Re: [Killietalk] Lessons learned on managing species -

["Koran, David HQ02" <David_Koran at hq02.usace.army.mil>]

One question if i might ask, what size tanks do you use for these breeding
set ups, how do you have them set up, and what sized tank are you useing for
the fry/juvie rearing?

John

John,

I breed from a pair up to 15-20 fish in 10 gallon tanks in the greenhouse
starting usually in June until sometimes early October.  Each tank has 3 or
more bottom mops of various colors (different species show different color
preferences but there is some generalization within a genus).  Eggs are
picked regularly and hatched fry transferred to pint containers.  Fry are
consolidated weekly and transferred to 1.5 gallon shoeboxes.  Water is
changed weekly (approximately 95%+ waterchange) for about 5 weeks and then
fry transferred to 3 gallon sweater boxes.  After two weeks, water is changed
again, fry are counted.  Two weeks later another water change and the sweater
box is taken indoors.  After 3-5 weeks water changed again, repeated another
time and census taken again.  I repeat this process one or two more times.
When indoors I insert a "JT" filter into each sweater box (basically a 3/4" x
3/4" x 1/2" CPVC tee into a 1/2" street CPVC elbow with a glued in 1/8"
plastic air tube and filter floss plugs in the 3/4" joints).  Currently there
are 4 sets of shelves housing 163 sweater boxes and about 3000+ hardwater
killifish fry (range 4-60 young fish per sweater box).  Haven't moved and
reconfigured the "flow thru" units of 7 gallon flat storage boxes for further
rearing yet.  I have two racks with capacity for 42 flats and constructing
other units for about 56 more.  In the past (without the flow-thru) each flat
could grow-out batches of 50-60 fish to 1" size.  I used a small sponge
filter in each of those.  My water out of the tap is soft so I mix stock
solutions and weigh out containers of other chemicals to produce a consistent
water chemistry of Calcium-Magnesium-Potassium and sodium salts and carbonate
for a hardness of about 250 ppm for all fish.  This also includes brackish
water species like Adinia xenica and Fundulus luciae which I have adapted to
250 ppm.  Food is pretty much exclusively newly hatched BBS, hatch about 1/4
cup of cysts daily.

Dave K 

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