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fishtal

Fishtal Propagations: The Breeding Room

Rating: 9 votes, 4.00 average.
31 Comments
by
fishtal
, 01-03-2010 at 09:05 PM (9733 Views)
Hello everyone!,

My name is Tal, AKA: fishtal. I live in Michigan and I got back into the hobby in early 2006. I soon found my way to MASM.org, the Marinelife Aquarium Society of MI. Each year MASM hosts the Midwest Marine Conference. At the 2008 Conference I met Frank Marini who talked about captive breeding and got hooked. A week later I started turning a spare room into a breeding room.

Later in 2008 I attended MACNA in Atlanta and met Matt Wittenrich and eventually Matt Pedersen online, that pretty much sealed the deal. Both Matts, and several others, have been a huge help to me, thanks guys!

Moving right along I spent most of the summer researching, designing, and building my system. You can read a really long thread that documents the progress here: http://www.masm.org/mForums/tm.aspx?&m=18311&mpage=1

This is what I ended up with...

Workspace, pardon the mess, for supplies, phyto culturing, rotifer culturing, and I'm trying to culture copepods in the 20 long on the second shelf.



Broodstock on the top shelf and grow out on the middle shelf, sumps on the bottom.


Here is a diagram of the sump:


And the larval area where I raise the fry from hatch until they're ready to go into the grow out system.



Various juvenile fish in the grow out tanks:





Sorry about the salty glass, I just ran in and snapped the pics.

I currently have 5 pairs of clownfish, a pair of Orchid dottybacks, and a pair of Banggai cardinalfish that are all spawning for me. I won the Banggai pair at MACNA 2008 and they've just recently carried a batch to term. All of my other pairs have produced offspring that I've sold to local stores.

Banggai pair before I moved them to the refugium:



Juvenile Banggai from December 20th:



P. fridmani with eggs:



P. fridmani juveniles:




A. ocellaris (Darwin Black) post spawn:



A. percula pair:



A. ocellaris first born:



Picasso spawn:



Artsy pic:



You can see more pics and read my captive breeding techniques at www.fishtalpropagations.com

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Updated 01-04-2010 at 12:45 AM by melev

Categories
‎ Propagation - fish & corals

Comments

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  1. fishtal's Avatar
    LOL, yeah... I should've added a disclaimer: "Fish pictured appear larger than they are in reality."
  2. Paulo's Avatar
    Hey fishtal. Setup looks good. Fishtal look awsome! See you at meet next weekend.
  3. fishtal's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Paulo
    Hey fishtal. Setup looks good. Fishtal look awsome! See you at meet next weekend.
    Thanks! If you're talking about the MMMC swap, next weekend, I don't think I'll be there. If you're talking about the MASM meeting, that is today.
  4. fishtal's Avatar
    Well, I was finally able to get some new space in the breeding room. My plan is to add the seahorse tank and some BRTs. Originally I was going to move the metal rack over in front of the window to utilize the daylight for the phyto but after a little thinking I might leave it where it is and move the shelves around a bit for the SH tank.

    If I move the desk and cedar chest like I show below I would have more space under the window and could add the BRTs there. I may also spin the larval tanks into that spot and put the BRTs in the corner. Still playing around with Sketch-Up but you can get an idea what I'm talking about...



    I may also make the SH tank an in-wall so you can see it from the hallway...

  5. ReeferRob's Avatar
    You are the man Tal! Props to you and all your hard work and effort!
  6. fishtal's Avatar
    Thanks Rob! The seahorses got here on March 2. I didn't end up cutting a hole in the wall but the tank is in the intended spot.

    I had some issues with Google SketchUp but I have it working again so I'll post pics of the current plan soon. I have an open broodstock tank so I've been on the look out for something new to work with...
  7. fishtal's Avatar
    I started work on a new project and figured I better update this blog. I've been planning on setting up a BRT (Black round tub) rearing station for a while now and finally got a little extra time to do it. A little post-MACNA inspiration.

    I plan on using the BRTs for raising P. fridmani and H. erectus juveniles as they tend to do better in a round environment than a rectangular one. This is the plan:



    And the initial plumbing diagram:



    I'm thinking about adding an Algae Turf Scrubber, ATS, to this system to see if I like the results.
  8. fishtal's Avatar
    Here's a look at what I have done so far:





    If I go with the ATS it will probably be connected to the drain line where it enters the sump. The return line will go through a UV and then to a "T" where I can redirect water to the sump if I need low flow in the tubs. During the early stages, pre-meta, very slow flow into the rearing tank is needed.
  9. melev's Avatar
    Please push that tubing on further and use a plastic hose clamp to keep it there. What does BRT stand for? It's the black round trough, right? Could it be that simple?
  10. fishtal's Avatar
    Yes, Marc, the clear tubing will be pushed further when it's installed. I only put it there as an example. BRT = Black Round Tub. The white PVC pieces have not been glued yet. They will be painted blue when they are complete.
  11. Hat39406's Avatar
    Very nice...and I enjoyed reading on your website too! You put a lot of work into your setup. ;-)
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