Jleem's 40 Gallon Breeder

JLeeM
Nice Pics, it's about time that RTL started growing. Great to see it out of the pot. Agree on the Bolivian Rams, I have raised dozens and each one has a different type of spot and location. My favorite fish. In fact had a spawn a few weeks ago and have a brood of about 30-50 just swimming all over the 20L. I have been thinking about a pair of EBA.

Convicts would do well in a species only tank. A 20 is a bit small but I think it could work. I haven't kept them in over 20 years though. Wait on the cichlid guys to chime in.
I quoted the wrong post. Sorry it's early.

 

I went ahead and acclimated the long fin lemon from bizaliz3 to the 40 last night.




I acclimated late so that I could release it after lights out. When I did release it, it just chilled right up front for a while.




I went in a couple hours later to check on it. It had moved over to a side wall, where the long fin chocolate found it. There was a little chasing going on, but it didn't seem particularly violent. I think the chocolate was just curious, and the lemon didn't want anything to do with a bigger fish. It quickly calmed down to them sitting nearby each other.

This morning, at first I didn't see any of the plecos. Little while later they all popped up though. The chocolate and super red were on opposite ends on different ornaments doing their things. The lemon was hanging out with the corys under the same ornament that the chocolate was on up top. (Couldn't get a shot of the chocolate before it went inside the ornament.)

Super red



Lemon and Corys (Look at those fins!!!)



bizaliz3 I tagged you in my thread where you could see without me dominating your breeding journal thread.

 

Looking good. I see some of my favorite fish in your tank. Skirts, pandas,and now a BN. awsomness.

 

I’m jealous!

 

Wow! My LFS always has super reds in this little tank with a blue panchax in it. The blue panchax has been there for months now, other fish (SAE, flying foxes, harlequin Rasboras) have come and gone. But the blue panchax and the super reds are still there!

Never seen a lemon before! Gorgeous!

 

I’m jealous!

Of what? Lol.

Wow! My LFS always has super reds in this little tank with a blue panchax in it. The blue panchax has been there for months now, other fish (SAE, flying foxes, harlequin Rasboras) have come and gone. But the blue panchax and the super reds are still there!

Never seen a lemon before! Gorgeous!

That's what I love about the BN pleco. So many colors! Wish I had a good shot of my long fin chocolate marble for this post. Oh, and you want to see something really weird in my opinion? Look up a picture of a green dragon BN pleco.

 

I want a longfin pleco! This one sounds beautiful!

 

Hello everyone. Been a while since an update on this thread.

For starters, the lemon pleco that I shared a picture of a little way up this page, during my last update, has grown a lot. Here's some newish pictures. Unfortunately don't have as many pictures of the other two plecos.






Might as well get the bad news out of the way next. I recently lost one of my panda corys. Happened rather suddenly, but I believe it may have gotten an infected wound. So that puts me down to seven of those. I have this thing about even numbers, so I'm thinking about getting 1-3 more. We'll see though. I have enough fish in quarantine as of now. I currently have 8 tanks running, and literally half are quarantines for new fish.

First of all, I got this little guy (or at least I believe it's a male) about a month ago.




I already have 3 bolivian rams in this tank, but I believe they're all female. I'm really curious how the two genders will behave together, so I picked this little one up. If it's another female then I give up, and will just have 4 bolivian ladies. The breeding tube seems a lot different than those of all the others though. However, his quarantine isn't going as smoothly as wanted. I'm having a hard time getting him to eat on a regular basis, or much at all really. Somehow he's still alive after 4 weeks though. Not sure what to do from this point. Going to try some freshly thawed bloodworms here in a bit tonight.

On a brighter note, two days ago, I picked up this as a centerpiece for the 40 once quarantine is complete. It's eating pretty well so far, and very curious about EVERYTHING.




For those unsure, it's an electric blue acara. I was very impressed by how good it looks compared to most in the stores though. That's also with a huge fully grown adult male tormenting it, which I'm not going to lie, is another reason I had to have it. I've thought off and on about putting an EBA in this tank. I'll never know until I try though right? Wish me luck!

My other two quarantine tanks are devoted to fish for another tank (my 37 gallon). Check out that thread too!
Jleem's 37 Gallon

 

You got an EBA? Jealous!!

 

You got an EBA? Jealous!!

Yep, I finally did. I've been wanting one for a good while now. Definitely a bucket list fish.

 

Sorry to hear about the cory Hope you have luck with the new fish! They’re looking good so far.

 

Well that was short lived. Turns out while I was sharing about getting new fish, the EBA was laying on the floor dead. Apparently he jumped out of the feeding port in his quarantine tank hood. Seriously? Can't win for losing sometimes......

 

Oh no! That’s awful!

 

Well that was short lived. Turns out while I was sharing about getting new fish, the EBA was laying on the floor dead. Apparently he jumped out of the feeding port in his quarantine tank hood. Seriously? Can't win for losing sometimes......

They are nervous jumping fish IMO .
I have half covers on my EBA tank on the back as they spook and jump pretty easy. They are like basketballs bouncing off a backboard sometimes …
Sorry about your fish .

 

They are nervous jumping fish IMO .
I have half covers on my EBA tank on the back as they spook and jump pretty easy. They are like basketballs bouncing off a backboard sometimes …
Sorry about your fish .

Nice to know for next time. Thanks for that little tidbit.

I'm not sure what to do now. It's still in the warranty period, but I don't know if I should try to return it or not. I think they only have one more. The big aggressive looking one. The money back would be nice though.

Ah! coralbandit while I have your attention, do you have any suggestions on the bolivian ram?

 

Bolivian rams would probably fit in better then EBA.
I know most think the EBA are puppy dogs but I seen both sides of them since they breed for me and I raise them.
I have easily 2-300 from last spawn @ about 1 inch now and they can be rough .
Size wise when full grown the Bolivians are definitely a better choice for the tank.

 

Bolivian rams would probably fit in better then EBA.
I know most think the EBA are puppy dogs but I seen both sides of them since they breed for me and I raise them.
I have easily 2-300 from last spawn @ about 1 inch now and they can be rough .
Size wise when full grown the Bolivians are definitely a better choice for the tank.

I meant do you have any suggestions on getting the one in quarantine to eat.

 

I kind of have a question that could involve me becoming a "seller" on the BSTF section of the forum. I've begun pondering on getting rid of my 8 black skirt tetras in exchange for something else. If I were to do this, how could I go about doing so? If someone on here wanted them shipped, how would I do so?

 

I would like to say shipping is easy but it is a particular practice .
Bagging properly [I use O2] insulating box and having a heat pack [that works properly] are all part of a successful shipment.
2-3 day is affordable but risky and express is pretty expensive IMO.

 

So I've been kind of keeping my mouth shut about this tank, but I have some exciting news. Also need a little help and/or advice.

First of all, when I set up my new 29 gallon (which you can read about here https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/jleems-29-gallon-build.400826/#post-4096753 ) I moved my Penn Plax Cascade 700 canister off this tank for that. I divided as much of the media up as I could, and set up my Fluval 306 on the 40.

While finishing this job up, I just so happened to notice a little clutch of cory eggs on the front wall. So, I thought okay why not try out the Marina breeder box I ordered a little while back. There were a dozen eggs (not very many I know), but I accidentally dropped one trying to get the sticky little things off the glass. So I was working with 11 eggs. I read that they generally take 3-6 days to hatch. Well, yesterday morning I saw movement in the bottom of the box! This should have been somewhere around day 4. I finally got a count on them last night, and found that ALL 11 eggs hatched to my surprise. Immediately after that, I noticed 7 more eggs on the breeder box intake tube. So I collected them and put in the box as well. Hoping for some more maybe.

My question is, when should I feed them the first time? I picked up some HikarI First Bites yesterday. Hoping that's an okay food because it's all I could find. I don't have any experience, or equipment for various kinds of cultures except maybe infusoria. I didn't know if that would even work for corys though.

Here's some pictures I'd like to share.

The tank and breeder box. Don't think I ever shared about the big amazon swords, but you can kind of see those too.



The original eggs



A panda cory fry. I know the bottom is nasty. Right after taking this, I sucked all the trash out with a turkey baster.

 

Congrats on the cory eggs! I'm raising some sterbaI fry myself right now.

I put the eggs in a dip'n'pour and add 2 drops of meth blue to prevent fungus. I also change the water every day. Once they hatch, I move them into another container w/o MB. I just started using my Marina breeder box for the 36ish fry that I have. Add some sand on the bottom if you can. This helps prevent bacterial infections on the fry. I also added a bit of pilo moss and a catapa leaf (for added bacterial prevention).

There's a lot of sites that say they will feed off their yolk sac for the first few days but my fry didn't have much of a yolk sac so I fed them almost immediately. The first few days, I fed them a mix of golden pearls 5-50 micron, first bites and spirulina powder. It's a mix I was using to feed my rainbow fry. I started feeding microworms after about a week. On week 2, I added a tiny sliver of repashy to see if they like it but even after it broke down, it was still a bit too big for them. I'm adding a bit of decapsulated brine shrimp and microworms for now. They're about 3 weeks old now.

My breeding group just spawned again a couple of days ago and stuck about 30-40 eggs on the intake tube of the breeder box. I have over 80 eggs total from this spawn.

Good luck!!!

 

I believe first feeding should be offered the first day they are free swimming which could be 2-3 days after becoming wigglers but I have never spawned cories .
Congrats !

 

Cories become free swimmers as soon as they hatch but they're not very good swimmers. I just wanted to be on the safe side and have food available to them from day one rather than wait a few days. If they don't eat it, it'll get cleaned up, no big deal.

 

Okay, so I'll probably see if I can feed them some First Bites in a bit.

 

Anybody have any suggestions on heater, filtration, and/or stocking?

I'm using a Chinese Made - Nine Star HK 200 200w heater which not only does a great job but it looks great too and cost me maybe $10. On this particular Rig I'm using a Marina JF150 which is about perfect 150 Liters!!!! whereas on my main build I use a Sebo FD-1501 which I actually prefer for a few reasons... #1 of which is that it's easier to clean and maintain,,, Hope this helps you some,,,,

 

I'm using a Chinese Made - Nine Star HK 200 200w heater which not only does a great job but it looks great too and cost me maybe $10. On this particular Rig I'm using a Marina JF150 which is about perfect 150 Liters!!!! whereas on my main build I use a Sebo FD-1501 which I actually prefer for a few reasons... #1 of which is that it's easier to clean and maintain,,, Hope this helps you some,,,,

It gives me some more brands to keep in mind. Thanks.

Congrats on the cory eggs! I'm raising some sterbaI fry myself right now.

I put the eggs in a dip'n'pour and add 2 drops of meth blue to prevent fungus. I also change the water every day. Once they hatch, I move them into another container w/o MB. I just started using my Marina breeder box for the 36ish fry that I have. Add some sand on the bottom if you can. This helps prevent bacterial infections on the fry. I also added a bit of pilo moss and a catapa leaf (for added bacterial prevention).

There's a lot of sites that say they will feed off their yolk sac for the first few days but my fry didn't have much of a yolk sac so I fed them almost immediately. The first few days, I fed them a mix of golden pearls 5-50 micron, first bites and spirulina powder. It's a mix I was using to feed my rainbow fry. I started feeding microworms after about a week. On week 2, I added a tiny sliver of repashy to see if they like it but even after it broke down, it was still a bit too big for them. I'm adding a bit of decapsulated brine shrimp and microworms for now. They're about 3 weeks old now.

My breeding group just spawned again a couple of days ago and stuck about 30-40 eggs on the intake tube of the breeder box. I have over 80 eggs total from this spawn.

Good luck!!!

Okay so like I said, going to try some First Bites in a bit. Also just ordered some spirulina powder and catappa leaves which should be here tomorrow. Also ordered some golden pearls 5-50 which hopefully will be here Monday.

 

It gives me some more brands to keep in mind. Thanks.

- Forgot to mention "Marina" is a line name for Hagen products

 

So this is going to sound like a dumb question, but how do I tell if they're eating? Because I don't think they are so far. They're 3 days old today. I'm afraid they're going to starve on me.

 

It's hard to tell when they're really small but you should still be able to see food in their bellies. When I was first feeding them GP/FB mix, I could see slight gray/orange-ish bellies. The moss was in case they need infusoria or biofilm. I don't know if there was any infusoria on the moss and I don't know if cory fry can feed off biofilm but I wanted it to be in there just in case. I also added a catapa leaf in the breeder box for anti-bacterial properties and that they grow biofilm.

Now at 3 weeks, I can see them with white bellies when I feed them microworms in the morning and orange bellies when I feed them decap brine shrimp in the afternoon and evening. There's still a few runts so I still add some GP/FB mix in the morning and night.

 

Update time.

First of all, I've got several new or newish plants in this tank. I've got 3 huge amazon swords complete with runners as well as a couple smaller ones. I also have a couple bunches of ludwigia minI super red that are growing like crazy without even being actually placed in the tank or given ferts yet. I've also got a little sprig of Limnophila aromatica that is actually finally starting to grow a bit. What I'm really excited about though is the vals that I got. Kind of like the ludwigia, I just popped them in the tank to keep them in water. They've already sent out tons of runners and started sprouting baby plants.





Bad news, I've got a new algae problem. I don't want it to hinder my new plant progress. What kind is it, and what do I do about it?






This tank is down to 3 bristlenose plecos now. I moved the standard fin super red female out to a different tank. This leaves my female longfin lemon blue eye from bizaliz3 (she'll be known as Victoria from now on) and my male longfin chocolate marble (Victor) in this tank. If I ever decide to actively breed plecos I will probably trade out females to try to get some fry similar to the ones tfreemahas. Until then, if these two breed, I'll let nature intervene because I'm not anywhere near ready for pleco fry. Here's some then and now pictures that I got of the super red female (now known as Emily; yes if you're wondering all three are Corpse Bride references) during her move.

This is her (and Victor) when I got them in mid August last year.



These are her now. I really need current ones of the other two.



Also, speaking of fry (earlier anyway), my panda cory fry are growing so fast. They're almost a week and a half old now. It's hard to keep an accurate count I'm finding. Most, if not all 11, are still alive as of tonight. Here's a very blurry picture on they're first week marker (3-4 days ago).

 

Another panda cory fry picture. I can already see (with my own eyes, but not camera) that they're developing fins, barbels, and the black eye stripe. Coming up on two weeks old. Think I still have 10 out of 11.

DarkOne the mix of Golden Pearls, First Bites, and Spirulina powder is a hit. They're big enough I can see them eat now. Thank you. Planning on getting some decap brine shrimp eggs before long.




Also, does anyone have any info or advice on the algae dilemma in the post prior to this one?

 

Is the algae contained to the decor? If so, I would remove it, spray with peroxide, and clean vigorously with a brush. Scrape the tank walls, do a thorough filter maintenance, and clean off or remove any plant leaves with algae.

Another option is hit it with a one two punch using peroxide and excel. That would be bad for your jungle vals though. My italian vals have still not rebounded from that in my 40b and the algae keeps coming back.

Evaluate your lighting schedule and fertilizers used. The best course of action is to get a good balance where your plants needs are met so they out-compete the algae. If you split your light photo period, it can disrupt algae growth while still providing adequate light to your plants.

 

Is the algae contained to the decor? If so, I would remove it, spray with peroxide, and clean vigorously with a brush. Scrape the tank walls, do a thorough filter maintenance, and clean off or remove any plant leaves with algae.

Another option is hit it with a one two punch using peroxide and excel. That would be bad for your jungle vals though. My italian vals have still not rebounded from that in my 40b and the algae keeps coming back.

Evaluate your lighting schedule and fertilizers used. The best course of action is to get a good balance where your plants needs are met so they out-compete the algae. If you split your light photo period, it can disrupt algae growth while still providing adequate light to your plants.

It's on a lot of stuff. All the decor, the small pieces of driftwood, and all over a lot of plants. I think my creeping jenny is a goner.

I'll probably try the peroxide soon. The walls aren't that bad. Guess they're too slick for this kind of algae. I also just put on a new filter with seeded media. My light schedule is already split too. I'm thinking this algae popped up due to a really big cleaning after a period of neglect due to some health problems. Plus, I also had a cycle relapse during this time. Luckily didn't lose anyone though!

 

Working on a major cleaning. Taking a break from scrubbing hardscape multiple times with hydrogen peroxide.




While I had a chance, I got some up to date pictures of my two longfin plecos, Victor and Victoria. Victor was much more displeased with being put in the specimen container.







I also got up to date pictures of the panda cory fry. They're fast approaching 3 weeks old, starting to look like little corys, and will soon need bigger food.

 

So here's how it looks now. I don't have a whole lot to work with, but it looks better than it did. I tried to save a few baby amazon swords. I moved the vals, but left all runners intact. Moved the ludwigia. Saved what I could off two big swords. Lost all the runners on those. Still trying with the Limnophila aromatica in the middle. Also planted down all the anacharis. Hopefully it doesn't collect stuff and rot on the surface now. Still needs a lot of work to get it where I want it.

 

That may be correct. Some say higher, others say as low as 73. I believe their ideal is higher though.

I have been keeping 5 Pearl Gouramis (along with some Threadfin Rainbows) in a 40 gallon br at 75 degrees for over a year. They show every evidence of thriving.

 

This is an awesome thread as I'm in the process of getting a 40G breeder myself (only bought the stand so far and am waiting for a deal on the 40G either at Petco or somewhere else that is selling them for cheap).

What lights did you end up settling on JLeeM? I don't have too many high end plants but they are certainly low tech to maybe at highest, medium.

 

This is an awesome thread as I'm in the process of getting a 40G breeder myself (only bought the stand so far and am waiting for a deal on the 40G either at Petco or somewhere else that is selling them for cheap).

What lights did you end up settling on JLeeM? I don't have too many high end plants but they are certainly low tech to maybe at highest, medium.

I ended up going with a Beamswork DA 6500K (white and blue lights only). It along with Osmocote Plus root tabs and Thrive C liquid ferts seems to keep most of the plants I've dealt with going. Even the red tinted leaves on some. I believe would be doing even better if I could get to the point to try injecting CO2, because I do have some algae problems. Not sure if it's black beard or staghorn. Being that CO2 is the only major factor I don't deal with though, it makes me believe that's where the imbalance lies. Good luck with yours! I hope to see your progress along the way.

 

I ended up going with a Beamswork DA 6500K (white and blue lights only). It along with Osmocote Plus root tabs and Thrive C liquid ferts seems to keep most of the plants I've dealt with going. Even the red tinted leaves on some. I believe would be doing even better if I could get to the point to try injecting CO2, because I do have some algae problems. Not sure if it's black beard or staghorn. Being that CO2 is the only major factor I don't deal with though, it makes me believe that's where the imbalance lies. Good luck with yours! I hope to see your progress along the way.

I'm thinking of the Beamswork you recommended. Any issues with the power supply pack/power-related issues?

 

I'm thinking of the Beamswork you recommended. Any issues with the power supply pack/power-related issues?

I haven't had any.