fish breeding

[Row2fer]

hello all, just found this site and loving it.

as I have been reading the posts in this thread for a few days...I feel a few of you might be able to give me some insite....lol feel like I know Monicle..hee hee... down there in Vancouver!!

I have only been in the hobby for about a year now...but as a dbl bio/chem major, I have really taken to it. I am huge into no impact and low tech hi bio systems. You all seem to share your stats of your tanks so I figure I will share mine with this thread since this is a topic I will visit a lot.

MY Tank btw this is my first tank ever of any kind, never did any freshwater I have made many mistakes and have made some silly contraptions...but back to simple....i have not updated anything since march but if you want to see some of it you can visit www.BillWesterfield.com. My younger brothers thought I needed to learn web design at the same time so I could share...I got lazy...need to make my website better. also if you look at my site that silly deal I made for my pumps is gone, stand keeps changing that is why its just a frame and plywood..messing with dimensions eventually i will make it look nice...and my site sucks to

120 gal allglass w/2 600+gph overflows, 48x24x24
130lbs live rock...grrr I bought this before I knew we were killing stuff, but the stuff I got is uber, liverockusa.org.... Although I did only 2 orders ever my live rock looks better then any rock I have seen in any lfs. Mitch and Kathleen that run it are super awesome and communicative....only catch is you have to pick it up from the airport.
80lbs of home made agro....(own twist...balloons are easy way to make uber caves!!! I used pasta and rice as well for tunnels and divits, worked out well but long curing time, but way cheaper then filling cavities with expensive crushed coral or shells and the tunnels u get from the pasta are incredible, I also collect shells around our beach for my plugs for my cuttings.)
60lbs of crushed coral
60lbs of live sand
29lbs of garf grung
3lbs of argonite dust

Lighting
2 400w MH 10,000k - 8 hours
1 250w MH 20,000k - 12 hours
2 96w PC 6,700k - 12 hours
2 96w PC actinic 03 - 16 hours
2 led luner strips - 4 hours
Later will change for better color but right now lighting for grow more then show

Refugium
I have a 40 gal refuge
Its all garden now, I ran a skimmer 24/7 in the beginning but my tank has so many animal filters now that the skimmer never even gets dirty...although still sitting in the sump if things get bad it hasn't ran in 3 months.

The cleaning staff
400+ snails and crabs, I bought 400 but they breed like crazey so I have way more then 400.
Snails - Nass., Turbo Nass., Astrea, Nerite, Turban, Margarita, cerith, Mex. Turbo, queen conch, sand sifting
Crabs - blue legged, scarlet, corsica, mithrax
Star fish - 6 green brittles, 4 black brittles, 4 serpants, 6 sand sifters
4 sand sifting cucumbers
20 peppermint shrimp
2 gold banded coral shrimp - mated pair
1 harliquin shrimp - btw kicks ass at eating the evil coral eating star fish, I used to have 10 bad starfish or so on the glass at any given time...I rarely see them at all now....It does eat the sand sifters though but I am trying to breed them in a new tank.
1 blood red fire shrimp
Clams - 2 1st grade blue maxima, 1 gold maxima, 1 squamosa, 1 derasa, 12 cleaner clams in refug....these almost went to my kitchen into a boiling pot of water look like steamer clams....yummy!!!!

Corals - hard to count...would say 80-90 in the tank...all are or were frags.
will get my stuff together and get some pics to share.

Anenomies - 1 long tenticle greenish/white and one long tenticle purple...super bright...cool Anenomie

Fish
1 male and 2 female lyretail anthias
1 female leapard wrasse...looking for a little male
3 fridmani pseudochromis
3 orange spotted watchman gobies
3 pearly jawfish
2 bicolor blennies
2 rainfordi gobies
2 marron clowns
5 blue/green chromis
almost done here thinking a pair of angels or tangs to finish maybe both depending on how things go as these little fish grow to adult hood.


I currently own a business that has been good to me, but need a change of pace. I have had it for sale for about 2 years now. soon as it sells i will be able to semi retire and at this point I am planning what I will do next, I am only 34. I am fully addicted to this hobby, as a scuba diver I have always loved marine life...so much fun over here in western washington to go play with the wolf eels and many octopus we have in our waters...or spear fishing a 4 or 5 foot ling and even those special dives when you get to see a huge 15 foot 6 gill shark. Nothing like slurping down fresh abalony, or cracking some fresh dungeoness in between dives around the san juan islands or any other nice spot in the puget sound.

although I plan on opening up a handful of other small businesses I believe a saltwater fish store will be one of them. I currently have been coral farming on a small level...mainly enough to where my lfs gives me store credit so new additions are free, and enough for my brother to kill in his death tank...lol

But Now that my tank is getting full I already have purchased another...lol where does it end?

So since I already enjoy coral farming....I plan on setting up 48 brood stock coral tanks and 12 macroalgea tanks...I have been working on this for a couple of months to maximize cost and efficiency. This is all going in my living room thank god I am a batchelor...lol. A few more bugs to work out but should atleast have them cycling water before the new year.

for those of you that made it this far here is where I am curious.
Since I will have 60 tanks...I thought I might try to breed 60 different types of reef friendly fish. I realize it will take time to create 60 different mated pairs but in the long run it would be pretty cool.

after the 60 tanks....and the big 4 foot stand of 4 tanks to hold my cuttings any additional tanks will have to be planned...one of my bathrooms has some room

1) if fry are unharvested and the parents gobble them up...do they tend not to rebreed?

2) when u raise the fry in another tank...it has got to be a messy ordeal...lots poo from lots of fish in a small place....how is this handled?...its got to be semi insane...any insite?

Thanks for your time all info or ideas are welcome,
Bill

[Matt Rogers]

What a setup! I am marking this thread so I can follow up after work. Thanks for joining 3reef!

[jtReef]

very nice.
Welcome to 3 reef

[Birchell]

from what ive read, and will soon know, clownfish will rebreed for some time. so if you get a pair started, youll have hundreds of fry before you know it, lol.
I havent read about to many other fish that will breed like that. some places sell dwarf angels in pair, and they will breed now and then. but im not sure how to raise them. your best bet will be to search the internet for saltwater fish stores, and see what kind of fish they can breed or get tank bred, and load up on them and see how far that goes. im sorry i dont have much info for you but im sure someone will fill in the spaces.
As for raising the fry, you will have poo for the most part. a good sponge filter will help with the bio-load, but you will have to make water changes every day to every other day after they are free swimming. mainly from all the food that is put in the tank. alot of saltwater fish have very small mouths when they are born, so alot of small food will help them. i guess the main thing with the fry, and with the adults, is keep it stable, stable, stable.
these fish are from the ocean and dont like alot of change. that is why tank breed fish do beter, because they are more used to water changes, and temp changes. i hope i didnt just ramble on and confuse you, or tell you stuff you already know. from what ive read, your on track, and your gonna have to give me some coral frags for this info, lol. lets us know how it goes, and get pictures anytime you can, he he.

Michael

[turbo4603]

Awesome, its a pleasure to have you in this forum!

[Row2fer]

thanks Birchell, I appreciate any info. I am the first to admit that I am a rooky, and even after 10 years into it I will always be able to learn more.

Ok, I have new question. I am making space this weekend so that I can proceed with construction the following weekend. this means I have to move my 120 into my bedroom...YIKES!!!

I have a 60 gal hex set up currently next to my 120 and cycling the water from the 120's refuge...I feel this will be a good spot to place my corals, fish and other critters in until i get it set up in the other room, they will be in the same water they are used to.

I am curious...i have a ton of sand in there so will probably have to get most of it out in order to lift the tank...will I be able to set it all back up and have it all running in the same day. Never moved it before so I am thinking if will be fairly murky after stirring the sand all up...maybe toxic??

anybody that has moved a tank this size... I would love some preventative headache advice

thanks,
Bill

[Row2fer]

Tanks, have been moved....grrrr... What a chore!

[Row2fer]

well thought I would update this post since a few of you were interested. Construction has not begun . I had to fire a manager in one of my satellite offices and have been out of town since the 12th of December. I should have the new one trained by mid January...then can finally build my coral/fish farm.

Thanks,
Bill