How do you keep breeder tank clean ?

[diamond_discus]

How often do you do water change for breeding tank ? and how many percent WC ? What do you feed your breeding pair ?

I tried flakes, pellets, BH mix ... Although my fish would eat them, but the BH mix would foul the water too much .. flakes and pellets still has lots of tiny particles left at the bottom .. The cleanest so far is Frozen Blood Worm (I suspect the Freeze Dried Black Worm would be good as well).

I don't want to do huge daily water change to breeding tanks. Any idea/suggestion ?

[jeff@zina.com]

I don't want to do huge daily water change to breeding tanks. Any idea/suggestion ?

Find a different hobby...? :)

Lots of clean water is the key to discus, and if it takes large water changes, that's what you need to do. Good filtration helps, but the buildup of ammonia and nitrates can only be handled by changing the water.

There are ways to extend the time and amount of water that needs changing. Light stocking levels, proper filtration and live plants for example, but you're always going to need to do water changes.

Jeff

[diamond_discus]

Find a different hobby...? :)

Lots of clean water is the key to discus, and if it takes large water changes, that's what you need to do. Good filtration helps, but the buildup of ammonia and nitrates can only be handled by changing the water.

There are ways to extend the time and amount of water that needs changing. Light stocking levels, proper filtration and live plants for example, but you're always going to need to do water changes.

Jeff

Jeff, I guess you misunderstood my question .. I was talking about two fishes in a breeding tank .. I do 95% daily change on all my other tanks ... I am just curious on what other people are doing to their breeding tank .. I didn't want to do huge WC to breeding tank not because I want to save work or save time .. but I don't want to disturb them too much. So I was wondering what others are feeding to their breeding tank to keep the water as clean as possbile.

[David Rose]

This is my routine... water changes and cleaning routine are as usual until fry go free swimming. I target to do a 100% just before wrigglers detach then drop the water level to help the fry find the parents for a few days. I then do two 25-50% water changes a day vacuuming the bottom. One after the first feeding and the second after the last feeding around 7p.m. I feed five times a day. I left my fry with the parents for three weeks, which was too long given damage to the female. I will only keep them together two weeks going forward. Once the fry are separated, for best growth, it is best to still do two large water changes a day. IMO, the large water changes are necessary given the food messing up the water quality as well as wiping down the tank daily for slime build up. This will definitely help prevent bacterial issues.

I'm definitely no expert, but listen to those who are and this has been the advice given to me that I follow.

[Eddie]

Simple sponge filter, if any at all and daily 100% Water Changes. I feed only clean foods, Angel Plus 1.5mm fry starter pellets or Mal's FD Blackworms. Pairs are fed once a day. ;)


Eddie

[diamond_discus]

Thanks, David and Eddie.

I tried feeding BH mix and some earthworm flake but I found that the BH will foul the water too much, and the flake will create too many tiny particles at the bottom. I am now feeding ColorBits, Frozen Blood Worm and NLS pellet.

The NLS pellet still leaves too much tiny particles .. I can't feed color bits to my yellow pair because I don't want them to turn orange .. So they only food I can use is Frozen Blood Worm ... But I will try to order Mal's BlackWorm and Angel Plus 1.5mm fry starter pellets.

I only have sponge filter in all my 20gallon breeding tanks. But Eddie, how do you do 100% water change ? That won't stress out the breeding pairs too much ? I am only doing 50% daily WC .. but will try to increase the amount of WC then ..

[Eddie]

I only have sponge filter in all my 20gallon breeding tanks. But Eddie, how do you do 100% water change ? That won't stress out the breeding pairs too much ? I am only doing 50% daily WC .. but will try to increase the amount of WC then ..

dd, I only do this until the pair spawns. Doesn't phase them one bit, they are used to it. All my tanks get 100% from fry to adults. I'm a bit of a water changing addict, I LOVE IT!! :D


HTH

Eddie

[diamond_discus]

dd, I only do this until the pair spawns. Doesn't phase them one bit, they are used to it. All my tanks get 100% from fry to adults. I'm a bit of a water changing addict, I LOVE IT!! :D


HTH

Eddie

Okay, Eddie, thanks .. Will do big water change to the breeding pair as well ... Still not sure how you can archive 100% WC ? I call mine 95% because I have to leave a little water in the tank for the fish to lay down side way ;) Perhaps you can share some video on your 100% WC. I am curious to find out how you do it ..

[White Worm]

I only do about 75% daily and feed live foods. I'll chop up live white worms even for the fry when they are old enough. Live food does not foul the water near as much as pellets, flakes, BH, etc. Breeders love the live food and the fry do well starting off with BBS, hikari first bites and then live food. Puts some growth on pretty quickly.

[kaceyo]

When you have wrigglers on the cone you only need to do around 20% to 30% wc's. You don't want to lower the water so much that the wrigglers are left out of the water. You can leave eggs out of the water as long as they don't dry out, but not wrigglers. I start feeding only Tetra bits as soon as eggs are layed and stop feeding altogether a couple of days before the wrigglers are going to go freeswimming.
Once they have attached for around 24 hrs or more you can start feeding the parents small amounts of food. You can also start doing bigger wc's as long as the fry aren't scattered around and getting sucked up with tank water.
Good luck,

Kacey

[seanyuki]

Just do 20 to 30 % water changes daily and vacuum the bottom....no need to feed the breeders with beefheart as will pollute the water more quickly....just feed the pair once a day and the frys depends on their age......many fry food in the market so what is convenience to you.....ten guys will give you ten different answers......20 years ago I just gave them live brine shrimps or live Daphnia for the fry diets.