Offloading fish

[Zac]

To those who breed fish (especially slow growing ones). How do you manage and balance it? I eventually want to breed apistos but I’m not quite ready yet. My biggest issue is figuring how to not get overrun by fry. So how do you balance the breeding/selling? If apistos take a few months to grow and apistos breed every few weeks. How do you grow out the fry and sell them in time? Are there usually multiple batches of eggs to manage at once with a single pair? Any details would be great

[the other Irene]

I removed the female and left her w/ the fry in a separate grow out tank until I wanted her to breed again.  Also helps to find a LFS that will take them off your hands.  It takes 3-6 Mos. until the fry are sellable.

hope that helps

[Zac]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:41 PM, the other Irene said:

I removed the female and left her w/ the fry in a separate grow out tank until I wanted her to breed again.  Also helps to find a LFS that will take them off your hands.  It takes 3-6 Mos. until the fry are sellable.

hope that helps

Would taking the male out an alternative so the fry don’t have to be moved? What size grow out tank do you use for the fry and what size are they usually sold at?

[tolstoy21]

@Zac  I separate the male from the female the moment I believe the female to be sitting on eggs. I'll separate her from the fry the moment they stop following her around the tank and it's apparent her part in raising them is over (this takes a few weeks). I won't put the male and female back together until I'm ready for more. This is variable depending on how large the spawn. I've had spawns of two dozen, and some as large as 100+.

It takes a while, but you'll just have to get the hang of understanding how long it takes you to sell off an entire spawn, and how long it takes to have a new batch ready to go when that first one is sold off.

I've been breeding and selling them for about 2 years now and still haven't gotten my timing dialed in.

It's just something you have to work at and figure out according to your own schedule and selling.

[Zac]

On 4/13/2022 at 9:59 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@Zac  I separate the male from the female the moment I believe the female to be sitting on eggs. I'll separate her from the fry the moment they stop following her around the tank and it's apparent her part in raising them is over (this takes a few weeks). I won't put the male and female back together until I'm ready for more. This is variable depending on how large the spawn. I've had spawns of two dozen, and some as large as 100+.

It takes a while, but you'll just have to get the hang of understanding how long it takes you to sell off an entire spawn, and how long it takes to have a new batch ready to go when that first one is sold off.

I've been breeding and selling them for about 2 years now and still haven't gotten my timing dialed in.

It's just something you have to work at and figure out according to your own schedule and selling.

Where do you put the male and female? Individual tanks? Community tanks? Also, what size tank do you grow the fry in? Once the mother is done raising them?

[tolstoy21]

@Zac I spawn apistos in a 20 gallon high, and keep the fry in that for the duration of their lives with me.

If I have a particularly large spawn, I might move half of that into another 20 high as they grow.

I move the parents to either 10 gallon holding tanks, or I'll move them into vacant 20 highs, if one is available. Sometimes I'll put one of them in the grow out of another species. It all depends on where there is space and it's kind of a juggling act.

I keep the parents apart until I'm ready to breed again. I typically don't keep more than one or two pairs of breeders. 

Edited April 13, 2022 by tolstoy21

[josephnoctum]

I have a series of tanks I'll use, display tanks for holding colonies of the fish and conditioning them, breeding tanks for when I want them to spawn, and then grow out trays and tanks for the fry. It take a little time and experience to get your own process down but you can develop a system. It also helps to get a LFS, a local fish club or group/community, and participate in things like Aquabid to help you move fish quicker once they are of size to sell. 

I can say that for me early on there was a couple of phone calls to my significant other of, "well honey we have to go pick up another 10 gallon at the store tonight. We're going to have another batch of kitchen counter babies" Luckily for me she is just as into it as I am. 

[WhitecloudDynasty]

First you got to know your limit ..how many fry you can keep healthy. Then you got know your local market, if you don't have one you'll have to learn how to ship.