(Still)Pre-planning a 40G Breeder for GBR. I have 2 questions at the moment.

[Rivercats]

Only if your serious about truely breeding them. If you just want them to maybe breed and maybe get a fry or so to live then go with your original plan of cardinals and bnp's. Your kind of in one of those situations where you have to decide which you want to have more. But even if you go with the community the cardinals and bnp's will like the IA leaves and the softer light. Another thing is if you want bnp's the albino's for some reason are more active during the day. I thought it was just mine until I did some research and found this is actually true.

 

[jetajockey]

This is what 3 pairs of rams looks like in a 40b.

electric blue ram males fight - YouTube

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Yea I dunno if I need a battle royal in my tank... lol

But thats a good point. I need to sit down and think of what I want more, breeding or community

 

[Rivercats]

Thats pretty mild from what I've seen some of my males do. But yeah it gives a good idea how unsettled the tank will be.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

would there be anything i could add for algae control that wouldn't create issues? snails maybe?

 

[Rivercats]

Nerite snails would work and you wouldn't have to worry about them breeding in freshwater. Nerites don't bother eggs, I've seen mine go right next to angel eggs (much to the parents dismay) and never bother/touch them. I think they are your best bet. If you can find the little horned nerites they are the best workers and pretty fast too. The larger nerites are kind of slow.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Nerite snails would work and you wouldn't have to worry about them breeding in freshwater. Nerites don't bother eggs, I've seen mine go right next to angel eggs (much to the parents dismay) and never bother/touch them. I think they are your best bet. If you can find the little horned nerites they are the best workers and pretty fast too. The larger nerites are kind of slow.

couple questions,

1, do they carry the Horned Nerites or Nerite snails in general at chain stores like Petsmart/Petco or is that gonna have to be an internet order?

2, how big are these snails?

3, any chance they'd be eating as the GBR get bigger?(even though they only get around 3" max)

EDIT--

4, how many snails would you suggest for the 40G Breeder? i don't want to overwhelm the GBR when i do this...

 

[Rivercats]

The horned nerites usually come pea sized and if you have one that really really eats good and lives long it could get dime sized. Alot of places say mixing olive nerites with horned nerites are a good mix. I have Olives and the larger more decorative tiger nerites (in a couple different shell patterns). The tigers can get to quarter size and larger. Olives get dime to nickle size. I remember reading somewhere that you can put 1 Olive per gallon but for my 220g I think I got around 40-50 and used a few in a couple other tanks. I would think maybe 10 to start as you can add more later if you want. And no the rams won't eat them. I would highly doubt those stores would carry them but I'd call them to check. Most likely tho you'll have to order them.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Awesome, thanks River... i'll see if i can find a website and start researching these more since i've never heard of them

 

[Rivercats]

One other thing so your not surprized. They can';t breed but will lay eggs. Many people go nuts over this as they are little white dots and they swear they won't come off. Well they do come off glass with your cleaning magnet and I use my pruning sissor pointed edge to pop them off DW if they happen to lay any on it. When they lay on plants the eggs fall off in 2-3 weeks (something like that). And I noticed shortly after I got them they all seemed to get the laying bug for maybe 4ish weeks then after that its been a few eggs here and there, not much at all in my opinion.

 

[phishfriend]

Hey hope!

I'm going with just the rams in mine. Had thought of maybe a pair of dwarf gourami's but I think in the end the dwarfs would get beat up and moved.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

as long as they don't take over the tank i'm out with a few eggs here and there. who knows, maybe the GBR will eat them lol

 

[Rivercats]

Nah, nothing eats them but my point is they fall off and if you don't want to see them on the glass or the DW they do pop off. They just drive some people nuts and wanted to give you a heads up on them.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

ohhhh ok, well thanks for the heads up...