Fishtal's Breeding Room

Very nice, Tal!

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

I got two tanks and the sump filled today. I'm using a mix of new SW and water from the existing system.
 
Here is Selina checking out the new sump:
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Looks great!  What are you using for covers on your tanks?

Careful with the sump - the thin walls can split on you.  A 2x4 frame around the bulge should help.
 
Try these:
 
http://www.homedepot.com/Storage-Organization-Storage-Totes-Baskets-Utility-Totes/h_d1/N-5yc1vZb9od/R-202522825/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051
 
http://www.homedepot.com/...3-381e28ac3a94_300.jpg
I've used three or four of them now (as both tanks and sumps) and they are pretty damn near bullet proof! 
Not to mention cheap ($14!) 27Gallons, and 700 lb. capacity!
 

Covers are corrugated plastic. Cheap and easy to work with.
 
Got the juvies moved over the other day...




 
And new broodstok arrived late tonight. Sorry for the poor pic quality. Two Onyx pairs, one pair has regular Onyx markings, the other has Picasso-like patterns.
 



 
Got a pair of sunrise dottys too.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Went to HD and picked up new tiles for everyone.
 
Regular Onyx:


 
Picasso Onyx:





 
Pink skunks:

 
Sunrise dottys:

 
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Tal, the fish look great!
 
You didnt QT them?

-Adam

The skunks were in QT for over 6 weeks since they were WC. The Onyx and dottys came from a local breeder so I didn't QT in this case.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Tal, what size tiles are you using? 

6x6 for the vertical and bottom, 6x8 for the diagonal.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

How do you keep the diagonal tile from sliding out?
 

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Suction cup and clamp normally used for heaters. Same as I use in hatch tanks.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Really like those Picasso Onyx clowns. Will be following along

Fifth tank added to level one. Moved a large batch of A. ocellaris over today:
 


 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Looks good Tal, I'll have to cruise on by sometime and check out the new additions.  And check up on the spitter.

like Jish said... deposit... NO refunds  -thejrc

What kind of substrate do you use with your breeders?

nice pix!

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

I am not using any substrate in this system.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Looks great Tal!  Those Onyx are awesome, I am really jealous!

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Penthouse level in place and ready for plumbing.
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Everything looks great Tal!, especially that Star Wars sticker in the window
Do you get a lot of noise from your standpipes? I am curious because I am looking at different plumbing options for my rack but I have little tolerance for excessive noise. Thanks!

- Brandon AKA Jedi Knight

I like the penthouse level!  Btw, that black silicone looks really slick. 

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Brandon: The noise is minimal. You can check it out in person during the Workshop.
Mindy: Thanks, I'm very happy with the Deep Blue Professional tanks. 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Just a side note, we use to use these in our fish room, and mainly the one with the yellow lid.  One incident where RO water caused the plastics to leech into our systems and wipe everything out.  We called the manufacturer and they said to not use them for any liquid storage and they had no idea what was in the plastics. 

For some reason I'm getting a lot of micro bubbles from 4 of the 5 returns. Not sure why.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Tal, the micro bubbles could be caused by turbulence toward the end of the line.  Do you have a gait or ball attached to the return line?  If not, you could try adding one toward the last or second to last return, and choke it back just a "hair", this should help that problem.

There are a couple kinds of tough totes, I've got one with a yellow lid, and one with a white, and another with a gray one.  No issues so far (3+ years on one of them).  I do know that when I've picked them out I've looked to see which ones "feel" slick on the bottom.  There is a mold release agent that can really be nasty if it's not taken care of (soaked in muriatic acid solution helps to get it off, then a soak for a week or so in regular water).  I've had the same issue (with mold release agents) with rubbermaid tubs as well.  A good soak/cleaning (acid/bleach/vinegar) really helps. 
 
Certainly something to watch out for (with any plastic really).
 
 

Looking good. 
My rubbermaid tote got weaker w age and started bowing out in the middle real bad.  Luckily I kept the lid and cut out the top but leaving the outer edges and a 'center brace' in the middle.  Worked fine for a year till I went to move it to the new house and it cracked.  Now i use a 55 glass tank.  
But for those high density, low space builds... don't forget to consider 15 gal tanks.  Basically a short 20.  You can fit 3 rows and a sump level in the same space as using 2 rows of 20s.  I have 3 levels of 5 tanks on top of a 55 gal sump on one rack.  I need a stool for the top level, but its not wasted space.  

 
Good call.  I find usually though, that if a 20 is too big then a 10 will usually do.  I have a bunch of empty 15s that I don't use.  Although maybe growout would be a good place for some smaller batches.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

I did the same thing with the lid but never put it on. Guess I should do tha.
 
I use 55 gallon sumps for my other systems but I found them difficult fit everything that I wanted at the time. Filtration in this sump is much different but I still have a lot of options to add things without being cramped.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

As many of you know, I've been battling aiptasia in my broodstock system due to the heavy feedings. 
 

 
I've tried removing them with a razor blade but all that did was create more. I also tried peppermint shrimp to no avail.
 
They have gotten much worse lately and I was getting worried about them affecting my broodstock. Case in point; my P. fridmani spawned on the 10th... when I checked the eggs on the 11th they had fallen out of the PVC pipe and onto one of the 'nems. War was declared!  
 
If you've been following my build thread you know that my tanks aren't hard-plumbed. I did that for several reasons but one reason I hadn't considered came to mind today...
 
Simply turn off the flow, drain 5 gallons of water out of the tank into a bucket and move the pair to the bucket. After that I removed the standpipe and drained the rest of the water. Once most of the water was out of the tank I could simply lift the tank and take it to the sink to be cleaned with high powered FW and then a scrub pad.
 
Once that was done I returned the tank to its spot and re-filled it. If I'd had another drilled tank I may have switched it and used bleach but I was in a hurry. This is what the tank looked like after the scrubbing:
 



 
Total time was about 20 minutes. I'm hoping this pair will get back on schedule and spawn again soon. I plan on doing this to the rest of the tanks on the system over the next couple of days.
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Brilliant!

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

That was the reason I don't not hard plumb mine.  I remove tanks for cleaning all the time.  I'm pretty sure the pair will keep on a regular schedule. 
Miles

www.clownhatchery.com

Excellent idea Tal!  A lot more work than Peppermint shrimp though.  Haha!  The Peppermint shrimp I get from one LFS are Aiptasia murderers.  They are aggressive!  I would bring some down to MACNA for you if you have a way to keep them alive over the weekend.  I imagine a permit to bring them wouldn't be too expensive.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

This wasn't really a lot of work. Only took about 20 minutes. I've tried peppermints in the past and had no luck with then.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Tal, I've found different sources have different success with the Peppermints, and even then they are hit or miss - about 50/50 chance each one will have a taste for Aiptasia.  I usually buy a half dozen and move them around to mow down the Aiptasia.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

I can not really tell by the pictures but do you paint the sides of your broodstock tanks?  is there a benefit to painting? 

Broodstock tanks are painted so the fish can't see their neighbors. You don't want the fish to be distracted. You don't have to paint all of the tanks depending on how you have them set up. In other words, you could paint the sides of every other tank. 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Could you also just put black construction paper in between the tanks?

Thanks for the reply.  When I get started on my fish room I will start a new thread.  any input would be appreciated.