• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Do I need a grow-out tank (Superfish Home)?

Majsa

Member
Joined
26 Apr 2017
Messages
290
Location
The Netherlands
I have 30+ Microdevario Kubotai fry in my Nano Cube 20 and they are now about 5,5 weeks old. I'm thinking soon they won't fit in there any more (the tank is 3/4 filled so only about 11 or 12 liters of water), but I also find it a bit scary to move them, they are sooo tiny. I am changing 2, sometimes 4 liters of water daily and I have gotten away with it so far.

The final destination will be my 175L high-tech, not suitable for them yet I guess. Well I have a Superfish Home 40 which houses ±20 yellow shrimp and a few horned nerites, but the filter compartment isn't fry proof. Does anyone have experience in modifying the filter compartment, so that it won't harm the babies?

Another option would be to keep them in the Nano Cube a bit longer, raise the water level and increase flow (I have a spare but non-cycled internal which could run parallel with the sponge filter). But I think the fry would benefit more from length than from depth. What do you think?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2558.JPG
    IMG_2558.JPG
    1.2 MB · Views: 209
  • IMG_2604.JPG
    IMG_2604.JPG
    1 MB · Views: 137
Congratulations on the babies! Maybe split them - move five across as a test and if that's ok move some more.
 
Congratulations on the babies! Maybe split them - move five across as a test and if that's ok move some more.

Thanks Tam :) I didn't expect so many to survive, it might just as well be the whole spawn as I haven't seen any issues so far. They are quite easy, or I must have learned something from the CPD project. This new breeding fascination is coming from a) not liking to buy new fish as I see so many at the LFS which aren't OK and b) breeding tank is much more fun than a QT tank. Ideally I'd like to buy as few fish as possible and hopefully succeed in expanding the groups (although it takes a lot of time and effort...).

I was thinking about filling the filter compartment slots with plastic canvas or coarse filter foam but it could be that by next week the fry are already big enough not to get caught. I'll start with 5-6 as suggested and later more, though not sure how to manage the WCs. I don't see myself doing daily WCs in two tanks, I hope that 2x a week for the 40L will be enough.
 
If it's easier you can water change between tanks instead of fresh - that way the bigger tank filter is handling some of the work of the little. How you do changes depends if that's any easier or not. Looks like you are pretty dense on planting too so that will help and fry bioload is tiny!

How did you go about spawning? I think it sounds a great way to increase shoal size :)
 
The fry started in 50/50 tap and RO (don't have an installation so used distilled and RO from a friend), and I've been raising the TDS very slowly so the tank water is now about 85% tap. I should be able to raise it to 100% within a week or even faster so could then start the slow move (Home 40 is 100% tap). Using tap water is the easiest (we have good quality tap, just not that soft).

The fish spawned on the 3rd attempt in the Nano 20. I had trouble sexing them, so tried smaller groups. A trio seemed too stressful. I don't know which factor was the most crucial, but the 3rd attempt was with 50/50 tap/RO, 5 fishes, dark substrate, loads of plants, and just at the beginning of a heat wave. They spawned on the 2nd or 3rd day (thanks to the moss balls I was able to see some eggs) and I moved them back to their own tank.
 
Thanks, I've tried before with my ember tetras with no luck (they've had a couple of extras in my main tank but I couldn't get them to spawn in a separate one). This makes me want to have another go - I'd much prefer to increase my shoal this way. Might have to kick my shrimps out of their tank and try again :)
 
Nice, good luck! The extras in the main tank are a good sign, didn’t see any in mine. I fed the parents well during the time, including live foods. And it’s good to have infusoria ready (not a fan of Liquifry).
 
A quick update, I moved the fry to the grow-out tank in three sessions within the last 10 days or so, and so far all is well. They are indeed big enough not to have trouble with the filter. I had the chance to count them and there are 37 fry!

IMG_2627.JPG
 
Well done, they look great! That's going to be a lovely shoal when they are ready to move to your 175L.

My corys spawned the day after I posted about Embers - so looks like I'll be growing out those before trying spawning tetras again!
 
Back
Top