Breeder box discussion

[TBarrett92]

Hello everyone, what is your favorite breeder box and why? I have had nothing but bad luck with all the crazy creations out there and want an easy way to round up the pleco fry before donating to my lfs! Thanks for your time, pictures or links always help that way others wanting to know can follow! I have glass lids on most of our tanks also.

[StephenP2003]

7 hours ago, TBarrett92 said:

Hello everyone, what is your favorite breeder box and why? I have had nothing but bad luck with all the crazy creations out there and want an easy way to round up the pleco fry before donating to my lfs! Thanks for your time, pictures or links always help that way others wanting to know can follow! I have glass lids on most of our tanks also.

 

I just started a growout for my 70+ pleco fry (not to mention the batch inside the male's cave that I also moved to the growout, along with the male to give him a break). Before moving them to the growout, I kept them for about 4 weeks in two different breeder boxes:

The Fluval/Marina Breeder Box

It hangs on the outside of the tank and recycles water using an airlift system. It can be super noisy/gurgly unless you reduce the airflow enough that the water trickles in. I wanted more flow than that, so I actually modded it with a cheap USB submersible pump. Info in this thread:

 

The Ziss breeder box that the co-op sells:

Hangs inside the tank, uses air to circulate water as well, an overall drastic improvement on the traditional net breeder. I preferred this one for my plecos. In the marina, I was using a turkey baster every day to remove veggie/repashy refuse and poop before the next feeding. In the Ziss, the mesh on all sides allowed a lot of the broken-down uneaten food to fall through and feed the other fish in the tank. My pearl gourami hung out by the breeder box all day waiting to grab a snack. Much less cleanup, less noise without modding, and a great amount of flow throughout the whole box. Here's Dean showing it off:

 

I only have one small complaint about it, which is that you have to keep the top of the box above water or it will float away and let your fry escape. With the suction mount option, I would like to have a top that you can lock in place, and a feeding hole that can snap shut -- merely because it is kind of a pain to move the box down and then back up during a water change. There's probably an easier solution I'm not thinking of, though.

Anyway, those are my experiences with the "high tech" breeder box solutions. I think both work great overall despite each having some minor inconveniences inherent in the design -- but if pressed to pick one, it would be the Ziss.

Edited September 27, 2020 by StephenP2003

[Bill Smith]

Not a fan of the Ziss breeder boxes myself. I've had one for a couple years now, and I dislike it for a few reasons:

1. It's too big to pull out of a tank with a standard glass top still on.

2. It's too tall to pull out of a tank in a rack unless you have enough space between the tank and the shelf above.

3. It's hard to clean without a toothbrush.

4. The airstone is hard to remove with the box still in the tank.

5. The overly complicated suction cup bracket grows algae.

In short, it's hard to service this box without disrupting the tank, especially on a rack.

What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this box (and made it hard for me to change) is the mesh bottom. It makes servicing a less-often thing.

But it's not quite enough to prevent me from switching. Ever since I discovered the external boxes from Marina (now Fluval), I haven't looked back. No tank disruption! No problem with tight racks!

Bill