A Tank Just For Egg-Scattering Fish

My weekend project was setting up a tank designed to preserve eggs spawned by egg-scattering fish. In this video I'll explain how it works and some of the potential uses I'm considering.

[@KeepingFishSimple]

Awesome video man

[@susaneverett4996]

Lowell, your videos are my favorite. Your explanations, demonstrations & camera work are all the best !( & soft articulate narration too) I've bred about 80 species over 40 years, and am glad to follow your clear sensible tutorials. keep it up!

[@MakeMoreFish]

That's very kind thank you! And 80 species, I've got some work to do.

[@ChristopherMcguire-gz1ql]

This video was extremely helpful! Thanks for taking time to make it.

[@stefjuststef5826]

I love your videos! Thank you for sharing!

[@dantexavier7842]

A method I succesfully used for zebra danios was to use small-ish rocks/big gravel.The rocks would maybe be around in size of 1.5-2cm. It would need a good solid 3-4 cm or inch and inch and a half of gravel. Let the spawning group in the tank for a couple days and remove. The eggs would remain safe in the tank and I didnt really notice any fry being stuck. But then again they were tiny. This mesh thing is far more simple and elegant. Looking forward to see the ember fry. On a side note, do you have any plans on doing cordyoras pygmaeus and sawbwa resplendens? I had a group of sawbwa but sadly had to tear the aquarium down. Would love to see you give a shot at breeding sawbwa barbs. They are incredibly beautiful and energetic little hunters. Given the rarity, the females are also pretty hard to come by. Would really like it to see you document it!

[@Rews-fish-shed]

Thanks!

[@greenthumbaquariums1185]

I have one of these tanks and I find the dividers handy too. I wish there was a quiet, compact device that could carry water from one side to the other so that water would flow between divided sections.

[@dennisbinkhorst2039]

You could replace the glass dividers with clear acrylic. Then drill one or two 2-3" holes in the divider and glue in insect mesh or fit a piece of filter sponge in the holes.

[@greenthumbaquariums1185]

@@dennisbinkhorst2039 That's a good idea and holes would help, but I wanted something that actively moved water rather than relying on diffusion. I tried Tom's Aqualifter, but it was too noisy and unreliable for where I had the tank i.e. the sound annoyed my wife :-)

[@cattfishing]

​@@greenthumbaquariums1185I know this is a very old comment. But just in case someone else reads this and needing ideas, I thought I'd leave a comment about what I did. I'm not sure if what you were looking for is the same as what I used, but it sounds like just the thing you might have needed. Anyway. What I did, was got one of those cheap submersible water pumps off of ebay that suction to the glass, which provides water flow throughout the tank. Some even come with a flow bar, but I just attached some tubing stretching across the length of the tank, and made my own sort of spray bar, providing flow to each section. I had just a few notches cut into the tops of the acrylic dividers so that the water can return to the pump, and not overflow the sections. I hope this makes sense. Lol I'm sorry if it was confusing. I'm really bad at explaining things, as my English is not the best. Anyway, I hope you got something figured out already, and hope others who may read this find it helpful.

[@greenthumbaquariums1185]

@@cattfishing I saw in another video that Dennerle makes a corner filter with a spray bar that has multiple tips which fit perfectly inside airline tubing. Probably very similar to what you've described.

[@fayeadhossainfayead8214]

Bro you are the best breeding video maker I have ever encounter. Please make more of these

[@jeffm7779]

Great idea combining the egg crate with the plastic panels. I have been using the plastic panels on their own but they are unruly and the fish can sometimes get underneath. Marbles work but they are tough to clean around and you cannot easily inspect for eggs. I am going to give your idea a try. Thanks!

[@tubarao1143]

Looking forward to see the results!

[@seamus6994]

As always, great job!

[@jackievonmaltitz]

Really looking forward to seeing how this works. I used marbles but this looks like it will be simpler to clean detritus when the fish are slower to spawn.

[@Rews-fish-shed]

Love your video are very informative and some in-depth photos, photos thank you. When I get back on my feet after my surgery I want try a few of your tips. One thing do you video the fish breeding 24 hours? And what type of camera do you use

[@cbayless4294]

I like the idea but not too sure about the light-colored bottom to see the eggs for collection. Sides and back look sweet!!

[@MakeMoreFish]

ya, as far as contrast against the eggs it works out ok but not great. I shine a line in from the side and it lights up the eggs pretty well. From the top, not so much.

[@brianwood6655]

nice video, what is the plant/algae called?

[@MakeMoreFish]

That is susswassertang or subwassertang

[@brianwood6655]

@@MakeMoreFish cool thank you! It looks like it's from the ocean!

[@jamesclough2638]

Awesome

[@jasonlundstrom3180]

How’s does the divided side without the heater and flow perform?

[@MakeMoreFish]

with a lid on the tank you get consistent temperature on both sides but flow is certainly reduced. I don't think I've noticed ill effects from that but I don't really feed in that tank while the divider is in place

[@richardreynolds9896]

Nice video

[@sneakyomni]

Does the glass divider impair water flow and risk the one side from having worse water parameters? Also where did you get the plastic mesh?

[@MakeMoreFish]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/inXbm4WAlJ14irM will answer the first question. The mesh I bought from amazon. I think it was called garden drainage mesh

[@sneakyomni]

@@MakeMoreFish Thank you. Been trying to breed some neon tetras and have been frustrated that they keep eating the majority of their eggs

[@giyords]

how about breeding neon tetras?

[@julianaquascaped]

Awesome. This wouldn’t work for my corydoras, but looking forward to see how it works out for your fish!

[@dennisbinkhorst2039]

I found most corydoras lay their eggs where oxygen rich water meets a surface. If the surface is the side glass, they will deposit their eggs in that area. If you put a spawning mop in front of that glass area they will probably deposit most eggs in the spawning mop which makes it very easy to remove the eggs from the tank as shown here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGSXe5V7adiaa6M From my personal experience I found this works for C. Habrosus, C. Aeneus, C. C121 and C. Eques which are all species I bred.

[@ccrazyfish]

What plant is that?

[@MakeMoreFish]

Susswassertang

[@taylortisaac]

Did you end up liking how it works?

[@MakeMoreFish]

It has pros and cons but in general, yes

[@jimlee2262]

What's your social media?

[@Rews-fish-shed]

Love your video are very informative and some in-depth photos, photos thank you. When I get back on my feet after my surgery I want try a few of your tips. One thing do you video the fish breeding 24 hours? And what type of camera do you use

[@MakeMoreFish]

Sometimes I do run cameras for 12+ hours, especially the cave footage. I use a cell phone camera, 1080p webcams, and a Canon M50.

[@Rews-fish-shed]

@@MakeMoreFish My thing is reflection on the tank make most of my shots just bad. I like the idea of putting them on extended video to see what where and why they are doing things

[@MakeMoreFish]

@@Rews-fish-shed Webcams are a great way to do that. I have 25 and 50ft USB cables with active repeaters so I can get a camera wherever I need and record through OBS with plenty of storage. Glare is a tough one. low iso and higher aperture helps a bit. Polarized lens filters, large black shades, black clothing, careful tank light positioning, camera as close as possible to the glass, all those things can help too.

[@Rews-fish-shed]

@@MakeMoreFish thanks like is say I’ll give it a try