30 gallon stocking!!!!!

[paperdog9]

I've started to take an intrest in Celestial Pearl Danios, so I was thinking it would be really cool to have a big school of them in a 30 gallon. Because they are so expenxive, I was thinking about just buying a few, then letting them breed to create more, but my question is, will the young need to be removed and fed specially or anything? I have also read that they need less then 20 gallons, but that doesn't seem right, because I would think they would enjoy space. Help? Opinions?

 

[paperdog9]

Now I've started to consider glass catfish, so I was thinking I could get a good school of like 7 of them with my cories, and maybe a smaller schooler, such as harlequin rasboras. I'm tossing around so many ideas, I can't decide! More are welcome! Maybe I can get some inspiration from someone

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I am not familiar with the celestial pearl danio, but have raised zebra danio fry many times. I made a breeding setup that fits in a 20 gallon long and allowed the water level to be low (about 1/4 to 1/3 full) in the tank during the actual spawning. The eggs fall to the bottom of the tank and the adults are removed. The day before or on the day of a successful spawning I put some lettuce leaves in a gallon jar and add just boiled water and set it aside open to the air. By the time the fry hatch out and are able to feed there should be lots of tiny critters in the jar (I have always known this to be called an infusoria culture.) I pour a small amount of the infusoria culture into the breeding tank each day for while. (You can add small amounts of hot water to the culture if you wish.) (Note- the infusoria culture will stink after a short while.)
I also prepare some finely powdered food by running dry fish food (shrimp pellets and what ever is on hand) thru an old coffee grinder which is too weak to grind coffee beans any more. I can adjust the settings down to very fine. (What ever you use to grind it, go slow so as not to burn the food.) (A mortar and pistil can be used by hand) Less than half a 35mm film can is more than enough for a fairly large spawn.
I will attempt to photo and post the breeding setup if you are interested. I think it survived my last move and think most of the bits survived.

 

[paperdog9]

Hello; I am not familiar with the celestial pearl danio, but have raised zebra danio fry many times. I made a breeding setup that fits in a 20 gallon long and allowed the water level to be low (about 1/4 to 1/3 full) in the tank during the actual spawning. The eggs fall to the bottom of the tank and the adults are removed. The day before or on the day of a successful spawning I put some lettuce leaves in a gallon jar and add just boiled water and set it aside open to the air. By the time the fry hatch out and are able to feed there should be lots of tiny critters in the jar (I have always known this to be called an infusoria culture.) I pour a small amount of the infusoria culture into the breeding tank each day for while. (You can add small amounts of hot water to the culture if you wish.) (Note- the infusoria culture will stink after a short while.)
I also prepare some finely powdered food by running dry fish food (shrimp pellets and what ever is on hand) thru an old coffee grinder which is too weak to grind coffee beans any more. I can adjust the settings down to very fine. (What ever you use to grind it, go slow so as not to burn the food.) (A mortar and pistil can be used by hand) Less than half a 35mm film can is more than enough for a fairly large spawn.
I will attempt to photo and post the breeding setup if you are interested. I think it survived my last move and think most of the bits survived.

Yeah, that would be great! I have a spare 10 gallon that I could use, and considering Celetial Pearl Danios are only about an inch or less long, that should be enough.
If I can't find CPDs, I may just try zebra or leopard danios. I still am trying to find the perfect (to me) set up stocking wise, so Everything is a possibility. Danios are definately one of my favorite schoolers, so it is very likely I will get some!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I will gather the stuff and take some photos. A ten gallon will work, but have used the larger tank because I have one and it allows me to add infusoria mix for a few days and after that to add fresh water day to day untill the fry are big enough to safely drain the old water. Of course a fine filter can be fabricated over the end of the hose to lessen the chance of drawing out fry with the water. Give me a day or two. I also suggest a sponge filter for the fry tank. An aged sponge filter will also be a source of food for fry.

 

[paperdog9]

okay, thanks, I do have a sponge filter powered by a pump, but that may be too powerful, so perhapes a few air powered box filters? Thanks for helping me out!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; My experience with sponge filters is with the type that create flow by air bubbles. I have not used the pump powered type. The sponge media is the thing that will settle (cycle?)the breeding tank. Perhaps the sponge can be adapted to an air stream. I have done so after breaking the plastic that came with filters. It becomes brittle after eight or ten years.

 

[skjl47]

zebra breeding setup

Hello; I will attempt to attach some photos of a breeding setup that has been used several times. The frame is a glass rectangle siliconed at the corners with a sheet of plastic window screening material siliconed to the bottom. Two different stands are shown. The shorter glass one is the best as it allows for less initial water in the breeding tank. The clear plastic sheet on the top is to keep the breeding fish in the trap. (They will eat the eggs)
The last pictures are of the breeding trap in an empty tank. When in use the water is just at the top of the trap. Zebra eggs will pass thru the screen and are not sticky. I keep the bottom bare and do not feed the breeders while in the trap. Two or three mature females and one or two males in the trap for a day will produce a lot of eggs.
I also put some floating plants in the trap.

 

[OrangeCones]

If I can't find CPDs, I may just try zebra or leopard danios. I still am trying to find the perfect (to me) set up stocking wise, so Everything is a possibility. Danios are definately one of my favorite schoolers, so it is very likely I will get some!

Just to let you know, the CPDs do not 'shoal' like other danios do. They hang out together, but do not move together in a group like other danios do.

The method of breeding them mentioned works well. If you have other fish in the aquarium (including adult CPDs), you will have little success in breeding them. Moving the adults to spawn in another smaller tank, then removing them works well.

 

[paperdog9]

Hello; I will attempt to attach some photos of a breeding setup that has been used several times. The frame is a glass rectangle siliconed at the corners with a sheet of plastic window screening material siliconed to the bottom. Two different stands are shown. The shorter glass one is the best as it allows for less initial water in the breeding tank. The clear plastic sheet on the top is to keep the breeding fish in the trap. (They will eat the eggs)
The last pictures are of the breeding trap in an empty tank. When in use the water is just at the top of the trap. Zebra eggs will pass thru the screen and are not sticky. I keep the bottom bare and do not feed the breeders while in the trap. Two or three mature females and one or two males in the trap for a day will produce a lot of eggs.
I also put some floating plants in the trap.

Ah, I get it, thanks! I might try to make something like this if I get danios, which I am considering leopard danios strongly at this point. It will be my first time breeding a non-livebearer fish! Now i just have to wait for my stand to be made before anything can get cycling.

 

[paperdog9]

Just to let you know, the CPDs do not 'shoal' like other danios do. They hang out together, but do not move together in a group like other danios do.

The method of breeding them mentioned works well. If you have other fish in the aquarium (including adult CPDs), you will have little success in breeding them. Moving the adults to spawn in another smaller tank, then removing them works well.

Thanks! I don't know about CPDs anymore, because I'm afraid they will be to small to keep with most other species, and it would take a whole bunch of them to make a 30 gallon look nice

 

[OrangeCones]

I sold the last of my adults and have only 4 left (1 male and 3 female). These 4 are 5th generation tank-raised (from my original set of 6 that were 1st generation tank-raised). I'm thinking of trying to get some wild-caught or tank-raised from someone else to get knew blood in the bloodlines. They do breed like rabbits!

 

[paperdog9]

Actually, after researching breeding danios, I'm kind of debating getting and breeding them, because if they have a hundred fry at a time, I will have no where to put the fry when they grow up, and there is nobody around here who would take danio fry, so I might just do with some rasboras, probably harlequin. I'm still interested in glass catfish, so I think my stocking will consist of glass cats, harlies, and peppered cories. Advise or suggestions?

 

[lauraf]

Glass cats, harlies and cories would look awesome. Maybe a centrepiece fish or two???

 

[aakaakaak]

Straight up zebra danios aren't going to get you a cash return. CPDs would. Maybe leopards might (I'll be testing this next month, my fry finally started coloring). Glofish, if you can get a license, or sell backdoor, will go awesomely.

The LFS fish bubbas have a local guppy breeder they use and they look amazing. (I'm tempted to get a few myself.) So "high quality" guppies are an option for breeding. They're easy to breed too. Endlers are also viable for the market in many places. They seem to go good online as well.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; With reference to your concerns about having a large number of fish if you breed danio varieties. In my experience if I started out with 100 free swimming fry, the number would be reduced by around half over time. Many will hatch that just do not make it. On one occasion I put several very egg laden females in a breeding trap and wound up with at least 200+ fry. I placed them in a 125 gallon tank and over time the numbers steadily reduced until there were only around fifty or so raised to maturity. Many fry developed deformities as they grew. Some with deformities lived to old age while others did not make it past the juvenile stage.
If you wish to have fewer fish you can start with fewer Breeders, say one male and one female in a trap. Also the large hatchings came from using very mature females with swelled bellies full of eggs. You can use a younger female. Also the time in the breeding trap can be reduced. I would leave the breeders in the trap for 24 hours or more. No longer than two days as I did not want a big difference in the hatching time of the last eggs laid. Leave the breeders in for a few hours only. ( I seem to feel that the heaviest breeding occurs at day break, but likely continues all day long.)
I use an old tank with a black slate bottom and the eggs are easy to spot. I guess that a glass bottom would show up the eggs as well. I used to induce a spawn in my classrooms and siphon the eggs up for students to observe during the various stages of development by placing them in a dished slide and observing them thru stereoscopes.
One other thought; I made my breeding trap shallow and long as the danio are fast swimmers and very active during breeding. I would buy ten or twelve danio and raise them to sexual maturity. When they mature the normal schooling behavior will be replaced from time to time with a more frenzied chase as the females shed eggs into the community tank. All of the zebra and many of the other fish will join in because they are eating the eggs. A few eggs make it into the gravel. I have siphoned community tank water into a quarantine tank as a practice for several years now and have had a few eggs make the trip and hatch out some bonus babies.

 

[aakaakaak]

Large clear plastic tubs and inexpensive foam filters can be used as fry tanks if you don't care about the tank being asthetically pleasing.

 

[paperdog9]

Glass cats, harlies and cories would look awesome. Maybe a centrepiece fish or two???

I'm possibly sticking with 1 pearl gourami for centerpeice. I plugged some numbers into Aquadvizor, and im thinking 1 pearl gouarmi, 5 glass cats, 7 peppered cories, 12 harequien rasboras. It will have high filtration and quite a few plants. Do these numbers sound good?

 

[lauraf]

Sounds awesome! Any algae-munching critters?

 

[paperdog9]

I'm not certian yet, maybe once my RCS start to breed in my 15 gallon I'll see if they can form a breeing colony, while hiding from the possibly hungry pearl gourami mouth. Might do a few nerite snail too, it all depends on how much algea I grow. I'm so excited! I should be getting the stand in a few weeks, and my wood is just about tannin free, so a week of soaking will probably do those! Thanks for everyone's help! I'll probably have more questions, but I'll keep you guy and gals updated!