can get it at most fabric stores in a variety of colors and mesh sizes. The trick is, your fish are going to have waste that falls through the mesh and you're still going to want to clean the bottom whether or not they're spawning. Having a lot of moldy food and fish poo on the bottom will not be healthy for the eggs. You could keep the tank bare bottom, then when you want to clean, you can move the frame of the net inner tank over, making the inner tank smaller (say, 1/3 size) while you vaccuum the bottom. You won't have to be netting out the adults, they would just stay inside the net when it is sort of smaller, and if you do your frame moving slowly enough they'll get out of the way.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

CPD are very avid egg and fry eaters. It partly depends on how many fry you want. To breed in large numbers the most success seems to be with removing the parents from the tank after spawning. For smaller numbers an egg trap works well. The method you mention does not seem popular, possibly because the adults prefer to spawn at the bottom of the tank and the young fry hang out near the top. Also it is easier to feed fry and do daily water changes if they are in their own tank. This link might help:
The Celestial Pearl Danio Forum :: View topic - New to Pearl danio breeding urgent please help
I was looking for another one from some one who raised CPD by the hundreds but can't find it just now, I'll get back to you if I find it. I think it would be perfectly possible to raise a reasonable amount of fry with only 2 tanks, three would make it even easier. You can always use plastic storage boxes instead of tanks to raise fry.


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## Mikolas (Jan 16, 2010)

snail said:


> CPD are very avid egg and fry eaters. It partly depends on how many fry you want. To breed in large numbers the most success seems to be with removing the parents from the tank after spawning. For smaller numbers an egg trap works well. The method you mention does not seem popular, possibly because the adults prefer to spawn at the bottom of the tank and the young fry hang out near the top. Also it is easier to feed fry and do daily water changes if they are in their own tank. This link might help:
> The Celestial Pearl Danio Forum :: View topic - New to Pearl danio breeding urgent please help
> I was looking for another one from some one who raised CPD by the hundreds but can't find it just now, I'll get back to you if I find it. I think it would be perfectly possible to raise a reasonable amount of fry with only 2 tanks, three would make it even easier. You can always use plastic storage boxes instead of tanks to raise fry.


Please do find that other link, I've seen the one you showed me. It has to do with pearl danios though, not celestial pearls. I found a link in it however, that shows an diy egg trap. I will try making that today.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I put that link because of the egg trap  It also mentions using the breeding box doesn't work as well for CPD as the egg trap does. I'll look for the other link, it's from the same sight but is well hidden.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Found it. It starts talking about something else but a ways down the page monica describes how she breeds her CPD, its the most successful account I've seen of breeding. The Celestial Pearl Danio Forum :: View topic - Breeding Celestial Danios cohabitating with Cherry Shrimp


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## Mikolas (Jan 16, 2010)

Well... unfortunately, she didn't get too descriptive, so I'm unsure how to follow her advice ya know? I guess I'd have to follow the ballpc guy's advice. I'm really excited, I hope to be able to do well.

Though, cpds have been amongst the only fish that I couldn't keep alive. I have a 75 and a 55 gallon, semi-aggressive (larger) and peaceful respectively. I've had about 30 cpds over the course of months, and I couldn't keep them alive in these tanks. I hope things will turn out better in these species only breeding tanks.


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