# Rearing/breeding tank



## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

Virtually the only way to talk my girlfriend into letting me get another tank was to tell her it was for rearing and breeding purposes. 

So I'm planning on picking up something relatively small, probably 10g. For the first few months the tank will only be used to rear the twenty or so various fry (platy, guppie and swordtail) that are currently swimming around my breeder net. Once they've matured, I intend on using the tank to breed panda corys. 

My questions is this. I'd like to keep some tank mates in there to keep it cycled and more interesting (it'll be in my living room as i'm pretty much out of space, so it should look sort of showy.) I've read that corydoras are only a threat to the smallest of fry, so my pandas might make appropriate fry tank mates. what about an otto or two? Will adding a school or corys to the tank with the fry over stock my tank? Obviously a lot of this depends on the equipment i decide to purchase, but for the sake of arguement lets pretend i have ideal filtration, etc. Any suggestions or should I completley skip out on the tank mate idea?


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> Virtually the only way to talk my girlfriend into letting me get another tank was to tell her it was for rearing and breeding purposes.
> 
> So I'm planning on picking up something relatively small, probably 10g. For the first few months the tank will only be used to rear the twenty or so various fry (platy, guppie and swordtail) that are currently swimming around my breeder net. Once they've matured, I intend on using the tank to breed panda corys.
> 
> My questions is this. I'd like to keep some tank mates in there to keep it cycled and more interesting (it'll be in my living room as i'm pretty much out of space, so it should look sort of showy.) I've read that corydoras are only a threat to the smallest of fry, so my pandas might make appropriate fry tank mates. what about an otto or two? Will adding a school or corys to the tank with the fry over stock my tank? Obviously a lot of this depends on the equipment i decide to purchase, but for the sake of arguement lets pretend i have ideal filtration, etc. Any suggestions or should I completley skip out on the tank mate idea?


Where to begin....

You have a real mixed bag here.

Firstly, introducing mature Corys to a sword/guppy/platy fry tank is no problem what-so-ever. The former inhabit the bottom, the latter inhabit the mid to upper levels.

The reverse is not true, don't mix Cory fry with mature sword/guppy/platy fish. They will do their best to eat the fry.

As for the over stocking question, a 10 gallon will hold 10 Corys and a 'number of fry'. What that number is depends on how big your filter is and how often you change your water. To me 'fry' is anything < 1/4 of an inch.

The best fry tank has no substrate to allow for easy clean up. That rather precludes a lot of mature Corys in the same tank as Corys like to rummage around the substrate. This is my opinion based on personal observation. However, with mid to top level fish a substrate isn't really a big deal.

Again, the opposite is also true. A Cory fry tank with NO substrate is better than one WITH a substrate.

So, if you're trying to get your foot in the door to buy a new 10 gal. by claiming to use it as a sword/guppy/platy fry tank and add mature Corys, go for it. But, if the Corys produce eggs, remove the substrate and also remove any sword/guppy/platy that are > 1/8 inch otherwise you may (and probably will) end up with well fed sword/guppy/platy fish.

Cheers.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

10 corys in a 10 gal tank seems a bit much to me. I do agree with corydad as to fry corys wont bother your fry I have ottos and corys with my guppy fry and havent had any problems at all.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

wow. what the hell have i gotten myself into.

actually i find this rather exciting/interesting. 

All right, so i have a plan of attack then. tonnes more reading to do, but i think can i safely purchase the tank (i've gotta spread out my purchases over a few weeks...damn you OSAP).

i guess there's some other things to think about as well, like temperatue. my fry are going to enjoy warmer temps than panda corys.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

pat3612 said:


> 10 corys in a 10 gal tank seems a bit much to me. I do agree with corydad as to fry corys wont bother your fry I have ottos and corys with my guppy fry and havent had any problems at all.


wicked news. very encouraging. what's your substrate like in that case?


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

pat3612 said:


> 10 corys in a 10 gal tank seems a bit much to me. I do agree with corydad as to fry corys wont bother your fry I have ottos and corys with my guppy fry and havent had any problems at all.


I was being generous; I didn't expect 2hf to actually add 10 Corys, unless they were pygmys (starts tap dancing).


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> i guess there's some other things to think about as well, like temperatue. my fry are going to enjoy warmer temps than panda corys.


Keep it in the lower 70's please. I've added platy fry to my Cory fry tank (which is set at 73F) with NO adverse effects to the platys. I honestly think they didn't give a darn that it was cooler than their siblings in the 60 gal (which I keep at 77F; big woop).


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

platies and guppies are fine, i believe, as low as 70 degrees, so you're right. as well, if i'm correct, the lowest i'll want the temp for my swordtails is 75. pandas specifically should be anywhere from 68 to 75 degrees F. so i believe in this case my optimal temperature would be 75F (it's the swordtails that are keeping me from lowering it much more). but i could probably get away with 73 or so.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

depending on the lighting, i believe i'll likely purchase this (http://www.pricenetwork.ca/showthread.php?threadid=185297) tank


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

I saw that deal earlier today and it looks fine. I'm just not a big fan of the 'fully integrated' systems.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Nice guy to deal with, but again, I am no fan of the full integrated systems either. They don't really allow for...anything. Improvements/upgrades are hard to make without huge alterations in the system, which makes it really inflexible. And considering that you're looking to add a tank (and using the fry to 'sneak' it in), being able to change the system later will be a definite plus.

I know I will be using the 'fry method' of perpetuating my MTS after the reaction the gf had upon seeing baby plecs 

BTW, on a totally unrelated tangent, they had Peru Orange stripe corys (Cw010) at BA in scarborough. Neat looking corys. I've never seen them before (But I'm not a huge cory fan), but they seemed like a cool addition if you were so inclined.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> BTW, on a totally unrelated tangent, they had Peru Orange stripe corys (Cw010) at BA in scarborough. Neat looking corys. I've never seen them before (But I'm not a huge cory fan), but they seemed like a cool addition if you were so inclined.


Really! What condition were they in? Lately I've been a bit disappointed with the quality of BA's fish in both their Scarberia and Steeles (Thornhill?) stores. I'll have to get over there and check them out. I was toying with the idea of fighting my way down the Don Valley Parking lot to Menagerie's today and see if they had any metae left. Maybe I should call first...

Maybe I'll even check our Finatics. Never been there but I heard they had Corys at one point.

Thanks for the heads up and sorry to hi-jack your thread 2hf.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

no worries. i as well am intrigued. that's a wicked looking cat.

yeah, i was a little worried about the fully integrated system as well. but i like to think i'm pretty handy. i know i'd be able to change the ballast anyways, so upgrading the light will be ok.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I'm more concerned with the filtration system, as I don't know if it would be easy to upgrade/retrofit or if you'd have to make major modifications.

On the cory tangent, they looked pretty active and very orange. They look really great, strong orange body color. I've even been toying with the idea of getting them, even though I'm more into plecs myself.
If you're going to venture out, I'd give them a ring and ask if they still have them before venturing down.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> I'm more concerned with the filtration system, as I don't know if it would be easy to upgrade/retrofit or if you'd have to make major modifications.
> 
> On the cory tangent, they looked pretty active and very orange. They look really great, strong orange body color. I've even been toying with the idea of getting them, even though I'm more into plecs myself.
> If you're going to venture out, I'd give them a ring and ask if they still have them before venturing down.


<sigh> Thanks for rubbing it in. As it turned out I never got the chance to go to any of the places I planned to go to. Long story.

Maybe tomorrow...


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

i think i'm going to get a submersible filter in the future. but i'll see how this goes for a while.

cycling:


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Looks like a good start.

When I saw 'going with submersible filter' I thought to myself "Canister all the way!!!", but then I remembered it was a 12 gal eclipse. I guess one of them internal whisper numbers would do the trick...

Going to give scott at BA a call and see if the cories are still there. And if they are...


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## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

It looks great but you do realize you're going to want something bigger very shortly. LOL!


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> wicked news. very encouraging. what's your substrate like in that case?


My subtrate is the round pebble med grade I picked it up at walmart in the natural brown color.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> Going to give scott at BA a call and see if the cories are still there. And if they are...


Bastard...  If there are 6 good ones left let me know, maybe I can find some time in the afternoon to go down there.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

Tabatha said:


> It looks great but you do realize you're going to want something bigger very shortly. LOL!


lol, yes but baby steps tabatha, baby steps. The fry will spend a few weeks in the 12g and move into my big tank or be traded/sold/whatever for the time being anyways.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> Looks like a good start.
> 
> When I saw 'going with submersible filter' I thought to myself "Canister all the way!!!", but then I remembered it was a 12 gal eclipse. I guess one of them internal whisper numbers would do the trick...
> 
> Going to give scott at BA a call and see if the cories are still there. And if they are...


Did you ever get to go down to BA's and did you buy any if you did? I never managed to get to go to any of the places I planned.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

No, when I got down in the early evening, they were all gone. I think there were two in another tank, but they were unlabelled, and they didn't look too good, but maybe they were stressed.

I think they may bring in some more, so you can always ask if they are ordering more when they get the chance to.


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> No, when I got down in the early evening, they were all gone. I think there were two in another tank, but they were unlabelled, and they didn't look too good, but maybe they were stressed.
> 
> I think they may bring in some more, so you can always ask if they are ordering more when they get the chance to.


Thanks for the reply. Ya, I should phone them but my problem is getting the time to drive down there to pick em up.<whine> <whine> <whine>

Did they really look like the ones in the link you posted?


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Yep, they sure looked like the lookers in the pics! Actually, the bodies were even more orange, but that might have been because they were in with panda cories too. 

I can ask for you and see if and when they are bringing them in and house them for you for a while. I'm not adverse to that...except when I grow attached to them and don't give them up!


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> Yep, they sure looked like the lookers in the pics! Actually, the bodies were even more orange, but that might have been because they were in with panda cories too.
> 
> I can ask for you and see if and when they are bringing them in and house them for you for a while. I'm not adverse to that...except when I grow attached to them and don't give them up!


That would be cool. I would be in your debt. As for the attachment, 'Ve haf vays...'


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