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Fry Growth in 2x18x18


Ben

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Hi all,

I find myself in the situation we all have faced, some of us several times in our fish keeping lifetimes. Is it time for another tank?

I know the answer is always yes and I know this is my best option but I would like to avoid it if possible.

Currently I have a standard 5 foot tank housing my colony of Msobo and a 2x18x18 for fry. The 2x18x18 also has a large hang on fry saver for the freshly strip fry. Ideally this is as many tanks as I would like but I wish to grow out the current fry I have to pick out some females and add back to the colony before selling the rest.

Back in the day when I had a fish room I used a 6x2x2 for fry grow out, which worked great but I’m not willing to go down that path again. How big can I safely grow the current fry in a 2x18x18 without stunting their growth?

The 2x18x18 is filtered by 2 x sponge filters and I am currently doing a 20-40lt water change daily. Without counting there would be around 100 fry in there, the biggest being 2cm. They are fed 2-3 times a day on NLS Growth and some Sera Vipagran with the occasional feeding of Brineshrimp for the larger fry and Baby Brineshrimp for the smaller ones.

Can I get them to 5cm, big enough to guess sex and introduce into the 5 footer?

I understand I can’t get all one hundred to 5cm in this tank and that I will have to sell some off but am I going to stunt them trying to get them to this size in a 2x18x18?

What other options do I have that I may not have thought of?

I am considering contacting a few people I have known for many years who have expressed interest in Msobo fry when available. The thought was to discuss their ability to grow them out on the provision they give me some girls back, but being such a finicky person I would prefer to grow them out myself.

My other thought is due to time constraints sell the adults off and put the fry in the 5 footer and grow them out and then I don’t have the worry of what to do with the next batches of fry.

Help me out here,

Cheers

Ben

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For 30-40 I would think the 2'x18"x18" would be fine but 100 :unsure it might be a bit small

the other thing is you don't need to go 18" high with fry

you really do want more tanks again Ben or you wouldn't be breeding fish :no:

is there room under the 5' tank for anything ?

maybe a nice cube stack 1 x 2x18x18 and 2 x 2x18x12 or 14 high

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In all seriousness - I'm not sure if there is a possibility that you haven't already considered and weighed up.

I've never kept msobo so I'm basing this on reputation and my own lazy practices...
But I would probably try raising them in the main tank with the colony...
Say you wanted 10 more females... At 3.5-4cm sell off 60-70 of the hundred. Leaning toward larger/dominant (hopefully dealing with most of the males) fry.
Get the remaining up to 4cm+ and move them back in to the parent tank.
You will probably have to deal with some aggression based losses - but it's the way I would lean in that position.
Weed out males and any females you don't like the look of as you can.

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Say you wanted 10 more females... At 3.5-4cm sell off 60-70 of the hundred. Leaning toward larger/dominant (hopefully dealing with most of the males) fry.

I always found eggspots to be a reliable indicator of sex in small(3.5-4cm) Msobo. At that size you can be fairly certain that any sign of eggspots means a male.

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you really do want more tanks again Ben or you wouldn't be breeding fish :no:

is there room under the 5' tank for anything ?

maybe a nice cube stack 1 x 2x18x18 and 2 x 2x18x12 or 14 high

I would like a nice 6x2x2 display tank in the lounge room but have been a little slack with reinforcing the floor. Might be my best option I think.

I have a great spot for a corner tank but haven't been able to find one I like.

How often do you use your bathtub?

Got two Ducky and neither get used. Not sure the misses would like the idea but I do.

In all seriousness - I'm not sure if there is a possibility that you haven't already considered and weighed up.

You are probably right, I've been doing this long enough to know what my options are. I just need to commit to one of them.

You'd need to supply me a heater...

just thought you could send them to Duck he has a room that turns into a pond :lol5:

How many 300w Jagers do you think you will need? I'll supply the heaters but the power bill is on Chris, it was his idea after all.

Say you wanted 10 more females... At 3.5-4cm sell off 60-70 of the hundred. Leaning toward larger/dominant (hopefully dealing with most of the males) fry.

I always found eggspots to be a reliable indicator of sex in small(3.5-4cm) Msobo. At that size you can be fairly certain that any sign of eggspots means a male.

When keeping them in the past and raising fry to add back to the colony Andy and I found the same thing. Sitting next to the tank now my size's stated above were a little off. The biggest are pushing 3.5cm so there should be the odd egg-spot or two starting to be visible soon.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

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Hey Ben,

Intially most of my fry were raised in 2x18x18's but they were mostly in larger systems. They were OK for 1-2cm fry in large numbers but in the end that is why I ended up extending my fish room to fit in 4x18 and 3x18 racks. As you would imagine i ended up having the most success growing out fish in 4x18's in large numbers with just side drop filters.

Sounds like you are heading back down the path of no return lol.

Cheers

Rosco

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