marinetropic

All depends on location haha! On another note. Picked up a cheap 2 ft and slid it next my other grow out. Just finished setting up and rather happy. Yes I know they are floating jungles, they serve as dumps for all of my offcuts. Haha

That's a good point, I was thinking of potentially going down that route if needed.

Gah! They hatched today. Had them hanging in a breeder box but one of the big female knocked the lid off and there was babies everywhere. Managed to save most of them!

Thansk for input! After a bit more thinking and measuring my plan will probably be as follows: Rack which will be 3 ft long x 3 ft x 430mm or 530mm and it will house either 1 x 3ft and 2 x 90l cubes or just 2 x 3ft. I can't go taller to get a third shelf as I don't have a point to anchor the shelves to avoid tipping. I'm also picking up a dirt cheap 2ft tank (50 bucks with heater and filter) this weekend to work around my current stock until I can sell off the ones that are grown to buy the shelving. More than likely I'll end up with 1 x 3ft, 2 x 90l cubes and 1 or 2 x 2 ft tanks ( I have a stand for a single 2 foot, but might be able to squeeze in a dual 2 foot stand) 3 footer will be for my common lf/sf trio and common stock, 1 90 will house my super red pair and the other tanks will be grow out space for any live-bearers from my community tank or extra bn space if/when needed.

This is true, I'm lucky I have a few shops that will take them as we can't import any "pleco" into Australia so the only ones the LFS can get are from local breeders or the local wholesalers, so any pleco is always in demand (even common bristlenoses). It will be a step by step build anyway as whatever I sell is the money I'll have to expand and sustain the hobby. It's exciting none the less.

Yes bristlenoses are messy haha! I think anything in the "pleco" family (hypancistrus, ancistrus, peckolita etc) are all messy as they are prolific eaters that graze all day. It seems like bigger volume tanks is the way to go. It's interesting that more smaller tanks gives more total volume, but like with everything it means more work and more maintenance, just means I might not be able cycle them as often.

I have 2 females breeding at the same time (that's why he's sitting on 2 clutches). The females have been full size for 6 months, I've had them for 18 months. I only have limited space to set up the breeding rack hence the small number of tanks. The bn's are currently breeding in my 3 ft community tank with platies/mollies/tetras so I can easily let a batch go in the 3 ft if I'm out of space and the live bearers will gobble them up. I also have a a juvy longfin common male and shortfin female super red with the intention of breeding the reds together and the commons. There is another option depending on the final shelving I get, I am able to use 4 x 24" x 18 " x 18" (120l don't know the gallon conversion) which is only a bit smaller in volume than a 40 but a lot bigger than the 20 long, just those tanks are a lot more expensive. Ah the joys of it all!

Hi everyone, Just wanted to see what everyone's opinion is regarding the best way of setting up grow out tanks. I'm breeding bristlenoses and they are spawning every 4-8 weeks depending on time of year and how they are feeling (I don't trigger them with water changes, they just do their thang) I have a deal with a couple of the LFS in my area who will take them on a rotating basis, but I don't have a huge amount of grow out space and it's making maintenance difficult (I have a 25 gallon and 2 10 gallons) Once I get some money from the batch I'm a out to sell I can get a proper shelf to run multiple tanks. I can essentially set it up one of 3 ways with the shelving I have picked out, outlined below: 6 x 20 gallon longs (standard 2 ft tanks here) 4 x 25 gallon (45cm/15inch cube) 2 x 40 gallon long (36" x 14" x 18") I plan to run the tanks on sponge filters through one big air pump and appropriate heaters. Is it better to have more tanks and less fish in each or it not that important? Also, pictures of what I'm currently sitting on, 80+ 3-4cm commons, dad sitting on 2 clutches of eggs! There's also another 90-100 ~2cm commons split between the 10 gallons.

Update time! Second batch of BN have hatched. I was able to set up 2 x 30l tubs to separate the fry from the community and grow in piece. All but one of the platy fry got eaten before I have the fry tubs set up. The 90l will eventually be set up in the new house, but there is a lot of stuff that needs to be moved to make space. First batch are measuring 2-3cm (approx 1inch) at 6 weeks, almost ready to start moving on.

I appreciate the straight forward response! That's why I asked, the last thing I would want to do is do the wrong thing for the fish. I'm currently working with an idea with putting some smaller storage tubs on the bottom of the stand that holds my tank currently. ( Otherwise it will just be survival of the fittest) If my measurements are correct I can fit 2 x 30l tubs on the shelf under my tank and run them on sponge filters from an air pump I have already.

Hi all, Firstly sorry if this has been asked before. I have recently had to move back to my parents house (massive rent increase) and as such I had to consolidate my tanks into one. I'm very lucky that my platies and bristlenoses are happy and are breeding like crazy and I'd love to be able to separate out the babies into grow outs but we are limited to indoor space and don't really have room for more than the one tank. Just curious about what extra provisions need to be taken into consideration if I wanted to set up a grow out tank outside. It would be under cover away from sunlight. Where I live gets a pretty big temperature range 0-40 Celsius or 32-104 fahrenheit between summer to winter. Any advice/tips/cautions would be greatly appreciated. Inserting proud daddy for attention

Here we go! Round 2! Recently moved and had to turn my large tank which was my breeder into my community tank as we don't have the room for 2 tanks. Woke up this morning to this Red boy sitting on eggs and platy fry everywhere. The first batch is growing well in the 90l while we finish cleaning up that house. They will be rehomed soon.

Had to break the tanks down as we had to move over the weekend. The babies are currently sitting my 90l fattening up a bit, but when I cleaned out the big tank for the move there was one lonely little itty bitty plecos hiding away so he is now chilling with the big boys. Will need to get an updated photo! No deaths as of yet, and they are looking happy and healthy munching away on zucchini, green beans and algae wafers.

I had a bit of trouble getting a 40g set up as a breeder for my bristlenose. I finally got it cycled and dropped my bn in went about my business. I was doing my weekly water change/maintenance and noticed a large amount of gravel in one of my caves. Then I saw a clutch of eggs. The male wasn't sitting on them, so I placed them in a breeder box. I lost a couple of mould, but managed to keep majority. 2 failed to hatch properly, one sadly didn't make it much longer after hatching and one had a deformity where it was swimming in spirals. Out of all it I have counted about 50 fry. Waiting for full color to come through, but guessing they will be common with super red het gene as the male is super red.

There is quite a bit of plants in it, just the cloudiness hides a lot..theres 2 small anubias, 5-6 java ferns, some thin valisnera runners that are growing out, a bunch of hygro polyspirma, a bunch of blue stricta and some water sprite. My other tank runs similar levels of plants and is heavily stocked (90l with 8 adult platies, 3 black phantom tetras, 3 juvi yoyo loaches and 2 x 6 inch female bristlenoses and 1 x 3 inch male bristlenose) and that almost never shows a nitrate level. I also heavily seeded the filter in the new tank with sponges and gravel from my established tank I only have the API test kit, and I know that nitrites will show on the nitrate test so my guess is that was also part of the reading. Have just dosed the tank with some food (hard to find straight ammonia here where I am, would need to buy Dr Tim's or frit fishless fuel from Amazon and the shipping is more than they are worth), will watch it over the next 48 hours.