I am currently maintaining 80 tanks in my fish room and I always keep my
rainbows in species specific tanks. I would strongly urge you to have a
very good labeling system, as most of the fry look identical, and you would
not want to mix them up.
>2. What size tanks are used for spawning and grow-out?
>
I prefer 10 to 20 gallon tanks for the breeders and then pull mops every 10
to 14 days and place the mops in gallon jars. After about two weeks after
hatching stops, I then transfer the fry, from the gallon jars into 5 1/2
gallon tanks for about a month. After that time they are allowed to grow
out in 10's, 20's or 50's depending on how many fry there are and how large
they get. I have had good luck growing the smaller rainbows, like
Pseudomugils in 10 gallon tanks. The larger species, like Glossolepis
require more room. I know there has been a lot of talk about starting the
fry out in larger tanks and not moving, but I have had good success with
this method. I believe in keeping the food concentrated so the fish do not
have to search for it, however, you must change water regularly, or you
will have problems.
>3. Do you use individual sponge filters and heaters or a central
>filtration system?
>
>
I prefer individual sponge filters, no central filtration system, but would
strongly urge a central heater. I ran a duct from my furnace into my fish
room and added a small electric heater to provide heat. I also run a
dehumidifier in the room as well and with the heat from the furnace running
the house, and the heat from the dehumidifier, my small electric heater
never runs in the winter time. My room is in the basement and I keep my
room between 77 and 82 F. Not bad for someone living in Michigan where the
temperature was -10 F this weekend.
I have been keeping fish for more years than I will admit to in public and
this is the second fish room I have built. The last got left in Chicago
during a move. I am just getting back into rainbows this last year, as my
primary passion is Lake Tanganyikan cichlids, but the rainbows have always
interested me.
If you would like further discussion, please feel free to email me and I
would be happy to share what has worked for me. As the responses to your
questions come in, I'm sure you will get many different ideas on what's
worked for other people. My email address is phil at mail.netquest.com, if
you are interested.
An specific answers or other helpful tidbits would be greatly
>appreciated. Lumber and tools await your answers?
>
>Ernie Burns
>
>