Breeding/Rearing Tanks While a lot of fish will breed quite happily in a community tank, (Livebearers in paticular) some fish will require a seperate breeding tank. Even if your fish breed in a community tank, you will still need a tank for the fry to grow in. The problem with fry left in your community tank is that they are very tasty snacks for the other fish, and sometimes even the parents, so if you want more than a few to survive, you must provide a seperate tank for them. Plastic breeding traps are not a good place to keep baby fish for any length of time, for one thing they float directly beneath the aquarium lights so your babies will get quite hot during the day, another problem is that circulation of water is very poor. Nowadays you can get a breeding net which fastens onto the side of your tank, and looks suitable for keeping several young fry in until they are large enough to join the community tank proper (depending on the population level). Breeding/rearing tanks need not be big, 2-6 gallons will be adequate for most fish, while tanks of 11-22 gallons will be needed for large fish. Decorations need to be kept to a minimum, filtration is best carried out with a foam filter, these types of filters carry out gentle but efficient biological filtration that will not damage young fry, but be sure to either get the correct size air pump for your tank size or even better get one that can be adjusted. Setting up another tank is quite easy, you don't need to go through the usual running in period, you can either fill your new tank with 50% of the water from your community tank, and top it up with clean water, treated in the usual way for water changes. Or you can set a foam filter running alongside you usual filtration system for a couple of weeks prior to using it in your new tank, this will collect the helpful bacteria needed. There are also several products on the market that can be applied straight to your new filter, such as Bio-Starter or Safe Water. Alternatively you can combine 1 or 2 of the above. I tend to take water from my community tank (from the top so there is no dirt) AND use Safe Water. One thing you musn't forget to do is regular water changes, especialy in rearing tanks where there are a number of fry. Ammonia and nitrite levels can rise to lethal proportions otherwise. If you need to add gravel for your specific type of fish, make sure it's a thin layer, it makes it easier to clean. With small fry the best way to clean a tank of uneaten food and fish waste, is to use a flexible tube and siphon it out. You will find that young fish are very nosey and on occasion get sucked up by accident, so make sure that you are siphoning water into a clean bucket or container kept soley for fish use, this makes easy to rescue your adventurous fry. |
