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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 18:34:15 GMT -5
as you all know i have a batch of fry growing out im now leaning towards the divider again so i can have in my 10 gallon tank my cory cats for when i get my cichlids in my larger tank. and a divided 10 gallon tank for when i can start sexing my fry and have males on one side and females on the other side and the water temperatures and conditions and filtration the same for the breeding. ive figured out the math if i divide the tank directly in half thats 5 gallons per side. i have 6 cory cats so 3 cory cats on each side gives me about 4 more fish per side of the tank. so i would only be able to keep 4 male guppies and 4 female guppies in the tank. which is plenty for what im planning to do. im just planning to breed enough fry to feed my cichlids or sell to buddies for feeder fish.
i really like the needlepoint backing idea with plexi glass. and im leaning towards my bracket idea also so it can be removed whenever needed to clean or just to stop breeding at one point with out ruining the 10 gallon tank. because id like to keep the 10 gallon tank for future plans when money is present and i can obtain more 10 gallon tanks so i can then have a 10 gallon tank for both males and females. and another tank for juvi fry and my grow out tank for new born fry. but as everyone knows money isnt always around when its wanted or even needed.
so im debating really hard on attempting my DIY tank divider for the time being. it will be a little while after i research and price the material needed. but ill definately give step by step instructions on what im doing and let you all know if it works or doesnt work. but cross your fingers that it works. ill leave the dimensions open for everyone so they can plug there own tank dimensions in to it.
~James~
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Post by murdock6701 on Mar 11, 2009 19:14:38 GMT -5
I'm really confused now! in your "pregnant guppy" post you were going to sell them for 50 cents an inch - now you say your breeding them for cichlid food! why divide males from females if that's your plan? 6 cory cats and 10 fry is too much for a 10 gallon tank and I bet the fry don't last 1 day w/ catfish in there - don't mean to be harsh, but you guys need to do some reading on fish or you're going to learn way too many lessons the hard way!
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 19:24:23 GMT -5
ya im only planning to keep the largest of the females out of the fry and sell the males or feed them.
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 19:27:01 GMT -5
this first batch is only a trial batch. and to prepare for the next batch. and then when we get the swing of things well have more than we need and more than we can sell and when we get income tax returns were going to purchase the cichlids so that will be the solution to not getting over populated with baby guppies.
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Post by eve on Mar 11, 2009 19:50:31 GMT -5
ahem, to which cichlids where you planning on feeding them
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 20:31:10 GMT -5
yellow labs. for my own. or my buddies oscars
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Post by eve on Mar 11, 2009 20:34:42 GMT -5
yellow labs. for my own. or my buddies oscars yellow labs don't eat feeders, at least they shouldn't be fed to them !!!!
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 22:42:38 GMT -5
well i dont even know if we are going to get labs yet.
but from what ive read they are insectivores/ omnivores. and small fish are part of the omnivore diet. and fry i would classify in more of the insect category mainly for the size of the fry. and in the wild it even states they are always on the look out for food from above which would mean small fish. i might just get some haps instead and i know for sure they will thrive on live food as a supplement along with the typical spirulina food.
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Post by eve on Mar 11, 2009 22:48:32 GMT -5
just because they're omnivore and love to have meat in their diet, doesnt' mean you feed them with feeders
you're suppose to feed them with frozen or dried shrimp and bloodworms, but not with livefood
not even for an oscar it's healthy to have to many feeders
argh, i wish MFK would be still around
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 23:25:24 GMT -5
im not planning to feed them every day with feeders. and i have experience keeping oscars they definately love feeder fish. its more of a once a month thing and drop 2 or 3 in there and they will be gone in less than 10 seconds. its a supplement food or a treat. i gave my oscar cichlid pellets daily and about every 2 weeks id give him about 6 ruby red minnows. he loved it. and my buddy has an oscar and i told him i had fry and he said he would love to feed them to his oscar i see no harm in that.
as for our fish we still dont have a decision on what we are going to get. but now that we have fry and know were going to be overwhelmed with them id prefer a cichlid that will be able to tame the masses or even just get rid of the culled ones. or the extra males that will only make the fry keep coming. i figured any fish would enjoy fry and im sure anyone thats had cichlids knows that if they have fry and they let them loose at the wrong time they will be gulped down by any of the other fish in that tank.
we were going to choose the yellow lab because it seemed to be the simpler to maintain for a first time african cichlid. but our other choices were the electric blue hap. or a smaller hap that is also colorful. or some zebra or peacocks. weve been looking into all of them and there requirements. weve been leaning towards haps and peacocks because they dont really need alot of hiding places and like open spaces.
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Post by eve on Mar 11, 2009 23:29:55 GMT -5
if you separate females and males you don't have to worry about fry
IMO it's cruel to breed fish just to use for food, but hey,that's my opinion on it
yes, oscars as a treat
but still a no on the yellows
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 11, 2009 23:31:03 GMT -5
what about an electric blue hap? we are considering these before we even thaught of the yellows.
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Post by goldenpuon on Mar 12, 2009 15:38:06 GMT -5
I recommend not using feeder fish. The ones at the store are sick half the time and allowing your fish to eat them can make them get sick.
I admit I am guilty of a similar thing with guppies. I was ignorant when i got them an then I got more than I could handle. I ended up overstocking my fry tanks resulting in slow growth. Then they continued having babies (they still are even after I took out the males). Now I have no choice but to let the parents eat them. I provide cover so the fry can escape if they are fast enough but not much luck with that. I honestly feel awful about it. I did rescue 1 fry and put it in a seperate tank. It's quite a hard thing to live with your fish getting eaten though it is not on purpose for me. Even 2 months after I took the males out, they are still having babies and I am raising what fry I have room for. But I guess if that's where you are going to go with, just make sure all the fish have good conditions before they're eaten. Also watch that the guppies don't produce fry faster than you can feed them to the other fish.
Still, evening feeding guppy fry, it's not something I would recommend to breed just to make them feeder fish. That's just me though.
Hope everything works out with your fish.
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