fish breeder feedback

[abbytherookiehuman]

hey everyone so i know this is a shrimp forum but im betting that most of the people on here have fish too 

im a school student and ive decided  to design a new breeder box that beats the flaws of other existing products for my major work

i was hoping you guys could just reply with what method or model of breeder box you use to save your fry, what kind of fish you use it with and any pros and cons of these methods

thanks in advance for any replies. 

 

[jayc]

2 hours ago, abbytherookiehuman said:

i know this is a shrimp forum

We would like to move away from that image. Hence the forum name change to SKF Aquatics. We cover Shrimp, fish, and anything to do with the aquarium hobby.

Breeder boxes are used with shrimp too.

 

2 hours ago, abbytherookiehuman said:

what method or model of breeder box you use to save your fry, what kind of fish you use it with and any pros and cons of these methods

The Ziss breeder box is almost perfect. 

I say almost, because the internal hanging mechanism still uses suction cups, if you have a tank that has a lid.

If your tank has a lid you can only use the suctions cups. The other method supplied hangs on the side of the tank means you cannot close the tank with lids.

The problem is, suction cups fail after a while. And if it fails the breeder box will fall into the tank allowing whatever is in the box to escape.

If you can, figure out a better attachment mechanism for the box that still allows you to close the lid on the tank, that would be great.

All the other features of the Ziss is perfect for a breeder box and should be the bar for every other breeder box design.

 

The other limitation is, modularity. I'd like to be able to hook/lock another box to the side, expanding the capacity. Metacube breeder boxes was good in this sense, where you can connect additional boxes to expand sideways or even down. But Metacube is no longer available.

Edited October 14, 2020 by jayc

[abbytherookiehuman]

thank you so much for your reply,

i forgot to ask before, as my assignment will be focused on a model that also better protects the babies from the parents during and in the window after their birth, i was meaning to ask if your method also has a divider so that the fry can drop down safely away from mum.

i would like to ask that any more responses also include that information (baby divider; yes/no). sorry for the missing information and thanks again in advance for any further replies

 

[jayc]

The Ziss and Metacube breeder box I have does not come with a divider for the eggs to drop down away from the parents.

But, yes, that would have been a nice feature to have. The divider needs to be removable however.

 

[Crabby]

I use a few different breeder boxes, and while none of them are perfect, they seem to do the job for me. I don't have any idea what models or brands they are, besides one - the Aqua One Mini Float. I bought it for endlers and shrimp, and I doubt it would work for guppies, mollies or any other larger livebearers, since it is (as the name would suggest) pretty small. It's hard plastic, which I like (for usability), the suction cups kind-of suck, although it does have two compartments on either side that hold air, so it won't sink if the suction cups come off. It's a great size for my 5 gallon tank. My problem is that the gaps are too large for shrimplets. I think there should be some alternative option that has a very fine mesh (like in a shrimp net) that can be attached over the areas that have water-flow holes. It also comes with a removable divider for fry seperation. I do prefer breeder boxes with a divider option.
I also have 2 of those rather common large mesh ones, that pack really small and have a net that goes over the hollow-cube structure. One has 2 dividers (so you can subdivide it into 2, and have a baby-catcher underneath still) which I found very useful when I was breeding lines with 1-2 males and 2 females, as the females would drop their fry around the same time. So I think the metacube idea is a really good one. There are a couple reasons I prefer hard plastic (with a fine mesh attachment possibly) over mesh with plastic scaffolding (like this) - firstly, the plastic ones are easier to move when you remove the fry. I have on multiple occasions accidentally left a fry in the mesh one without realising. Luckily I noticed in time, and I haven't had any deaths from that. Secondly, there are slight gaps between the mesh and the scaffolding, and the fry have a tendency to get stuck in those gaps. If I don't notice, there's a fair chance I could lose some of those fry. I also have problems with the mesh ones getting algae on them. If the hard plastic gets algae, I can easily rub/scrape it off. The mesh just does not let go of algae though, and it can be a bit of an eyesore (in addition to how ugly the mesh ones already look). If I try to suck it off with a syphon (just cuz) the fry get sucked into the net and stuck. 
I hope that's helpful. I do realise it's a massive mess of text. To sum it up, the things that are important to me as a shrimp, endler and guppy breeder are the following:
Clear, hard plastic box
Divider option
Safe for baby shrimp
Has a possibility to use multiple beside eachother - possibly interlock
GOOD suction cups (like Eheim ones)
Smaller size
Works with and without a lid
No places for fry to get stuck.

Cheers, Crabby.

[abbytherookiehuman]

thanks crabby for all your feed back : ) 

i know about the subdivider options but have been stung by it; i thought it would keep fry separate so i spent a whole afternoon separating girls and boys into left and right only to come outside after dinner and find that they could get from one side to another and they were all mixed up again. x( 

thought that was worth telling you since you're trying to line breed. you may not be able to tell but the two different groups are almost definitely mixing in the fry saver. sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

that is a kink i would like to work out in my design though 

[Crabby]

Oh, I use the divider with the sole intention of hatching fry and making sure they can evade their parents. I have growout tanks that I use to seperate males and females.