What would you do breed in an 80 gallon?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
BadGaskets

BadGaskets

Exodon
MFK Member
Apr 1, 2023
54
54
26
Ok I've been a long time lurker and realized that this was one of the better sites out there. I'll list my current tanks below. I don't have room for one "big" tank so I have multiple medium sized tanks scattered about that I and my 4 kids keep up.

Anyhow, I have a disassembled Seapora Rimless Frag tank, 80 gallons (48L x 24w x 16H) that I picked up from an LFS that needed resealing. I totally disassembled it and will be re-gluing it back up soon, and building a stand for it. It does have an overflow and I intend to run a sump. Also, I intend to light it and put some plants in it, although the fish will be the main attraction.

I have one kid in particular who LOVES raising baby fish in her 46-Bowfront. We have a clutch of about 250 Herotilapia multispinosa in there now that just became free-swimming today. So, in this 80 gallon, I'm very tempted to put some sort of medium sized cichlid, catfish, or similar "spectacle" type fish and let them breed, and let my daughter raise them up. I have some juvenile firemouth I'm maturing that we'll also try to breed. I'm avoiding convicts (everyone has convict fry to get rid of), and I'm probably going to skip on angels as well.

I'd rather stick with medium/large fish that have larger fry so that we don't have to keep a constant supply of infusoria or paramecium sitting around rotting lol. We intend to remove the fry as soon as they are eating prepared food.

Any suggestions on a cichlid that would make a good breeder pair in an 80g? The tank isn't huge obviously so I can't just throw in oscars or jaguar cichlids, but some of the ones I really want to try kinda push that limit anyhow. My preferred fish would be red tiger motaguense, cuban cichlids, black belts. I love cichlids that are naturally very striking (I do NOT like mongrels like "blood parrots" and I'm not keen on some of the electric blue acaras and JD's I've seen). I feel like we could buy these fish as juveniles and get a good number of spawns off of them before they got too big for the 80g. I live in an area with a lot of folks with huge tanks so I wouldn't have any trouble finding a home for the parents once they got too big.


Any other suggestions a fish we could breed that won't Kaiju itself to death in an 80g?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Caveden
It sounds like you already know what you'd like to breed.

My suggestion would be to step back for a moment and ask yourself if this is a breeding exercise for you or is it instead for your daughter. If this is for your daughter I would (were I in your shoes) first consider what my water was like and then see what might readily breed in the water you have. If she's pretty young yet I'd sort out what was cheap and easy to raise and that my LFS would always take.

I have very high pH water so angels, bristle nose plecostomus and a few others will breed constantly just because the water parameters are ideal for them. Figure out what your water is like then determine what will readily breed in the water chemistry you have and move from there.

For young kids that would like to successfully breed fish there are multiple breedings you can have going on simultaneously in one tank. I have an old bomber tank (stainless frame made in 1970) that has Endlers and shrimp breeding in it constantly and the centerpiece of the tank is a 4' wide water wysteria that has hundreds of baby shrimp in it all the time. Simple, easy for a young person to feel that they're successfully breeding the fish and even easier to get rid of w/ a 5g bucket delivery to my independent LFS every once in a while. Cull the plants at the same time and make someone at the LFS not only remember her but be glad to see her next time. A little BacterAE for the shrimp fry and that's it. No nonsense w/ other types of decomposing fry food.

If on the other hand this is your thing or you already have a really good idea of what you'd like (her) to breed, just do it. I'd still ponder water parameters first though. And I agree w/ you on the blood parrot and similar fish. Shallow gene pool and worse. An abortion of a fish that is clearly defective on first noticing its mouth. Shame, really.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjohnwm and BadGaskets
Trouser Bark said:
. Figure out what your water is like then determine what will readily breed in the water chemistry you have and move from there.
.
Click to expand...
That’s the best advice.

Enjoy the project with your kid. I’m in the same shoes, did the same thing. Very rewarding to enjoy the hobby with your child (ren). That’s true passion you’re passing on to the next generation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deeda, jjohnwm and BadGaskets
Trouser Bark and Harley thanks!

Thankfully I have very "middle of the road" water, nearly neutral (7.5 pH tops), slightly soft, 5-6 gH, 3-4 dKH alkalinity.

We also have 2 tanks for breeding shrimp, a 29 and a 75g. The 75g has a big ugly crack that's patched and also sits in an exterior closet that can get chilly in the winter, which is well within shrimp Temps but too cold for most tropicals. So that's why we have such a bigass tank for shrimp lol.

Can anyone comment whether my choices are a BAD idea for breeding in an 80? Those are all fish that would be new to me.

I think I need to rule out the red tiger Motaguense. I've been reading up and it seems that the male will decimate the female in a smaller tank, so that wouldn't be a good lesson at all lol.


What about the Cuban or Black Belts?
 
Trouser Bark said:
My suggestion would be to step back for a moment and ask yourself if this is a breeding exercise for you or is it instead for your daughter.
Click to expand...

This ^ is a key question. Does your daughter really want to observe all the ins and outs of cichlid breeding in a small tank? Buying a batch of young, raising them up, separating out all but a compatible pair when it forms to prevent bloodshed? Hoping that a pair of one of the aggressive species you have mentioned will manage to co-exist in a tank that really is too small for them? Watching them eat their first few spawns before they figure out the breeding game? Waking up one morning to find only one fish alive, and then wondering what she did wrong that caused the killing? Realizing that the local market for a species like one of these is limited and quickly saturated?

Large cichlids are cool, but they demand a lot from the aquarist and from each other. I don't know how old your daughter is, but IMHO I think you need to look at this as her tank and to make it enjoyable for her. If you think a pair of prison-yard bullies rearing their young would be cool...but she wants a tank full of small peaceful easy-go-lucky fish...well, I think you see where I am going with this.

There are also some smaller cichlids which might be a nice compromise. Rainbows, Firemouths, Gymnogeophagus, Keyholes, lots of others. They remain smaller, they don't spend all their time swimming around with a giant chip on their shoulders, but they are still cichlids and still have wonderful interesting breeding displays and behaviours.

Just bear in mind the difference between "guiding" your daughters choice vs. "pushing" her in the direction you yourself would like to go. Good luck! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: BadGaskets
John, I understand what you're saying.

She's been raising any and every baby fish that has come up. We'd end up with swordtail and Molly fry in my filter sock so I'd dump them into her 46 Breeder and she'd raise them to adulthood. One day we discovered a baby bluefin killie in her tank, and then a baby zebra danio. We realized that the parents in my 75 apparently laid eggs that went from my filter sock to her tank when transferring livebearer fry. We were both so excited lol.

She's caring for the H. multispinosa fry quite well, so she's ready for this.

Does she want to do it? Absolutely! She'd turn my entire house into a lizard, fish, and cat zoo if I let her. So, I'm teaching her, she's soaking it in.
 
  • Love
Reactions: jjohnwm
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom