AUTO EGG COLLECTOR?

[FishyMike]

Hey guys hope everyone is doing well and safe!,

I ran across accouple YouTube videos of people making DIY egg collectors and was intrigued! Its basically an area in the tank that catches eggs and it will have an airline tube creating suction to a catch cup. So when your egg scatter's lay eggs they are virtually sucked up and collected. it sounds genius! So immediately my mind was racing.......... what if I was to use an under gravel filter? What I am thinking is you'd place the under gavel filter in to your tank and somehow mount a catch cup to the outlet on the under gravel vac. I Personally have never used an under gravel filter does anyone have experience with them do they create sufficient suction for my idea? I might have to just bite the bullet and purchase one my self for the sake of science... Thank you guys in advance for all input, comments or opinions. maybe I'm just wasting my time. 

[Odd Duck]

I’m not sure if an undergravel filter would have:

1. Enough suction to collect eggs across the entire bottom.  It might do fine close to the uplift tube.  I’m not sure if that would hold across the entire bottom.  Probably trying in a tank on a stand where you could look up from underneath and see if the eggs rolled across to the uplift tube or not.

2. Wide enough slits for all sizes of eggs.  Some have very narrow slits and might work for very tiny eggs, but might not.  If you could find one with wider slots, I’d say it would be worth a try.

There have been some similar threads on this subject and on fry collecting fairly recently, so you might see if any of those are helpful for you.  Here’s one to get you started and it has links to others.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Odd Duck
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[FishyMike]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:10 AM, Odd Duck said:

I’m not sure if an undergravel filter would have:

1. Enough suction to collect eggs across the entire bottom.

2. Wide enough slits for all sizes of eggs.  Some have very narrow slits and might work for very tiny eggs, but might not.

There have been some similar threads on this subject and on fry collecting fairly recently, so you might see if any of those are helpful for you.  Here’s one to get you started and it has links to others.

 

thank you for your response ODD DUCK! 

1. that was what I was thinking 😞 I do have an air system and can jack up the air pressure pretty good. or maybe fit a 5 gallon gravel filter in the 10 gallon tank. hmm

2. that was another concern of mine the penplax under gravel filter looks like it has a good size grate but then i was thinkin i might have to use the dremel or the mill to make them a bit larger. 

 

Thank you!

[KittenFishMom]

There are smaller under gravel fish bowl filters that might give you the suction you want if you make the area over them more appealing for egg laying. If the only plants or cover in the tank are over a smaller under gravel filter, the eggs would not need to travel so far to the uplift tube.  

[gardenman]

Something more cone shaped (Is there a name for a rectangular cone? An inverted pyramid maybe?) would probably work better. It could funnel all of the eggs to a central collection point where relatively gentle water flow could suck them in. It might need some sort of vibrator attached to it to encourage the eggs to move. 

What could work using a UG filter grid is to raise the grid up from the bottom of the tank elevating it a few inches using some cut off pieces of PVC pipe. Then drape some soft plastic/vinyl sheeting (pool liner?) under the UG grid and plop a stone in the middle of the plastic to create a low point and put an uplift tube there. Eggs would fall through the filter grid and settle on the plastic/vinyl sheet and roll down to the low spot where they could be easily removed. An air stone under the plastic could nudge/tickle it enough to encourage the eggs to roll down to the collection point.

[Odd Duck]

On 2/16/2022 at 9:31 AM, gardenman said:

Something more cone shaped (Is there a name for a rectangular cone? An inverted pyramid maybe?) would probably work better. It could funnel all of the eggs to a central collection point where relatively gentle water flow could suck them in. It might need some sort of vibrator attached to it to encourage the eggs to move. 

What could work using a UG filter grid is to raise the grid up from the bottom of the tank elevating it a few inches using some cut off pieces of PVC pipe. Then drape some soft plastic/vinyl sheeting (pool liner?) under the UG grid and plop a stone in the middle of the plastic to create a low point and put an uplift tube there. Eggs would fall through the filter grid and settle on the plastic/vinyl sheet and roll down to the low spot where they could be easily removed. An air stone under the plastic could nudge/tickle it enough to encourage the eggs to roll down to the collection point.

Or put the stone close to the uplift tube in order to encourage the eggs to roll towards it?  There’s a brand of UG filter that has deep grooves in it (Lee Premium, just checked, it does have slots in the grooves, but they’re narrow).  I can’t remember if it has slots in the bottoms of the grooves.  But you could prop up the end away from the uplift tube to encourage the eggs to roll towards the uplift.  I would also put the entire filter off the bottom a bit so any edges that were in the grooves but didn’t go through slots would be able to roll off the filter to the tank bottom and still make it to the uplift tube.

Hmmm. Would there be enough lift if that much water could get around the edges?  Might have to figure a way to somewhat seal the edges with something?  Might pay to tip the whole tank a bit instead of using the layer of plastic.  Essentially make the tank bottom into your “cone”?  As long as you have the length of the tank edges supported and it’s a fairly small tank like a 10 gallon (with a frame) it should be safe enough.  Still do something to lift the entire UG filter plate off the bottom a bit but with the tank slanted, it could be evenly lifted with say, pieces of ceramic biofilter rings.  Just tossing out random thoughts, now.

Might be better to get the UG filters that are the grid type vs the plates with sides.  I’ve never used that type, so can’t speak to their quality and the holes look like they might even be big enough to trap tiny tetras.  You’d just have to check, but it would make sure you didn’t have to cut slots wider and would prevent eggs getting caught above the plate.  This was just the first of that style to pop up on an Amazon search.  Hope some of these suggestions help.  I do love a good think tank and spitballing ideas.

https://www.amazon.com/POPETPOP-Aquarium-Grid-10-Isolation-Divides/dp/B07TLM9KJY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1R5F503LIKYP7&keywords=Undergravel%2Bfilter&qid=1645026540&sprefix=undergravel%2Bfilter%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-3&th=1

[KittenFishMom]

Note: I have never bred fish, I am new to the hobby, so keep that in mind when reading my posts.

I bought a Lee's round under gravel filter cat no 13202 just to see if I thought it might work for guppy fry. It is in an tank under some plants, but no fish. I'll take it out and take some photos of the details for you soon. The filter cartridge is not glued, so of course I took mine apart and emptied it. I will photograph that too. The bottom of the unit is open, so covering it with a removable disk, slanted so the eggs move toward the uplift tube should reduce the amount of suction needed. You would want the disk to be removable for cleaning. It comes with a plastic plant in the middle. You could put a different stem in the hole that might be more attractive to your breed of fish. 

[Torrey]

On 2/16/2022 at 8:51 AM, Odd Duck said:

Hmmm. Would there be enough lift if that much water could get around the edges?

I've been playing with this in my head, and here's the practical knowledge based on actual experience:

1. I use my 5 gallon drink containers for scud & snail growing, and easy scud collection.

2. I used a similar set up to breed my zebra danios, before I discovered 3 generations in that they have the fainting gene.

3. I never had enough suction to pull the eggs up through the UGF into the uplift tube, and into a container. 

4. I did have enough suction to pull the eggs down rapidly through the lava rock, into the UGF base. Then I opened the spigot to the drink container, and collected eggs and hatched fry out of the mulm that came out the spigot, and moved eggs and fry into my grow out.

5. I am experimenting with a smaller "grate" structure (like KittenFish mentioned above) hidden by rocks (rounded river rock is looking most promising) after discovering that endler fry have been swimming into the pond pump to get away from adults, and ending up on the other side of the tank. 

I thought for sure the impeller would kill them, but my spouse pointed out the snails that move through the water line, so if snails survive the trip, why wouldn't fry?

[Obviously the pond pump is not the ideal solution. I seriously doubt all the fry survive. It has demonstrated fry will swim into the river stones for safety, and either swim or get sucked into the filter box attached to the UGF]

So the current conundrum is how to generate sufficient lift to pull the eggs up the tube, **or** how to funnel the eggs/fry so they are guaranteed to come out the spigot.

[KittenFishMom]

The UGF I bought is 5.25 inches across. There is a smaller size, also a "betta volcano" that is even smaller. I would guess reducing the total open area on the UGF would increase the current under the UGF. Also, sealing the bottom of the UGF with a removeable cover could help maintain the current within the UGF.  I am just guessing.

I was thinking today that attaching something like this at the end of the UGF's uplift tube could work well for eggs. It is a "
Fluval Multi-Chamber Holding and Breeding Box, Medium". If you took the bars off the bottom of the uplift tube, it could add a second boost to the suction. This model hangs outside of the tank, but I think the circulating water would keep the eggs warm enough. Maybe some insulating foam on the outside of the bottom of the holding chamber would help, since that is where the eggs would sit. the "V" shaped separator is removable.

[SPNKr]

Hello, was this the video you saw? "automatic egg collector"

[modified lung]

If you can add an extension to the tube of the UGF that ends down close to the bottom of the tank like the red lines in the image below, the radius of suction will increase and less power will be needed to lift the eggs vertically into the tube.

[Creedmoor Aquatics]

Have you seen the Penn Plax Aqua Nursery?