Questions about a (50 tank) hobby breeding set-up
Questions about a (50 tank) hobby breeding set-up
Can anyone help me? I am building a 6 X 6 shed in my back yard and want to breed bristlenose catfish. I will have approx 50 tanks and need some opinions/info on filtration and heating set-ups. I have taken care of aeration. I have bought a large reverse cycle aircon for cooling and heating so question one is ...will I still need to have individual tank heaters if the shed is always kept at the required & constant temp.??? Second question...what is the best method for self cleaning/filtration (eg. a pool filter and bio set-up???) Any info, opinions or the whereabouts of such info, whether in book or internet form, will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
RMB (RICK)
Thought about getting a small-ish pond filter and connecting it to piping to filter all of your tanks? Would be fairly easy to do and a lot less hassle than the individual filters. And this way you can have a heater in the filter also to keep the water at a steady temperature.
I would love to see a diary kept as you do this! So please keep us updated with pics etc. as your idea develops!
Ben
I would love to see a diary kept as you do this! So please keep us updated with pics etc. as your idea develops!
Ben
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Feel free to visit me at The Pets At Home Cheltenham Aquatic Centre, Gloucestershire, England
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Rick,
A few ideas from a guy that commercially bred Ancistrus for a while and has set up a number of fish rooms...
1) Heat the shed with a small space heater. One of the problems with individual heaters is that each needs its own outlet and I am always short on outlets.
2) I would suggest individual filters. You just can not afford for one sick fish to kill off your entire stock (esp. with the fish prices Down Under).
3) You will not need 50 tanks to produce commercial amounts of Ancistrus. I used three breeding trios in three 15-20 gallon (about 30" X 18" X 12") tanks, 5 or 6 ten gallon tanks for new fry, and two 40 gallon tanks for grow out.
4) With this set up I turned out 100 plus fry per month and supplied most of the pet stores in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area. In fact, after about 6 months I had supplied all the pet stores to capacity and was getting stuck with too many Ancistrus. Keep production fairly low or you will put yourself out of business. In the beginning I was getting $1.00 per fish. After I over saturated my own market I was only getting 50 cents per two inch fish.
5) The bigger and cleaner the grow out tanks, the better the results. If I did it again I would buy 2-3 large (200-300 gallons) fiberglass troughs for grow out.
At $100 to $50 a month profit, the venture was never profitable. Minus electricity, gas to drive to pet stores, time, etc I broke even in the best of months. I understand prices are better in Australia, but you will be amazed how fast they drop after you go into business, esp. if you over produce and have to keep dropping your prices just to move animals to make room.
In the end, I was contacted by a fish farm in Florida and sold the breeders for a nice amount of money. This was the only real profit I made. I also ended up giving away about 300 Ancistrus for free just to get rid of them.
-Shane
A few ideas from a guy that commercially bred Ancistrus for a while and has set up a number of fish rooms...
1) Heat the shed with a small space heater. One of the problems with individual heaters is that each needs its own outlet and I am always short on outlets.
2) I would suggest individual filters. You just can not afford for one sick fish to kill off your entire stock (esp. with the fish prices Down Under).
3) You will not need 50 tanks to produce commercial amounts of Ancistrus. I used three breeding trios in three 15-20 gallon (about 30" X 18" X 12") tanks, 5 or 6 ten gallon tanks for new fry, and two 40 gallon tanks for grow out.
4) With this set up I turned out 100 plus fry per month and supplied most of the pet stores in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland area. In fact, after about 6 months I had supplied all the pet stores to capacity and was getting stuck with too many Ancistrus. Keep production fairly low or you will put yourself out of business. In the beginning I was getting $1.00 per fish. After I over saturated my own market I was only getting 50 cents per two inch fish.
5) The bigger and cleaner the grow out tanks, the better the results. If I did it again I would buy 2-3 large (200-300 gallons) fiberglass troughs for grow out.
At $100 to $50 a month profit, the venture was never profitable. Minus electricity, gas to drive to pet stores, time, etc I broke even in the best of months. I understand prices are better in Australia, but you will be amazed how fast they drop after you go into business, esp. if you over produce and have to keep dropping your prices just to move animals to make room.
In the end, I was contacted by a fish farm in Florida and sold the breeders for a nice amount of money. This was the only real profit I made. I also ended up giving away about 300 Ancistrus for free just to get rid of them.
-Shane
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