Breeding box/external filter/acclimatisation box

Saw one of these today.....and thought.....Multi-purpose gadget.

ca-en.hagen.com/Aquatic/Misc.-Accessorie...Salt--Silicone/10942


This is very much like the olde-worlde air-powered external filters but can also double as breeding trap and a very good gadget for acclimatising fish that do not take kindly to water changes (obviously only the fish that are small enough to fit inside whilst doing the water change).

The first role of the gadget has been to get my new black-winged hatchets into their new tank.
These types of fish are in a group of fish requiring very low TDS and do not take kindly to changes in water.
The water in the tank they are being put into has a pH of less than 5 and very little TDS/conductivity with Bettas and liquorice gourami: the gadget should do a nice job of minimising the stress of the water change. Almost like trickle-water changing.


ian

Good work Ian, saw that you picked one up in Seahorse in another post was going to ask you about them. I assume that there is a gentle flow of water from the tank into the box, where the hatchets are, so they gradually get used to the water from the tank?

Was in Seahorse myself yesterday and saw they hatchets, lovely looking fish! We were probably there at the same time!

They are a great job.

Only two things I have to say against them, firstly they are annoyingly noisey and because its a hang on, you cant close the lid of the aquarium so my heater is working a lot more than it did before.

@PompeyBill….I was in SeaHorse sometime between 2 and 3 yesterday.
I’m pretty easy to recognise I guess.

I’ve used this to gently and gradually place the hatchets into their new water. The box is big enough to hold a few, it meant not having to net the fish at any stage. I simply opened the bag into the breeding box then placed it on the side of the tank. To get the fish into the main tank is simply a matter of unhooking it from the side and gently letting the fish swim out after the water has circulated.

The water is returned to the main tank.
As this also has the young fry separator thing at the bottom, then that area could also be useful to adding ammonia or nitrate removing resins for new fish without having to disturb the filters inside the main tank. (I use JBL NitraEx and Ammonia removing resins when transferring fish anyway).

The rate of flow can be controlled by a little valve that comes with the box, although it shouldn’t be too high.

I hooked mine up to the brine-shrimp/infusoria/daphnia system…..where the air-line has bleeds at various places: my live food system is a series of 2-litre pop bottles having holes pushed into the tops to feed air from one to other (to save money on not having to have multiple air-pumps).

@ upthedeise… noise isn’t a problem to me as these are set-up our front room with lots of other fish tanks having lots of foaming water in many of the tanks. So a few slow bubbles from these are not noticed. Although I must admit that I don’t it noisy at all.
Hooking anything over the side of a tank (eg external filters) does bring additional problems to be sorted with certain tank designs, but a good Stanley knife often comes in handy.

Pity I could only get the medium sized box (1.2 litres) as the largest size; but may look out to see what size the larger ones are.

Then again, DIY times springs to mind.

Ian

Ian I know you are using it as an acclimatising area for fish, which I actually will need for y guppys as it seems they "arent what they used to be2 especially coming from England

But as an actual breeding box would you recommend it? I have heard stories of certain designs stressing fish which I really dont want, any opinions would be appreciated cheers

Christor wrote:

Ian I know you are using it as an acclimatising area for fish, which I actually will need for y guppys as it seems they "arent what they used to be2 especially coming from England

But as an actual breeding box would you recommend it? I have heard stories of certain designs stressing fish which I really dont want, any opinions would be appreciated cheers

I don't know the size of the biggest version they do, but the 1.2 litre version is no worse than any other breeding box.
It will also save space as opposed to the floating nuisances.
Even with any other form of breeding box, you would have to move fish in an out. One added advantage of this is that you un-hook it without emptying the water and then hook it to another 'growing-on' tank and gently acclimatise the fish to that growing-on water without removing the fry first. Then just simply tip them in when all water is mixed well.
So, for guppies.....I'd recommend it.

ian

igmillichip wrote:

@PompeyBill….I was in SeaHorse sometime between 2 and 3 yesterday.
I’m pretty easy to recognise I guess.

I’ve used this to gently and gradually place the hatchets into their new water. The box is big enough to hold a few, it meant not having to net the fish at any stage. I simply opened the bag into the breeding box then placed it on the side of the tank. To get the fish into the main tank is simply a matter of unhooking it from the side and gently letting the fish swim out after the water has circulated.

The water is returned to the main tank.
As this also has the young fry separator thing at the bottom, then that area could also be useful to adding ammonia or nitrate removing resins for new fish without having to disturb the filters inside the main tank. (I use JBL NitraEx and Ammonia removing resins when transferring fish anyway).

The rate of flow can be controlled by a little valve that comes with the box, although it shouldn’t be too high.

I hooked mine up to the brine-shrimp/infusoria/daphnia system…..where the air-line has bleeds at various places: my live food system is a series of 2-litre pop bottles having holes pushed into the tops to feed air from one to other (to save money on not having to have multiple air-pumps).

@ upthedeise… noise isn’t a problem to me as these are set-up our front room with lots of other fish tanks having lots of foaming water in many of the tanks. So a few slow bubbles from these are not noticed. Although I must admit that I don’t it noisy at all.
Hooking anything over the side of a tank (eg external filters) does bring additional problems to be sorted with certain tank designs, but a good Stanley knife often comes in handy.

Pity I could only get the medium sized box (1.2 litres) as the largest size; but may look out to see what size the larger ones are.

Then again, DIY times springs to mind.

Ian

They are small problem I grant you

THey are the business though. THey have to be better than the floating boxes. THe flow of water through them makes them perfect for fry.

I too have a couple of the medium ones but I would certainly be interested in the larger ones if they were readily available.

I was looking too into buying a larger one (2L) and found them on ebay for €30, shipping from HK. Here's the link if anybody is interested:
www.ebay.ie/itm/Aquarium-fish-shrimp-han...&hash=item3cb8648ef0

Thanks Ian and 4r10 for the heads up and info, will be looking into these, though my tanks are 40 long by 30, would these be quite bulky in my tank? (havent seen dimensions of the box)

Christor wrote:

Thanks Ian and 4r10 for the heads up and info, will be looking into these, though my tanks are 40 long by 30, would these be quite bulky in my tank? (havent seen dimensions of the box)

They are not bulky. The medium sized one (1.2litre) will easily fit on a side as short as 7 or 8 inches.
Mine cost me 19.99 euro (1.2 litre mind) in SeaHorse.

The one m4r10 linked seems to say 26cm long...but it is 2 litre and can be divided into 3 sections (although I doubt it would hold 13 near adult clown fish though...as shown in the picture )

That 2 litre one looks rather useful for many things.

ian

I have 2 of the 2 Liter ones and find them great for rearing fry, you can move the fry into one compartment and give the rest a good cleaning without syphoning out any fry. The only thing is the the slats are a little bigger than my floating trap so no good for small fry or at least their first week or so.