Small breeding project

[gar732]

I've been collecting clowns for a bit with the intent to set up a brood stock system to house them all and start my breeding project. The plan was to have moved from my current residence by now and have some dedicated space for this. Well nothing ever goes as planned and I probably won't move till the fall at best.

 

I currently have 3.5 pairs in three different tanks with none of the tanks having ideal conditions for breeding. So I will be setting up a small brood stock system consisting of 3 20L tanks. Two will be divided in half to house 4 pairs and the third will be a sump with a small fuge. The goal is to get all the clowns in one system with the proper conditions for breeding and also minimizing the different systems in the house.

 

Now what would be the best way to set up these tanks? The plan is to drill each side of the 20L so that each section will have it's own overflow and return. I'm not too sure on how I want to set up the drains so I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Ideally the drains would not be too noisy but don't expect it to be dead silent. The tanks will be stacked with the sump underneath. The stand will be basic 2x3 construction. Lighting will be two 24" T5s over each tank, I'll be using a sca 303 skimmer (eBay and what was on hand), eheim 1262 return, won proheat titanium heater, and I'm not sure if I should run any reactors.

 

The pairs going will be a Picasso pair (doni), black ice x ocellaris pair, ocellaris pair (mated), and I have an evil snow/onyx female which turned on her onyx male after about a year being together. They were never the happiest couple but it was never serious enough to separate them until the male jumped into a neighboring tank and the occupants did not like the company. By the time I home it was too late so I'll be looking for his replacement once everything is setup.

 

I guess that's it for now. I'd really appreciate any opinions or suggestions, thanks.

[Pickle010]

Couple of places you shouldn't skimp - Return Pump - you might want something better then 900 gph - I'd suggest looking at the maxi utility pumps - they are reasonable, quiet, reliable and very good on energy. I don't know the skimmer but it should be rated 3 times your water volume.

 

You'll also want to stock up on filter socks - I go through 1 per day. I have several but at least 7 is ideal so you can wash them all once a week.

 

The way you are setting it up is how I have my 150g broodstock system set up now. Individual returns / drains per compartment and I get 3 compartments out of a 20L. I left 1 split in half for larger clowns.

[gar732]

For the pump I have a Laguna 1500 I can throw on there instead. The skimmer isn't the best but it gets pretty good reviews, it's a bubble Magnus clone. I wanted to wait on the skimmer upgrade till I move and can upgrade my system but we'll see how things go. I'll be sure to pick up some extra filter socks, thanks for the heads up. I didn't think that the 20L divided into three compartments would be enough room. What type of clowns are you keeping in those tanks? And by chance would you have any pics of your plumbing? Thanks for the help.

[santacreekfurrows]

I'll be watching, I am not setting up a breeding program yet, but am interested in hooking multiple tanks together, as one would in a LFS or "fish room" ... I'd like to do one setup for FW(possibly 2, one for Cichlids and one not) and one for Marine... The plumbing pics would be a great help... I was thinking top flows to middle, flows to bottom, returns to top... How would you do drains/returns to multiple tanks if they're not "in series"??? t's and ball valves, regulate each tank's flow, and what goes in must flow out? Sorry to jack the thread, hope they all chime in with pics, diagrams, etc...

[Hexadron]

One of our members here recently published a book on breeding clowns. You should check it out Click on the book to go to the purchase page. Here's the thread.

 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=Clownfish411&x=0&y=0&sitesearch=lulu.com&q='>

[gar732]

Thanks I'll have to check that out.

 

I've finally found some time to move forward with this so I'm go to pick up some materials and start building my stand. I'm still a bit unsure of the plumbing but this is what I've come up with:

 

For the drain I was thinking of going from 1" to 1.5" on the slant to 2" on the stack. My thought process here is to allow more room as more water gets added to the drain and to keep it going down hill. For the return I'm thinking 1" all the way to 3/4" loc-line at each tank. I'm no plumber so my thought process is most likely flawed so if anyone has a better idea please let me know.

 

I going to be dividing a 20L into 2 sections and a 40 breeder into 3 sections. I plan on using 1/4" black acrylic siliconed into place. Does anyone think I should use thicker acrylic or am I good with 1/4"?

[sparky45]

If your keeping the water level the same in each compartment then you shouldn't need any thicker acrylic.