Breeding fish in kiddie pools and stock tanks-II

[henningc]

Update:

First off Photos coming Monday or Tuesday!!! They aren't very good but you will get the picture-Ha, Ha!

This week was a weather test for the fish and my nerves. Typically it is hot this time of year, but we had multiple nights go down into the 50s and one night actually 50! I pushed the breeder traps as close to, the way too small, heaters and hoped for the best. The Endlers and LK's all pulled up and hung over the heaters during the night and mornings-who said their not so bright. I noted the swords hung by the back end of the trap as close to the heat as possible. The platys, they act odd and, stayed deep so I suppose they went to the heaters. Mean while I went to the fishroom to assess my ability to restock everything if need be the case. Just a side note, I did have team (B) ready. To my amazement, I only lost one Endlers that was it. I don't think it was because of the cold as that pool should have been fine. So let me explain stock levels.

P1-1 / P1-2: Both pools remain stocked and green. I've moved most the tadpoles and the Endlers seem to be thriving. Each pool has at least 100 Endler fry and the females look ready to explode from all the mosquito larva, fish food and young. The LKs are doing well and I have seen several fry. I learned last year it takes 8-10 weeks before their population explodes. I still have yet to see any swords or platy fry and trust me I'm looking. The corys appear alright, I catch a glimps on occasion.

P-2: The LKs had the run of the pools for about 3 weeks and now have been joined by a dozen Orchard Endlers. I'm up to 12 female LKs and I am seeing fry. A quick count was 6-8 fry. The crayfish appear well and I can see where they have traveled on the bottom. It doesn't appear they have crossed paths yet as it is a really large pool. The original tadpoles all have legs so I'm guessing in the next 7-10 days they will crawl out as frogletts. I have several plastic coffee can lids they can use as lilly pads.

Vat-1 contains the Chilli Endlers and I found fry on Friday, approximately 15-20. I had about 75 males to pick from for breeder stock and have some very impressive males in there. For the first 6-8 weeks, I'll cull all young males to improve the bloodline. I don't think the Pike Livebearers will mind helping with disposal.

Vat-2 I decided that I would just put some odds and ends Endlers in there until I needed grow out space for swords or platys. I ended up going with a gut feeling and stocked 20 females and some of my strangest outcross males. The males have zero value other than looking totally cool and electrifying in a tank. People seem to like them, so I figured what can it hurt.

I still have yet to set up a new P-1-3 as I've been kind of busy. I had hoped for a quicker start to the swords and patys, but the weather and the fish seem to have slowed the procress. I'll get there and have the pool ready to roll any time.

One thing different this year, I am feeding the fish much more than last time. Last year I only feed a couple of times weekly until mid-summer. This year I have a lot more brooder stock so I am feeding twice daily. Funny, the tadpoles have learned to eat the fish food off the surface of the water.

 

[Smoked]

Are you selling any of the endlers?

 

[henningc]

Some Pond photos Frog Eggs-Now tadpoles, breeder traps for swords.

Update: Both the Orchards and Black Bars have at least 250 fry each. The Chillis have approximately 50 fry. I am spotting Least Killie fry daily, but keep in mind they are hard to spot. Crayfish and corys all appear fine. The rest of the brooder swords and platys will be outside by Tuesday.

Once everything is outside the remaining fish will be sold-Hint, Hint

 

[jennandjuicetm]

When you say pool, are you talking about those large blowup pools?

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[henningc]

Yes and no. Intex make Snap Set pools-Old style liner with thin tin outside round pool. They also make the larger inflatables, my P-2 110" X 72" X 24" deep. I have 2 Snap Set 6' x 6; and one of the inflatables. The Snap Set Pools are $16 and you can rear up to 500 fish easily or if you push it 700-800 depending on typed of fish (Endlers on the high end Platys on the low). You just need an air source and large sponge filter or two a old box filter to fill with carbon when things get crowded and not much else. The Intex pools don't have algae killing chemicals in the plastic.

I'LL DO AN UPDATE LATER THIS WEEK!

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Im actually doing this this summer with meteor minnow and have had great success. hoping to sell around 75-100 off at the end of october. Its really good fun and a refreshing change from the typical indoor breeding setup. My main concern is mass producing plants to sell this fall with the fish coming second but it looks like their breeding like crazy from getting fat on live foods. Would highly recommend doing this to any fish keeper.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

I plan on doing this next summer

 

[Fishobsessed7]

Do you think it would work with blue gouramis

 

[emilygupps]

Im actually doing this this summer with meteor minnow and have had great success. hoping to sell around 75-100 off at the end of october. Its really good fun and a refreshing change from the typical indoor breeding setup. My main concern is mass producing plants to sell this fall with the fish coming second but it looks like their breeding like crazy from getting fat on live foods. Would highly recommend doing this to any fish keeper.

What is your plant growing set up?


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[henningc]

UPDATE

This project is a blast whether you intend to sell what you raise or just give it away. Really an eye opener for us indoor breeders.

P1-1 The orchard Endlers are breeding like wildfire. They now number 350-375 at least! The Platys are on the way, they have about 30 fry with more ready to go very soon. I have pulled a few Least Killies, I'd say there are 20-25.

P1-2 The BalckBar Endlers are breeding faster than the Orchards and there are at least 425-450. The Swords have had one drop, I'm officially disappointed. They still have 90 days!!!! Least Killies, there are about 30 maybe a few more. The corys spawned at least once, I have no idea if the eggs survived or if there are fry.

P2 -The Least Killies are starting to crank it up and there appears to be about 40-50. With those numbers breeding production should explode in 3-5 weeks. The Orchards are dropping fry and it appears there are 50 or so. The Crayfish finally unleasted and there are at least 100 of them in there.

Vat-1 The Chilli Endlers are breeding and there appears to be about 200. There are Least killies, for some reason they do really well in this vat each year, and there are 20-30.

Vat-2 The Oddball Endlers are poking along and there are 75-100. There are a ton of tadpoles morphong into frogletts so they should be out of the picture in a week or two. Tree Frogs had another good year with more than 100 frogletts already.

If you're reading this or following it, it is a very cool project. My Swords are at least 4" and the Platys close to 3". The Endlers grow like weeds and once I began actually feeding them, too many for the internal live food production, the numbers went through the roof. I'm also producing a lot of snails and the crayfish are well fed. I have a new breeder trap design for next year and I'm getting prices soon. I also have Pike Livebearers, $35 a pair plus shipping. All feedback is welcome.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

Update?

 

[GuppyAdore]

Following!!! Updates????


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[MollysMollies]

I just fell upon this thread and love reading it. I am a new fish keeper since last December and am completely loving it. I will be following....completely excited for your amazing production party!! Thank you for sharing!!!

 

[Fishobsessed7]

How much fish did you get


Fishobsessed7

 

[Fishobsessed7]

I just fell upon this thread and love reading it. I am a new fish keeper since last December and am completely loving it. I will be following....completely excited for your amazing production party!! Thank you for sharing!!!

It is certainly a good read


Fishobsessed7

 

[cfosgate]

Any updates? How did it go?

 

[henningc]

First let me say sorry for the delay. Between work, weather and kid issues I was lucky just to maintain the fish. So here goes.

The pools are drained for the most part and only P-2 is filled with a few remaining crayfish that refuse to leave.

P-1-1 Orchard Endlers produced approximately 850, 125 Platys, 25 corys and about 35 Least Killies LKs.

P-1-2 Produced approximately 750 Black Bar Endlers, 60 Swordtails (Big dissapointment with swords) 100 Blond Endlers and 50 LKs.

P-2 Produced 150 LKs, 300 Orchard Endlers and approximately 300 Marble Crayfish. I did end up with several gold colored LKs and have started breeding them indoors.

Vat-1 650 Chillie Endlers, 70 LKs, 25 Crayfish

Vat-2 200 Oddball Endlers

Unfortunately, we had a family crisis just as the weather turned and I lost fish in P-1-1, P-1-2. The loss was not in the above count. I did discover that the Endlers and LKs can tolerate low 60 degree water just fine. The Lks are good down to the 50s. The last several weeks of September I used a lot of Endlers fry 150-200 from all the pools to feed a spawn of Belonasox.

I'll do a wrap up over the weekend.