Strategies for moving fish from a community breeding tank?

[lewk]

Hey all,

I'm pretty new to fishkeeping and breeding fish, so I have a newbie question: How should I go about thinning out fish from a community tank? I have Endlers breeding in a community tank and the population is exploding to the point that it's looking pretty crowded. I was hoping to eventually sell or swap some of these fish, but right now I don't have enough mature fish to move - just a ton of fry and juveniles. I do have an extra tank or two to house extras in temporarily, but I'm concerned that a growout tank will just turn into another community breeding tank rather quickly with these things. I've tried moving some extra males to a male-only tank, but it's been hard to catch them as males showing sexual characteristics are a fairly small percent of the population. 

I'd love to hear tips from more experienced breeders. What is your process for separating fish from community breeding tanks, especially with fish such as Endlers or Guppies?

[AnimalNerd98]

I have this dilemma with my CPD's. I have several fry growing up, but not enough adults to sell off. Here are some options:

1) I use a plastic tub as my quarantine for new fish and a grow-out when I don't have any new fish. It is functional but an eyesore. This may prevent you from just turning it into another community tank by using something that works for the short term, but ultimately you'll take down because it's not great to look at. After they grow out and you take it down, you can just use the box to store other fish stuff and use it as a quarantine when something gets sick or you get new fish. 

2) If you have enough adults and are not particularly attached to them, sell off the parents and just raise up their fry in their stead. If you're not doing any intensive line breeding, I think this is a great option. You could also just select the few individuals you want to keep and sell off the less good-looking or desirable ones back to the fish store. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by AnimalNerd98

[Nik_n]

I do the same as @AnimalNerd98, I would use plastic tubs as a container. It is an eyesore, especially because I had to keep it in my living room. Now that I have a new apartment, I have more space and will definitely utilise plastic containers as grow out tanks. Here are some reasons why using plastic containers is a good idea: 

1. Lower cost - Regular plastic tubs anywhere from 10-60l are very common and inexpensive. You can also find larger containers in a hardware store. They cost much less then an actual aquarium, saving you money for food or other supplies
2.   Greater water volume- Fish fry need large volume of water to grow rapidly and develop properly and plastic tubs hold great volumes of water and its easy to 

If you have a spare room where you can keep the tubs out of sight they will be perfect as grow out tanks, but keeping them out in the open if unsightly and more trouble then it's worth. 

[redfish]

On 9/21/2022 at 12:27 PM, AnimalNerd98 said:

 

1) I use a plastic tub as my quarantine for new fish and a grow-out when I don't have any new fish. 

 

Do you use a substrate or go bare bottom in the grow-out tubs?

[AnimalNerd98]

On 9/21/2022 at 2:06 PM, redfish said:

Do you use a substrate or go bare bottom in the grow-out tubs?

I go bare bottom, but I keep floating plants or dunk my vining plants like pothos or philodendron in there to help with nitrogenous waste control

[lewk]

Maybe this is just me being a noob, but I don't understand why id use a tub when I have access to tanks. I don't want my tanks to be filled long term this way, but I have airlines, etc in tanks already. I'm moreso looking for a strategy on how to divide up the fish in a way that makes sense. I'm definitely willing to admit i might be missing something though - please enlighten me!

[redfish]

Tubs are cheap and store easily if you don’t need the tank running constantly.  If you have the tanks already, you can use them.  Tanks have a habit of turning into another permanent community tank as mentioned above.  
 

Sounds like what you are trying to do is good, it’s just going to take time for the fry to grow up enough to be able to sell.  Keep culling/moving the older ones as they grow to separate sorted tanks? 

[lewk]

On 9/24/2022 at 11:09 PM, redfish said:

Tubs are cheap and store easily if you don’t need the tank running constantly.  If you have the tanks already, you can use them.  Tanks have a habit of turning into another permanent community tank as mentioned above.  
 

Sounds like what you are trying to do is good, it’s just going to take time for the fry to grow up enough to be able to sell.  Keep culling/moving the older ones as they grow to separate sorted tanks? 

Yeah, I think part of it for me is honestly the attachment to the fish. Breeding tells me that they really enjoy it here and that is rough when I'm planning to get rid of some of them. I thought I wouldn't have an issue getting rid of the males I separated, but wow a male-only Endler tank looks spectacular. 😛