Mini Fishroom

[Dego510]

Hi Everyone,

I've been keeping fish for about 4 years now and currently keep a 75 gallon and 125 gallon with all-male peacocks and haps. I just moved into a new house with a decent sized basement that has a completely open floor plan and was thinking of starting a fishroom. I don't want to do a massive fishroom with a ton of tanks since I don't have a ton of time so I was thinking of building a couple racks and making a "Fish Area" in one of the corners of the basement near the sink and drain area. I want something that would accommodate 5 breeding groups of smaller Peacocks and Haps. I know I will be using sponge filter system and plan on just using individual tank heaters since I hope to not have more than 10 tanks going (plus the tanks will not be in an enclosed area).

Here's where I struggle. What size tanks will I need to start a small scale fish room where I would breed 5 different species of Peacocks/Haps? Can I use a few 33 Gallon Longs, some 20 Longs and a few 10 Gallons? Or do I need some 55G's or 40BR's? Again, I'm aiming for the smallest setup size possible (least number of tanks and gallons) while efficiently breeding 5 species and keeping them healthy.

Thanks!

 

[Fish on Fire]

40 breeders would be the way to go. If you don't care about looks so much, just. Use pvc pipes for the females to hide in.

 

[Dego510]

When building a rack out of wood, would the 40 Breeders be on the bottom? I'm trying to figure out the best setup . . . maybe 2 racks with a 40 breeder on the very bottom, 20 Longs in the middle and a couple 10 gallons on the 3rd tier (top).

 

[Fish on Fire]

Yes, it's always safer to put the biggest tank on the bottom. However, you always have the option of making a nice stand for the 40 gallon tanks that has a spot for the smaller tanks to sit in the stand itself. But if you don't care about looks, it's always better to go bottom heavy and not top heavy.

 

[paulW]

I would plan for an extra tank to put males in on a temporary basis (Maybe you can even use your existing tanks).. Sometimes when you have a trio of peacocks in a 55 , the male will beat up the female when she doesn't want to breed. It's nice to have the option to temporarily remove the male(s) so the females can recover.

Think about making water changes as efficient/quick as possible. The dream solution is to drill the tanks, and put a valve where you can just open the valve and drain water (as opposed to syphoning, etc). The next step is to have a large tank you can treat water in and pump into the tank.

I have a drain valve on the bottom my 300 gallon. Under the stand, I have a 55 gallon reservor. I squirt in some decholorinator and open the hot and cold water valves. It fills very quickly , since there's no water restricting sink. Before I had this setup, I had a 180 that took hours to change water on (buckets). Now I can change 120-150 gallons in maybe 15-20 minutes. The 55 gallon reservor has a long hose on the pump, so i can fill my smaller tanks with it too. Just a thought.