The design of the tank is specifically geared to bubble nest breeders for the following reasons:
1. Problems with removing the female after sporning
2. Surface disturbance by filters or water changing
3. Temperature changes between water and air while developing the labarynth organ
4. having adequate escape room for the female during pre-sporning, sporning and post-sporning
5. removing the male when the time is right without netting fry.
These are all problems that occur during the sporning and raising of bettas and gouramis. We have all broken the nest while trying to catch the female, had problems with filtration, or lack of it, water changes and most commonly, temperature differences causing pneumonia in the young.
This breeding tank has been designed to overcome all these difficulties and more. The way it works is as follows:
When all set up properly, all the tanks will be filtered through one sump, using 4 stage filtration. (The 4th stage is UVC treatment for pathagens etc.)
Water changes will be made via the sump, avoiding any disturbance of the tanks in the system. The flow and return system will keep all levels constant at all times, which avoids the problem of water level changes during the nesting stage, where if the nest is built touching the glass sides, it risks being brioken up during a
water change. Most people avoid doing any changes during this time for that reason.
The 2 storey construction has been designed with a definite purpose. Bettas normally breed in shallow water. The water at the top is 150mm deep on the one side, and 400mm deep on the other side. The bettas build their nest in the top above the shelf, where the water is shallow. I have a pair that are doing this right now! This means that the male doesn't have to go far to retrieve the eggs if they fall from the nest. The female on the other hand, has plenty of room to escape the males attentions by swimming to the lower part of the tank, where cover is provided for her, avoiding serious damage during the mating. She also has a refuge if I am a little slow removing her afterwards, as the male will stay close to the nest.
Removal of the female is simply a matter of netting her in the lower level, without any disturbance of the nest. The male is removed the same way, when the time is right, simply by attracting him down with food and then netting him, again, without disturbing the young fry, as they will stay close to the surface in the top section for the first 2 weeks or so.
When the fry are growing, the risk of pneumonia is minimised because the air they use when developing the labarynth is always the same temperature as the water, since the top is sealed. There is a 12mm air space at the top when the tank is filled for this purpose. Feeding of the fry is simple too, using a syringe to inject the BBS and micro-worms into the top section. Any excess is removed through the filter system when it falls to the bottom of the tank.
The fry will start to swim down at about 3-4 weeks, by which time they are out of danger, and can be moved to grow-out tanks. Again, this is made simple by shutting off the water inflow and draining the tank down. By use of a large bore tube, the fry are suctioned into the recepticle and then just poured into the grow out tank. The water quality and conditions will be near identical, since all the tanks will be using the same type of filtration, so even aclimatisation won't be a major issue.
I have trialled the system on a much larger version with great success, both with bettas and dwarf gouramis. The water depth was much greater there, with up to 4' of water, but the fry still thrived and grew well, with few fatalities. I am convinced that this smaller version will have similar, if not better results due to the reduced depth and less risk of water pressure injury on the fry.
Another less obvious advantage with this design is the space-saving design. Because there is no need to access the top of the tank, as with conventional breeding setups, they can be stacked directly on top of each other. This saves both space and shelving. They can be stacked up to 4 high, literally glass to glass, so long as they are all the same size, without the need for any shelves between them.
They will all be centrally filtered, so water changing is not so frequent, and as they are all connected to the same filter, it is much easier to maintain the water quality and temperature.
Which is easier to look after? ten tanks of 15 gallons, or one system of 150 gallons? With the advanced filtration that will be used in the final setup, there is very little risk of contamination, disease or even algae getting into the system!
The sump will contain gravel for removal of the larger particles, floss and a bio-wheel for bacterial nitrification,
activated carbon for removal of trace elements and UVC for removal of spores and pathagens. The water coming in from the mains supply will be passed through a 0.06 micron filter to remove
chlorine and chloromines, heavy metals and other detremental substances. The water will be heated in the sump before being pumped into the tanks. The inflow will create a gentle circulation inside the breeders and levels will be controlled by fine screened gravity overflow returns to the sump.
Another advantage is that when the female is removed, she can be put straight into another breeder and conditioned in there, ready to sporn again. The males can be put back into the barracks system and conditioned in there. I anticipate that there will be 4 breeding pairs in rotation using the 12 breeding tanks, so new sporns should be on a weekly basis. This will also make tracking the fry much easier, since they will be removed during week 4 and placed into covered grow-out tanks, avoiding the mixing of fry, which all too often happens, and clearing the tank for the next sporning.
This is to be the center of the fish house, with 80 grow-out tanks and 200+ barracks supporting it. But on a small scale, the tank can still work well, as I have one single tank in production now, using a fluval 2 to internally filter it, and a small 100W heater to maintain the temperature. Water changes on this tank are a little more difficult, as the level can only drop 25mm before air enters the upper section, so changes need to be small and often.
I hope this explains the reasons behind the design.
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s always say.. 
nicely done! 
very cool! 
don't you mean fish pond? 
