Breeding set up mod help

[hulkamaniac]

I have decided to try to support my hobby by breeding fish. I'm starting w/fancy guppies and swordtails since they seem in demand at just about any fish store I go to. My current set up is to keep the fish in a 20 gallon until they're about to pop. Then I transfer them to my 29 with lots of floating plants for cover. Once they give birth I transfer them back to the 20. I think this keeps the moms from picking off the fry, but makes it harder for me to catch them later on.

I want some sort of setup to keep them from eating the fry and where I can catch the moms easier. I have an idea of some sort of modified breeding net. Maybe it would sit on the bottom of the tank or the top and the fry would either fall out of the net into the main tank or rise from the net into the main tank. I could keep the mom in there for a day or two to recover and then easily transfer her to 20 gallon. The problem is how to make the net so the fry can get out, but not back in and so the mom can't get out. Is it better to put the net at the bottom of the tank or the top? Any ideas?

[dskidmore]

Bottom screens work well for some people. Get some plastic or stainless steel screening from the craft store or hardware store, and create a horizontal screen propped a ways off the bottom. The babies will instinctively swim down when born, and get below the screening where Mom can't get them. It's easy to fish Mom out after that, and to get the babies you just have to remove the screen.

[fish_4_all]

Modify a net breeder the same way. Put the plastic canvas on the bottom. The fry swim through it and won't come back up. Got 45+ in the breeder from the last brood I seperated. I would float it, even let it free float although I haven't figured that part out yet as far as keeping momma in it. I think a balsa wood frame might be just perfect with plastic canvas all the way around. Lots of ways but I think floating with the plastic canvas is by far the most effective.

[hulkamaniac]

Will the babies possibly swim back into the area where the mom is though?

[fish_4_all]

Well there is no accounting for genetics so the ones that do may not have been the ones you wanted to keep anyway.

[dskidmore]

they really like hiding. Give them something to hide under, and they'll stay hidden. My baby guppies wouldn't come to eat at the surface until I put in some floating plants.

[hulkamaniac]

I'm floating all kinds of hornwort in the tank. I'm thinking now that the ideal set up would be a breeder net somehow fixed to the side of the tank. It would have some sort of slit in the bottom for the fry to escape and they would naturally hide in the hornwort at the top and escape their hungry mother.