Questions for getting into Breeding Fish in Tubs

[CoelacanthChild]

Hey!

Question 1

I can't have a fish room inside, as we're renting and don't have permission for anything but nano tanks. I'm planning on getting a tub to breed something like madaka ricefish in. I've been reading The Tub Pond Handbook by Ted Coletti - he doesn't really recommend airstones or sponge filters, but I think I'd feel better with that. I don't have any outside plugs, and would have to run an extension cord in order to have an airpump, is air worth it to jury-rig something? Someone posted how they macgyvered a solar panel to a USB pump, but the more I ponder on that I'm not sure I can do it since I'm planning on my tubs getting only morning sun.

Question 2

I'm really interested in breeding plecos - I think they're a super fun fish, but I don't know if they can breed in tubs outside. All the videos I've seen are inside tanks, so I'm not sure conditions outside are for this species.

Recommendations?

Any general recommendations for breeding fish in tubs is appreciated. I've re-watched a lot of videos by Ryo Watanabe and anytime Cory and Dean mention tubs in their videos. I live in Utah, we're getting record drought and beating heat records already, so if there are tips to stay water-wise, I'd appreciate it.

[Fish Folk]

I love where you’re going with this!

Some practical matters to ponder: let’s say you’re wildly successful, and have a tub brimming with 100+ little bristlenose Plecos by September. What will you do once they need to come inside? Ditto for Medaka. Unless you’re in a situation where you can keep fish in tubs year round, how will you manage seasonal changes and the absence of indoor space?

Answering for myself, I’m doing guppies outside, and possibly trying Rams. I know that I’ll be able to sell _all_ of those to my LFS. In addition, I’ve got tank space indoors.

I’m wondering out loud: do you have a closet inside that could be converted into a nano fish room? Legendary Canadian aquarist Jim Cumming tells of a season in life where he converted a tiny closet into a killifish breeding room, because that was all he had space for. But perhaps this is more of a permission issue with your landlord than space.

To your questions:

(1) Glad you’re reading Dr. Coletti! I use both a sponge filter and and airstone in each of my ponds. But I’m no guru. I just know that up in the 90°-F temps, it’s hard for enough oxygen to get absorbed.

(2) Heat would be the only prohibitive factor I can imagine with breeding Plecos. I’d set my pond up with wood, oak leaves, and Pleco caves. You’ll need to buy fully mature bristlenose Plecos — that’s probably the most challenging factor. Most Plecos stores sell are a year or more away from breeding age / size.

Watching Cory, Dean and Ryo Watanabe — you’re into good stuff!

[Dancing Matt]

For your heat issue, if you can partially bury or insulate the tub that can restrict temperature fluctuations. My 55 gal drum with white clouds swings pretty good between high 60's and 70's with Colorado Springs weather (not buried). I mostly buried a 70 Gal HD tote in the ground for my goldfish "pond" and that has stayed fairly consistent in the 60's. Our air temp went from a high of 100 F to 65F in 24-48 hrs this week.

I will say, My barrel pond with 1 male 2 female white clouds has dozens of fry that suddenly showed up this weekend. I have a 45 gal tank to put them but if the trend continues I could easily over populate so keep that in mind.

Also. If you really want to breed, go for it. It is ridiculously exciting to see little fry show up.

[TheDukeAnumber1]

On 6/21/2021 at 11:04 PM, CoelacanthChild said:

Someone posted how they macgyvered a solar panel to a USB pump, but the more I ponder on that I'm not sure I can do it since I'm planning on my tubs getting only morning sun.

I posted about that and there are other with good builds too. Tubs can do very well with no air at all so I wouldn't be concerned with intermittent air flow. And when heat and low oxygen will be at its worse is when the sun is on the tub but the air stone will be running to combat that.

I live in IL so not nearly as hot, but my solar setup so far that only runs while the sun is shining has been working out well, even with days in the mid 80's with direct sun most of the day.

 

[CoelacanthChild]

On 6/22/2021 at 7:23 AM, Fish Folk said:

Some practical matters to ponder: let’s say you’re wildly successful, and have a tub brimming with 100+ little bristlenose Plecos by September. What will you do once they need to come inside? Ditto for Medaka. Unless you’re in a situation where you can keep fish in tubs year round, how will you manage seasonal changes and the absence of indoor space?

Answering for myself, I’m doing guppies outside, and possibly trying Rams. I know that I’ll be able to sell _all_ of those to my LFS. In addition, I’ve got tank space indoors.

I’m wondering out loud: do you have a closet inside that could be converted into a nano fish room? Legendary Canadian aquarist Jim Cumming tells of a season in life where he converted a tiny closet into a killifish breeding room, because that was all he had space for. But perhaps this is more of a permission issue with your landlord than space.

I would like to be able to overwinter the pond outside, so I'd like to have fish that would be able to withstand that. I know of at least one LFS that will take fish for cash, so I think I can sell my excess there. I'm looking into local cub auctions, but it seems like many are still out from COVID. 

I can really only have nano tanks inside, so I could probably bring the ricefish if I needed to, but plecos would probably have more need to go inside right? Aren't they tropical, or are they more forgiving of temperature?

I would like a backup inside just in case there's an emergency, like a tub leaks or something. I don't know much about different strains of pleco. I've mostly been looking at super reds (they look SO cool! I want to keep them so bad!). It would probably be better if I kept a smaller kind of pleco just in case we had to go inside since I can only have nano tanks. At least to keep a breeding pair right? I don't want to have to sell all of them and start over.

[CoelacanthChild]

On 6/22/2021 at 11:44 AM, TheDukeAnumber1 said:

I posted about that and there are other with good builds too. Tubs can do very well with no air at all so I wouldn't be concerned with intermittent air flow. And when heat and low oxygen will be at its worse is when the sun is on the tub but the air stone will be running to combat that.

I live in IL so not nearly as hot, but my solar setup so far that only runs while the sun is shining has been working out well, even with days in the mid 80's with direct sun most of the day.

 

On 6/22/2021 at 11:28 AM, Dancing Matt said:

For your heat issue, if you can partially bury or insulate the tub that can restrict temperature fluctuations. My 55 gal drum with white clouds swings pretty good between high 60's and 70's with Colorado Springs weather (not buried). I mostly buried a 70 Gal HD tote in the ground for my goldfish "pond" and that has stayed fairly consistent in the 60's. Our air temp went from a high of 100 F to 65F in 24-48 hrs this week.

 

For the temperature problem, I might try a solar panel build for air during the summer. If oxygen lowers when water his hotter, then I would probably just need the electricity for an airstone/spongefilter during those hot times. I have a hard time with hardware kinds of builds, however. I've never been into a home improvement store until a few months ago. It's so overwhelming that my brain turns off. I do appreciate that TheDukeAnumber1 left links to everything to just get online. Does anyone know of a "How To" YouTube videos showing how a build like that might be done?

 

[gjcarew]

Hijacking this thread (sorry)... has anybody found something like a floating mesh breeder box so you can just have two spawning mops that you swap in and out? Seems like it would be a pretty low-effort way to hatch fry. I vaguely remember seeing something like that that Dean was using for ricefish but I can't for the life of me remember what he made it out of.

[BriannesFishFam]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:06 PM, gjcarew said:

Hijacking this thread (sorry)... has anybody found something like a floating mesh breeder box so you can just have two spawning mops that you swap in and out? Seems like it would be a pretty low-effort way to hatch fry. I vaguely remember seeing something like that that Dean was using for ricefish but I can't for the life of me remember what he made it out of.

He used a paint strainer with Back Rod, a pool noodle material. Yes you can use a net breeder from Petco Or Amazing, I think they are like $6 and they work great. Personally I just pull the mop every few days and  pick out almost all the eggs from the mop. Have over 100 babies in a few weeks!