# More fry, more fry and more fry



## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

many wigglers....tank 1
View attachment 71641

View attachment 71642


free swimming tank 2

View attachment 71643

View attachment 71644


getting big....tank 3....

View attachment 71645

View attachment 71646


ready for sale tank 4

View attachment 71647

View attachment 71648


----------



## killarbee (Jan 23, 2004)

holy sh*t man you have a piranha factory going on there


----------



## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

That is awesome, very nice and clean setup.

You selling these to an lfs or local hobbyists?


----------



## nubsmoke (Feb 4, 2004)

Looking good Matt







I'm impressed at how clean your fry tanks are! Pretty soon you will have hundreds per batch make it to saleable size ! It's funny ,on average you will have 4 fry tanks going at all times. The most I had at one time was 6 , talk about some work. I have a tank of fry , probably 500 min. , ready to go right now. That's what makes it worth all the work, delivering that many fry at once!


----------



## goodnews (Oct 5, 2004)

you crazy man..... CRAZY!


----------



## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Phtstrat said:


> That is awesome, very nice and clean setup.
> 
> You selling these to an lfs or local hobbyists?
> [snapback]1142910[/snapback]​


Thank you sir, I was able to secure a source to buy large amounts, I have sold to some local folks on various local fish club boards and a few members on here, anyone thats local and needs some is more then welcome to contact me, I know most of the ohio guys so they all know if they need any I got some to sell for good prices.

Im a few monthes into the game, but had so many batches Iv lost count.Iv never breed a species of fish as difficult to keep alive as these guys, it is alot of work to grow them to a saleable size, Iv been tought clean fry tanks ups the success rate, and that is tried and true for me, when they reach a certain size daily water changes are a must.

When your dealing with this many tanks of fry it cost money to grow them out, heavy brine feedings(money for brine eggs), money for more tanks, more air pumps, more airline, more sponge filters , more heaters, it can add up.Certainly Iv got some of the money back, but I have alot of time tied up in these guys, and at this point what Iv gotten in $$ is not yet what Iv spent, but its fun to raise them.

If you cant stand water maintenence and tank maintenence, you will hate breeding, thats for sure.....Boy it feels nice though when you see the babies you have raised up, grow and be healthy....











> nubsmoke Posted Today, 06:51 PM
> Looking good Matt thumb.gif I'm impressed at how clean your fry tanks are! Pretty soon you will have hundreds per batch make it to saleable size ! It's funny ,on average you will have 4 fry tanks going at all times. The most I had at one time was 6 , talk about some work. I have a tank of fry , probably 500 min. , ready to go right now. That's what makes it worth all the work, delivering that many fry at once! rockon.gif


Thanks Trebor, if you guys remember my parent tank was a green algae nightmare, Iv solved that problem.My 2 pairs spit them out like crazy, a little to often I think.

I actually have 6 fry tanks right now, the other 2 dont hjave many fry maybe 50 each, right now the parents are at it agion, so tommorrow one of the smaller tanks, tank 5 or 6 the 50 fry will get switched to one of these 4 tanks, and open one up for the new batches, looks like both pairs will spawn tonight...









Im learning and figuring it out, thanks to help from lots of folks on here, those tanks with the larger fry are actually multiple batches, Im hoping that tank 3 batch on here will be my first to break 500 fry on, its getting them to that 3 week old stage........day 10- day 21, seems to be the hardest part to me...........









500 in a batch is pretty impressive, that takes some skills, hopefully in 3 weeks Ill have my first truely 500 batch that is actually only one batch.........Good work..


----------



## sccavee (Feb 11, 2003)

Good work Matt. Now if you can get those Terns or Caribe to breed


----------



## b_ack51 (Feb 11, 2003)

Nice pics Matt. If you want, I have an old small divider that will help you for your tank. Small enough to keep the bigger fry seperated, but big enough for water to pass through. I also still have the lights and lids.


----------



## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Thats so cool.


----------



## Piraya33 (May 26, 2005)

Sweet pics! Mine have bred for me twice now and I have my hands full with just those two tanks. I had to go buy another 2 liter brine hatchery yesterday. These guys eat like crazy! I think it will all be worth it in the end though.

How do you keep the tanks so clean? How do you get the water out for a water change? I have been using an airline to siphon it out, but that takes forever! And I still end up sucking a few fry in there. Thanks!

Keep up the good work!


----------



## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

b_ack51 said:


> Nice pics Matt. If you want, I have an old small divider that will help you for your tank. Small enough to keep the bigger fry seperated, but big enough for water to pass through. I also still have the lights and lids.
> [snapback]1143808[/snapback]​


Cool brian, defenitely need the lid and light......I gotta meet up with you soon anyway............











> Sweet pics! Mine have bred for me twice now and I have my hands full with just those two tanks. I had to go buy another 2 liter brine hatchery yesterday. These guys eat like crazy! I think it will all be worth it in the end though.
> 
> How do you keep the tanks so clean? How do you get the water out for a water change? I have been using an airline to siphon it out, but that takes forever! And I still end up sucking a few fry in there. Thanks!
> 
> Keep up the good work!


Right on man, I run 3 brine hatchers, at the least I do 3 feedings a day, or half one of the 2 liters per feeding, I dont suck all the brine up on the first feeding from the 2 liter, all the good brine go to the bottem when you turn it off,I get into those but leave some for the second feeding, hopefully that makes sense...

Hollywood told me you gotta keep those fry tanks clean, I just do like nubsmoke, suck the hell out of the parent tank gravel when getting eggs, i gotta go out soon and suck 2 nests, Ill suck out 40 gallons atleast to get all the eggs out, just hold the gravel vac in one spot untill nothing comes out of the gravel.

After that, Ill do all the rest of the tank gravel real good, probually end up with more fry from other previous batches, Im to the point where my gravel is getting done so often it is just so clean to begin with.My reds are pigs they come right to the top to eat, my females are nuts they are alwats so hungry, I throw small bite size chunks in and they eat so fast my waste is minimal..........Start with good clean parent tanks and your fry tanks will be nice and clean...

I also go around with a droper and get all fungus eggs real good,I refuse to leave any in there, sure I may get a few food ones, but if i didnt get the fungus ones they can ruin more by staying in there then the few good ones you get getting them out, that just starts everything off fresh.....

I dont change fry water untill 3 weeks, most of the time the fry are big enough, you use a full size syphon covered with floss, or mesh and fry wont get sucked up.

any chucks in the fry tank before that,i use airline to remove, if water gets to low I top it off with parent water untill 3 weeks to a month old

Good luck with yours...


----------



## Slim (Jan 9, 2005)

What size tank is that man?


----------



## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Slim said:


> What size tank is that man?
> [snapback]1144276[/snapback]​


I got (6) 29 gallons.....









the pictures are 4 of them, I currently have, 4 different batches.

#5 is full of eggs, well about to be, #6 has 50-100 fry


----------



## Piraya33 (May 26, 2005)

Thanks for the reply! I am really looking forward to growing them out and selling them. How much are the LFS around you going to give you per fish? Thanks!


----------



## Slim (Jan 9, 2005)

Im selling mine for 1.25 a pop even if you sell like 40 youve made money so it all works out.


----------



## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

Holy Crap

That is awsome


----------



## k7q (Mar 3, 2004)

4 tanks of fry = 4 tanks of money.









good job in breeding them


----------



## malicious1 (Jul 4, 2005)

yeh i seen all his fry tanks the other night, they are craZy


----------



## malicious1 (Jul 4, 2005)

yeh i seen all his fry tanks the other night, they are craZy


----------



## pira-me (Mar 9, 2005)

that is a lot of fish, makes me wanna have somthing like that


----------

