Larvae tanks

[president89]

I want to get into raising my clown's larvae. I have several books and the consensus is that dark tanks are appropriate to limit the amount of shock caused by light.

In wittenrich's book they show dark black tubs. Has anyone had sucess in finding reasonable sized ones? I know they sell those huge 75g rubbermaid trough's at grainger supply, but that's just too big.

I was looking at these, but I wanted to get something more like 10G, and possibly something with more surface space. It's difficult to find something that will hold water without warping drastically.

5 gallon black bucket
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31002&catid=752
10 gallon brute trash barrel
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=74393&catid=765

 

[reefstew]

I move the clay pot with eggs in a 5 gal glass aq. & painted 3 sides black.

 

[president89]

I hate painting tanks. I had to do my broodstock tanks because they are all right next to each other. I was hoping for something I could easily put on the floor next to my tanks. I might consider this though.

 

[Scma]

i use black aquarium background or a black plastic garbage bag when necessary. Doesn't have to be pretty.

 

[Zooid]

You should be able to get the black round tubs at most Feed and Tack stores. They should be around 15-17 gallons.

 

[ME2003]

The large tanks are for grow out of juvenile fish. A small tank of about 5 gallons works the best with the sides painted black. The small volume is important to get the right rotifer per ml density. A larger tank requires more rotifers. You can transfer to a 20 gallon and then a large growout. Here is an example of larger systems people use for sumps and growouts. The issue with some plastic containers is they may leach chemicals that harm juvenile fish. The thought is using FDA approved or animal watering systems limits toxins from the plastics. I am not sure this is true. Most of the larval fish I have raised have been in glass and acrylic tanks. I am trying a 50 gallon rubbermaid stock tank.
Grow out tank examples
http://www.aquaticeco.com/categories/Tanks--Liners/97/-1
http://www.tractorsupply.com/stock-tanks/oval-stock-tank-40-gal-2229846
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/939/Polyethylene-Tanks-Black
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/955/Round-Polyethylene-Tanks-Blue
http://www.tractorsupply.com/stock-tanks/

 

[April_Sherwood]

If you don't like painting the glass, you could tape black construction paper on all sides. That was working for me when I had my breeding pair. I just used a piece of cardboard to cover the top and moved it to allow some light in as time passed.

 

[landlord]

One of my wife's dark gray bath towels and 3 clothespins. That's what I'm using on my larval latzonatus tank. Bath towels can handle the wetness from spilling beer or saltwater on them a little better than cardboard or paper products. I also dislike the effect of spills on black trashbags which were my first option. The water between the bags and the glass creates a horrible reflection. After I found the secret stash of dark gray hand towels, I never looked back.

 

[john68camaro]

Darking the tank out is not really a necessity. When you add rotifers and algae to the water, it greens it up real good. Just keep the water really green and they stay in the water column pretty good. I havne not covered my tank sides since my first hatch over a year ago.

I do know of another breed close to me that uses the BRT(Black/Blue round tubs). I believe he got his from Tractor supply. As mentioned earlier, dont fill them all the way at first to keep the rotifer density up.

 

[president89]

I think I found what I was looking for. They are 20G barrel liners, so I might not use these, as they are kinda big. But not a bad option.

 

[rkelman]

I'm with John68camaro. I don't black out my sides. In my opinion it does nothing. Once the water is tinted I see zero difference in feeding ability.

 

[landlord]

I am blackening, or toweling, the sides of my tank to reduce the light overspill from the rest of my fishroom. The little latz fry I am raising seem to be very sensitive to light. I do agree that blackened or not the feeding responses tend to be the same and even with darkened sides the little buggers still like to hang out around the edges, from time to time.

 

[president89]

According to wittenrich, the black sides help with lowering the chance of shock that can kill small larvae.

 

[president89]

I appreciate everyone's input! Thanks.

 

[president89]

One of my wife's dark gray bath towels and 3 clothespins. That's what I'm using on my larval latzonatus tank. Bath towels can handle the wetness from spilling beer or saltwater on them a little better than cardboard or paper products. I also dislike the effect of spills on black trashbags which were my first option. The water between the bags and the glass creates a horrible reflection. After I found the secret stash of dark gray hand towels, I never looked back.

I totally went out and bought a black towel at kmart for $5.


Do you think a 2.5 gallon tank is too small. I couldn't find a 5 gallon and I didn't want to get another 10. I grabbed the 2.5 thinking that I could use it for a second rotifer culture if it wasn't going to be good for larvae.

Also, would putting a 75w jager sub heater be bad in that tank? It's all I had extra. I don't know if it will cook the fry, or what.

 

[john68camaro]

Initially a 2.5 gallon could work for larve rearing. But the thing to remember is that the solution to polution is dilution. And with that, you will need eventually(Sooner rather then later) a bigger water volume for the larve to be in. I have used 5G tanks in the past and have recently started using 10G tanks not completely filled for larve rearing. I personally think that heater may be a little over kill for a 2.5 gallon water volume. May shock the fry by heating up very quick. But that is JMO.

 

[landlord]

...the solution to polution is dilution...

Love it!

I personally think that heater may be a little over kill for a 2.5 gallon water volume. May shock the fry by heating up very quick. But that is JMO.

Be very careful with oversized heaters. You will want to experiment with them in a full volume of your water. Even if you set the temp to say 77 degrees. The oversized nature of the heater will bring that temp way past the mark. I use 50 watt Hydor Theo heaters from my local LFS. On a 5 gallon 75 percent full larval tank I have to set the heater at the lowest setting, which if numbered, would be around 67 degrees. The water then remains at 76 degrees. I also make sure to have airline on either side of the heater to create a wall of bubbles to help keep the fry from swimming near it, as well as distributing the heat throughout the tank.

Kurt

 

[JHemdal]

Here are the BRT's that I use:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=24225&catid=852&clickid=searchresults

They've worked for clowns, golden damsels and boarfish.....

Jay

 

[GreshamH]

Love it!




Be very careful with oversized heaters. You will want to experiment with them in a full volume of your water. Even if you set the temp to say 77 degrees. The oversized nature of the heater will bring that temp way past the mark. I use 50 watt Hydor Theo heaters from my local LFS. On a 5 gallon 75 percent full larval tank I have to set the heater at the lowest setting, which if numbered, would be around 67 degrees. The water then remains at 76 degrees. I also make sure to have airline on either side of the heater to create a wall of bubbles to help keep the fry from swimming near it, as well as distributing the heat throughout the tank.

Kurt

Another great trick for keeping larvae off heaters is to place the heater in a bag of water and seal it.

 

[Bud's Reef]

I use a ten gallon tank, but only draw about 3 gallons when I am collecting the larva. I put black tank liner around all four sides if for no other reason than to keep them from being up all night because of the nearby refugium light. With only three gallons it helps to manage the rotifer density and with the cover just taped I can pull it back to see into the tank when I want or need to.

I add a gallon on ahd-9 and another on ahd-11 just to have a little more volume and take the covers off three sides after metamorphosis. I stopped turning the refugium light on at night at this point. I'm at ahd-18 now with black and white ocellaris and will be adding more water and a sponge filter in the next few days.