Can a pair breed and raise fry in a 20 gallon tank?

[jeff12]

I was just wondering, can you breed and raise fry to 1 inch with the parents in a 20 gallon tank?

[Akili]

Raising the fry to one inch would be pushing it.

[jeff12]

How should water be changed throughout the breeding process, from hatching, wrigglers, to fry?

[Willie]

20 Gal is really too much to use as a breeding tank, so raising fry is out of the question. I would recommend a 29 gal tank as a minimum for breeding purposes. I prefer 40 breeders, which are easier to clean. Fry respire rapidly and put out a huge amount of waste. I would do 100% water changes daily in a 20 gal tank just to raise fry. Even so, I doubt you can get them to 1" without significant stunting.

Willie

[bluelagoon]

I was just wondering, can you breed and raise fry to 1 inch with the parents in a 20 gallon tank?

NO,you can't.

[Akili]

How should water be changed throughout the breeding process, from hatching, wrigglers, to fry?

Some people do use 20 gallon tanks for breeding., as a matter of fact I have a pair that have spawned five days ago in a 20 gallon tank.The wrigglers are not free swimming yet. For the first 48 hours I did no water change.On the third day after the spawn after Ihad seen the wrigglers I did a 25% water change with aged tap water. Yesterday I did a 40 % water change and this morning a 50% water change Both these water changes were with aged tap water. While doing the water changes I was very careful with the siphon hose that it did get any where close to the wrigglers or the cone and tried to siphon out as much waste as I could from the opposite side of the cone. As soon as the wrigglers are attached,I intend to do 50 % water changes twice a day. Lastly the plan is to do 50 % water change in the morning and 80 to 100 % water change when the fry are on baby brine shrimp feeding.This is the first time I have used a 20 gallon tank. I have always used a 35 gallon or larger tanks in the past.

[GVB]

I have four pairs breeding in 20longs right now. I have fry at 3.5-4inches right now and I have raised them to adults before as well. I keep the fry and the parents in the 20longs until things start looking crowded then move to a 55gal. Water changes are key. 50% at least every other day for me on the 55gal. 20gals are nice to start but you really need a good amount of water volume to grow. In my opinion, if you kept maybe on a small percentage of the fry, maybe 10-20, you could get to 1inch but you'd need to move them sooner than later to a bigger tank. Stunting is highly possible without sufficient water changes on that 20gal... you'd need to do probably 50%-75% daily with aged water.

[nc0gnet0]

Depends on the size of the batch of fry, but your really pushing it. Might be doable with 2-3x 80% water changes. You can use a 20 gallon as a breeder, but your going to want to move the fry to a larger tank much sooner than 1./2 inch for a normal sized batch (75 - 150) Larger batches even sooner. A 29/30 gallon is the smallest I recommend.

[jeff12]

Is there no threads/stickys related to the breeding process and how to care? I am trying to learn what to do at certain stages of the breeding process such as water change schedule, what to feed, what to do.

[Akili]

Is there no threads/stickys related to the breeding process and how to care? I am trying to learn what to do at certain stages of the breeding process such as water change schedule, what to feed, what to do.

This is a very helpful...............http://www.discusnada.org/breeding-discus/

[bluelagoon]

IMO a 20 gal. is barely big enough for a hospital tank for one adult discus.I couldn't imagine a 6.5"-8" discus being happy in such a small tank.Two and fry = multiple WC's per day,you would think.I had an 8.5" discus in a 20 gal.hospital tank not long ago;it had no room to swim.

[PAR23]

This is a very helpful...............http://www.discusnada.org/breeding-discus/

Great read...Thanks

[peewee1]

I revived this thread because I was today going to buy a 40 gallon breeder. I'd move all but a pair who are always pecking at the cone but get side tracked by the other discus to the 40 gallon. The pair would remain in the 30. Prior to when I had a breeding program going I had either 4 or 6 20 gallon tanks with spawning pairs in each. After reading these posts I think I will buy a 20 rather than a 40 and then move the breeding pair to the 20 and keep 4 to 5 in the 30 gallon. I am heading for the lFS now to price the 20 and maybe a 30. Either one.