Newborn Pup Tank - Plumbed Into Main System Or Stand Alone?

[vamptrev]

I have a 50 gallon pup tank plumbed to my 450 gallon. Its great to just be able to dump the pups right in when i wake up in the morning. I also have a seperate 180 gal pup tank if i think a pup needs to go there.

After that the rest is up to your water and water chemistry. I found that dripping too much fresh water to keep nitrates down is not in the best interest of the pups. Something about the fresh water curves their appetite but has no affect on the adults. Ph movement does the same thing. If a pup dosnt eat alot its the first sign to me that something is changing and that i need to test the water. Consistancy is key to getting the pups super fat in their 1st month. This is why a seperate tank off the main system might be better fo some people, not as much movement in water parameters. I belive there is more change then our test kits show us when it comes to a pup actually breathing it...

Some pups are shy, some stress easy, some like to hide, some are aggressive and pounce on others etc so the best thing is to keep stress to a minimum, keep parameters consistant, and watch them and how they act. They all have diff personalities




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[MonsterMinis]

I went with pretty much the same idea Trev uses because he has had so much success. A 40b plumbed into the main tank. I have two 40b in a stack the top 40b overflows into the bottom. in the event I want to qt something I can take the line the feeds water to the top tank and move it to the bottom and the top can run stand alone.

I hope that makes sense because I have had a few summer shandys

Edit: also it is no longer held together by duck tape

View attachment 793115

this is what i hope to do in the future, i like diversity... this type of set up seems ideal if not perfect. ive been useing seperate tanks for growing feeders, QT for new fish to our collection ect... and unless you treat them as you do your main tanks water quality issues can kick you in the pants... a linked system that can be sectioned off is great ( worked at a petsmart years ago.. our system was setup this way and each tank was capable of being QTd on a sponge. it really worked well). i dont want to add more maitenance on a tank thats going to ideally be used only sporatically.

the floating tote is great for QTing hurt fish as well... ill need one of those too!... have you put pregnant females in this to birth as well? or just to house the pups?

DBs totally right...

 

[john C]

i used both not sure i noticed much diferance but if i would choose i would go same water just to be safe my 480 i am happy with has a sump is 4'x3' and all the media is gavity fed so sump is like a tank

 

[tanglovers]

I have a 50 gallon pup tank plumbed to my 450 gallon. Its great to just be able to dump the pups right in when i wake up in the morning. I also have a seperate 180 gal pup tank if i think a pup needs to go there.

After that the rest is up to your water and water chemistry. I found that dripping too much fresh water to keep nitrates down is not in the best interest of the pups. Something about the fresh water curves their appetite but has no affect on the adults. Ph movement does the same thing. If a pup dosnt eat alot its the first sign to me that something is changing and that i need to test the water. Consistancy is key to getting the pups super fat in their 1st month. This is why a seperate tank off the main system might be better fo some people, not as much movement in water parameters. I belive there is more change then our test kits show us when it comes to a pup actually breathing it...

Some pups are shy, some stress easy, some like to hide, some are aggressive and pounce on others etc so the best thing is to keep stress to a minimum, keep parameters consistant, and watch them and how they act. They all have diff personalities




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Thanks for the info, I had not realized the amount I dripped affected the pups but looking back the last batch did have a couple days when they were 'off' this is when I was dripping a lot more doing some cleaning etc. Decreased the drip to normal and they all did bounced back just did not realize that was the cause until now...

 

[DB junkie]

You know the story with my firstborn I sold you...........

Mom had 6 pups. 2 stillborn. The 4 went into a 40 breeder off the main system. Long story short the pups die one by one. After 3 died I thought screw it what do I have to loose? At this point it seemed loosing the last to be almost inevitable. I moved her to a seperate system. IF I had not done that I have no doubt she wouldn't be heading to your tank 3+ years later. I've always moved mine to a seperate system after birth and try to use a buffer tank that's the same size as the pup tank just for added water volume, then I try to do as small of waterchanges as possible then slowly pick up over the next few months. I hate the idea of drips and pups since I lost one to what I believe was a weak carbon filter on the drip system, weak enough to only effect the pup at first. Wasn't till later on that it affected other fish then went away with a filter change.