Thanks Mate. i'm actually working on an Option 3, which is using one of those old school corner/box filters. They have the container, grill, riser tube, airline..etc. It's basically ready to go, you just need to add a longer riser tube. So an even easier DIY. When I get a chance I'll test that one out and make another video but I reckon it should work
This is my new favorite thing. I've wondered about ways to auto-collect but it never occurred to me to use an uplift tube. Moving parts would probably be a deal-breaker so this is just perfect. Great job!
Thanks! Both versions work well. I like Option 1 for it's simplicity and portability, but Option 2 is really low maintenance. All you need to do is remove the fry as they get bigger as they predate on the other fry and eggs. The biggest pain for me with breeding CPD's is the very manual collection process...not anymore! I'm thinking of a new design using one of those cheap corner box filters..might have all the bits and just need to flip it around or something.
Man am I happy that this just popped up on my youtube feed. The first trap really is an incredibly simple yet ingenious idea! Honestly, I haven't seen anyone using this method before but this might a big game-changer for breeding egg scatters. Ordered all the parts online can't wait for them to arrive and try this out myself.
Thanks..yes..i haven’t seen it before being used yet it’s so simple. Option 1 is definitely simple and cheap, but I’ve found option 2 is really fuss free as the eggs hatch and fry grow in that section without any intervention. If you are doing this on a long term basis I’d suggest a blend of Option 1 and 2. I have the egg return go into a hatchery so you don’t have to move the eggs at all. Not sure if I’m just lucky or it doesn’t matter, but the 5G tank seems to suit Option 2 and i have almost no fungussed eggs. I think the flow seems to keep the eggs healthy and oxygenated until they hatch.
@@DIYMick What I love most about solution 1 is that it is outside of the tank. This mainly helps me because I have mostly planted tanks currently and therefore I can set it up while not changing the scape too much. However, having a heavily planted tank might also prove to be a downside as the CPD might scatter their eggs in between the plants instead of the egg intake spot. I'm probably going to start off with the soda bottle setup and DIY some pipes to test things out. But for aesthetic reasons I'm looking into lily pipes which hold roughly the same form but might be too small. However, I think filter intake pipes definitely have the right curve for the uplift tube and can easily be cut to size. I think the benefit of such a setup is then that you can remove the egg intake piece once you have harvested enough eggs or after 3-5 days when the first fry is free swimming and use the breeding box normal. In terms of fungus, I don't have much experience with small eggs like those of the CPD. What I did notice though is that cherry shrimp tend to keep the eggs fungus free for my Corydoras and Otocinclus spawns. While also moving them into floating breeding boxes, most likely with less flow, tends to grow lots of algae and fungus on the eggs even if shrimp are present in the breeding box. Lastly, larger shrimp try to pick on the fry while they still have their egg sack. I don't think they are intentionally hunting them but I think they are just looking for food. Unfortunately though I have seen shrimp kill some fry in this fragile state making me unsure if adding shrimp to a breeding tank is beneficial.
@@wesselvdkraaij You may have issues if breeding in a planted tank. I have seen CPD's breed in the base of dense plants before. They do prefer the moss, but they are opportunistic, so you may find you get a good harvest one day, then none the next. CPD's do spawn daily as well. With regards to parts, you can use the tubing and breeder box from one of those external breeder boxes...someone else I was helping did that. He just added a softdrink bottle to the intake. Super simple. I think that's what you might be talking about?. I also had an idea the other day which might look a bit neater. I was looking at one of my old corner box filters that everyone used to use years ago. It basically has all the parts you need, just add a riser tube. If you have one of those, you might be in luck. Haven't tested it, but it should work. I do keep shrimp in my breeder tanks as clean up crew but only since i started using this design as I was always told shrimp eat eggs. With this design, the grill stops shrimp getting in so the eggs and fry are safe. Lastly..what i've started doing is using a turkey baster to suck up the eggs from the breeding box in Option 1 and then putting them in the hatchery of option 2. That's super easy and i'm getting great hatch rates now. Option 2 is a better long term sustainable solution. Option 1 is more of portable stick it anywhere solution. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. A Hybrid of the two is probably the best all round solution. Another guy i was helping has used this idea and 3d printed a base. You can see his design here. ua-cam.com/video/N_hDl-5Gxjw/v-deo.html
Thanks..me neither..I think i invented it. lol. The beauty is it's simplicity really. Unfortunately it can only be applied to "moss egg scatterers that don't have sticky eggs"..eg danios, but it is saving me a a lot of time and effort with harvesting eggs. It's also increased my harvest numbers by a factor of at least 10 as the eggs are not getting predated on anymore. So simple to make as well
newborn fry i feed on a mix of Hikari first bites and Golden Pearl. Then on baby brine shrimp and microworms. I think the newborn fry would struggle with microworms.
I had the same idea about 6 months, but haven't been able to make mine work yet as the breeding box system I was trying to use floats. Glad to see it works so well for you and am going to try and get mine to work here shortly. I was trying to use the Penn Plex Aquanursery but the plastic floats and doesn't want to sink naturally, which is problematic when something needs to be down at the bottom. I figured that if I could capture the eggs as soon as they were laid via suction I'd get a lot more, and you seem to prove that.
Maybe the aquanursery is not the best hatchery for this setup?. Just go with a simple cheap breeder box and suction the spawning section to the glass to keep it down. You are right about the hatch rate increasing...i was collecting daily and only getting less than 5 eggs, often none. But now I’m getting at least 20 a day. I had a suspicion eggs were getting eaten which I’d say is confirmed now. Option 1 works well but Option 2 is better all round. It’s less mucking around and i get better hatch rates, but it means you need a purpose built tank.
@@DIYMick Well I thought the aquanursery would be good because everything is already done. Area for fish to lay eggs with hole in the bottom for tubing that was an airlift that sucks the eggs into a separate container. had it not floated it would have been an awesome, easy setup. It wasn't unfortunately. The issue with the second option is that I have my tanks on end rather than on sides and I would never be able to see my adults if configured it as you have it. Hence why I like option 1. I considered both ways for myself when I thought of this idea but Option 2 wouldn't be the best for how my tanks are situated. I am going to see if I can't get it together today or this week and then will show you what I mean in a video. I've also never had an issue with hatching rates. I might have one of two eggs per 50 that fungus over. Though that is probably due to them being unfertilized rather than something else going wrong
The Aquarium Library I see what you mean about option 2. What you could try is getting one of those external breeder boxes that has a riser from inside the main tank that pulls water into the external breeder tank. 90% of it is already there and you just need to attach a spawning area/soft drink bottle to the end of it. That should work on your tanks. Lots of ways to do this...all using the same concept. Unfortunately this only suits egg scatterers like the danios otherwise I’d use it more often. I have other egg scatterers (pseudomugils) but their eggs are sticky so wouldn’t work for them. As for hatch rates, with Option 2, I don’t seem to get any fungussed eggs..none i see anyway. With the Option 1, i still may only get a couple per batch of around 30. I think I could improve that by playing around with the size of the breeder box, but haven’t really been worried. I now find it easier to just get a turkey baster to suck the eggs out of Option 1 breeder every few days (before they hatch) and put them in the hatcher of Option 2. They can hatch in peace and grow a bit before I need to move the fry out another grow out tank
@@DIYMick Thank you the idea of using the breeder box. I have one laying around and that will work wonderfully. I actually assembled it today and am waiting for the silicon to dry. I had been stuck and hadn't given it much thought so thank you for the suggestion and I really look forward to seeing how much my egg production increases. I have a bunch of floating containers that I am using for fry grow out as I am limited to 3 5 gallon tanks and all three are currently being used for breeding projects. Got in over my head a little with the amount of tank space I have lol.
The Aquarium Library no worries. Just returning the favour! Coincidentally I was reading your comments on your CPD breeding video and saw that 10 months ago my son was asking you a bunch of questions and you helped him out. So now we’re even. Lol. Looking forward to seeing how you go
Thanks mate. Yep...i did it manually too for a while...not hard, but just mucking around with collecting eggs, moving moss around..etc. This is so much easier. Option 2 is actually the easiest once setup..hands free other than moving the fry out as they get big enough to eat the other fry and eggs. I don't post many videos..am planning to do one for my 2 TV tanks, but other than that not a heap
@@thedampestcrib6004 never tried that, hard to say, but as long as they aren't competing with each other and chasing each other away, probably should be fine.
This is genius! Only issue I can see is predation from the older fry on the younger fry, but if you can keep regularly emptying the fry parts, you should be fine.
Thanks! yeah definitely. I have about 4 growout tanks on the go at any one time. I need to keep emptying this section out to ensure the newest fry (and eggs) don't get eaten. There's no easy way to breed CPD's completely hands off and still maintain a decent survival rate, but this helps a lot. Got sick of manually checking eggs each day, only to find a handful because they were eaten already
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Could you please explain more about water parameters, male and female ratio and their number in each breeding tank? And how you feed the fry?
Thanks mate. They look a bit filthy though. Trying to work out if I can get some external plants in them to help keep that algae at bay. Ie like a mini hydroponics setup
@@DIYMick for sure! My printer is out of action at the moment but i have also done a design for the airlift principle here since you showed me. If it works ill send the stl
Thanks mate. It’s working well for me with a much improved harvest and hatch rate (with minimal effort). I suspect the adults were eating the eggs before i collected them manually (i collected daily). I might only get 5 or so eggs, but using this method they don’t get the chance. The first time I put this in, I collected about 50 eggs. Just 2 days ago I collected 130 eggs from 2M about about 6F. Hatch rate is also very high (i hatch from Option 2 hatchery). I get almost no failed/fungussed eggs. Saw the first dead egg yesterday for the first time in ages.
That is great! I have been moving pairs around tanks. It works but nothing like that! Going to be building me some egg traps! CPD’s are are like gold around here so thank you!
@@bghobbies1 Where are you? I'm in Melbourne and they are heavily sought out here also. (Trying to find some Emerald Rasbora's as they are even harder to find). Moving fish is around is fine, but just extra effort chasing them, stressing..etc. I'm lazy by nature so anything I can do to reduce effort is what I try do. lol
Thanks! I'm using two old breeder boxes built similar to your first design. I might post a short video of it, if my cpds like it. I'm tossed up as to of I should mention videos like yours in the description, because, after all, there are no new ideas, just incremental updates based on other breeders and hobbyists. Possible first video.
They all work just as well at the end of the day, this design just means it’s a bit less effort and in my experience greater yields as the eggs aren’t getting eaten.
Do it mate! I did. I’m now getting more fry with less effort. Every day i was collecting eggs manually and only getting maybe 5 eggs. (They must have been getting eaten). Now I get at least 20 eggs a day...often more. I actually need to expand my grow out capability now because I am getting too many fry.
@@DIYMick been thinking, what this system needs is an auto dosing system that injects a golden pearl solution or infusoria into the fry side a couple of times a day. With an auto feeder on the main side you could just come in once a week to maintain the tank and remove the larger fry.
@@steve852011 Interesting idea...i haven't seen a automatic feeder for fry yet...all the auto feeders i've seen are more targeted at flakes or pellets. You could do this with like a slow drip system from a brine shrimp container (or infusoria). That would be pretty easy to setup I think. Just use a valve to control a very slow drip. Having said that, never had any luck in culturing infusoria. lol. You'd just need to remember to top up the water. The feeding I don't mind though. I have to feed the fish anyway and feeding time is a good time to look at what's going on with them.
@@DIYMick i think you use an auto doser and keep the reservoir full of water and golden pearl mixed and keep an airstone in it to keep everything mixing then every few hours it injects a half mililiter of the fluid.
@@steve852011 yep..many ways to skin a cat. Would be keen to see your setup if you make these changes. Do you breed CPD's commercially or just for fun?
@@del9059 great news!!! What other species did you breed? I tried with chilli rasbora's, but no luck, but am breeding emerald rasboras successfully. I thought neon's would probably work too
Great setup. I love it! I have a question though... What do you feed the hatchling fry? I've had one successful spawn but I'm not sure how to give the fry the nutrition they need. Do you know if they'll eat repashy gels?
I start feeding them a mix of golden pearl and hikari first bites. I also use live bbs and micro worms. I haven’t tried them on repashy gels though. I had thought about it, but not sure they would go for it. I’ve seen people mix hard boiled egg in a bottle of water and shake it up to create a suspension, and then pour that it. Seems like a good idea but not tried it
Hi mick , thanks a lot for inspiration , i have replicated your option 2 ;. am just having trouble on geting fry go into the hole and meet the paret , what are your suggestion for this solution
Sounds like you need more flow coming out of the hatchery and back into the spawning area. Whenever the fry swim near the hole, the flow pushes them right back. How big is hole? Mine is only about 2cm or less. Maybe the hole is too big so you don’t get as much flow also? If you look at the water levels between the 2 sections it’s good if you can see the hatchery has a slightly lower water level.
It’s going well and I don’t need to turn the air up high. The eggs are tiny and naturally fall through the grate so it doesn’t take that much air to lift them up the tubes
I don't think they are that fussy. GH 5, Kh 0-1, PH around 7, but anywhere from 6.6 - 7.6 seems to be fine. The main issue is ensuring there is a gentle flow of water over the eggs so they don't get fungus
I love option 2. The way it looks is great. Would it work with a matten filter with a hole cut out instead of an acrylic or glass divider? I hate cutting glass.
I assume you need the glass or acrylic divider to create suction. A matten filter probably wouldn't create enough force to suck the eggs into the separate area
James Cho I don’t think option 2 would work exactly as it does in my video with a filter instead of the solid divider. The suction is the key and also doubles as creating a good flow to ensure the eggs don’t get fungus. I didn’t use glass though, I just used acrylic sheet as as bad as you are at cutting glass, I’m probably worse. Lol. Acrylic sheet is cheap and easy to cut (hand saw works fine). You could also use corflute or anything solid and inert. You could also do a hybrid between 1 and 2 and use your matten filter. Ie do option 1 but have have the return going through or over the matten filter into the hatching section. Same end result. You might want to put a sponge filter in the hatchery though just to do the mechanical filtration and creating a flow so the eggs don't die off
James Cho While Option 1 is very easy and cheap to make (and works great) Option 2 i find is better overall. It’s no fuss. I don’t have to touch anything. I just have to move the fry out every few weeks before they start eating the eggs and new fry. Option 1 is good because it’s portable but now I just turkey baste the eggs up every day from option 1 and chuck them into the hatchery of Option 2. I basically get no failed eggs this way. I think i saw one yesterday for the first time in a while. My harvest and hatch rate is through the roof as the eggs aren’t getting eaten by the adults
Yeah..for the hobbyist and semi commercial I think this opens up so many options. For true commercial operations, they would probably have a much larger scale system that would probably be more efficient. I"m thinking something like a floating type tank for breeding with a grill at the bottom and the eggs just fall through to a big grow out tank. I'm just happy I don't have so empty containers every day and my harvest is so much higher now
I didn't document the making of them. Option 2 i 3d printed cage and cut the perspex by hand. Option 1 is just cobbled together with some irrigation tubing and a softdrink bottle. You should be able to replicate it just by looking at it
Just a cheap one that i cut panels out and siliconed fine netting onto. A lot of breeder boxes have gaps too big and the eggs fall through. You could use a normal breeder box and put a stocking around it
It’s quite up and down. Originally i was gettting at least 30+ a day, sometimes over a hundred. This was from 2 males and 4 females. However lately it has droppped, sometimes no eggs, but often only 10-20 eggs
@@DIYMick and out of those eggs how many result in freeswimmers? I have just recently started breeding them. Have three females and a bunch of boys. Normally every second day i collect about 30 eggs from which I get no more than 10 freeswimmers.
Chemodan Zhopov i don’t count anymore but when i did it was a high hatch rate. If you’re finding the eggs go white/cloudy it could mean that you aren’t getting enough flow over the eggs. Try put them in an area with more flow and see if that helps. Some people will add some meth blue to the hatchery, but i haven’t done that myself
Option #1 so smart, I might try to make this myself! But before I'll try that I have this problem.. somehow I can't get my cpd's to spawn. I have a small breeder box in the tank with 2 males and 2 females in there now with a spawning mob. I've had eggs once , quiet some time ago (never hatched) but somehow they have given up on me with laying eggs.. I don't get what I'm doing wrong... Any suggestions? I've also put them in a 2.5 gallon breeding tank for a week with a spawning mob and an egg catcher but that didn't work out either... I would love to breed these but somehow I can't get it done, any advice would be very welcome :)
I haven't had issues with spawning..they seem to do it very easily. Could it be that you are waiting too long to collect the eggs and they are being eaten? I was finding that I was doing daily checks using a manual method and i was only getting 2-3 eggs. I thought they weren't producing much, but after making this device, I got about 50 next day. You could try putting a grill at the bottom of the breeder box so the eggs drop through and can't be eaten. Have a look at some video's from Blakes Aquatics (above) on some of his earlier ideas for breeding them which worked. You could try this first while you work on making an automated one. Option 2 is the the same concept as Option 1, just a more permanent version. Kind of easier as they can grow there as well and only have to be moved when they are a bit bigger.
@@DIYMick Thank you for your response! My setup nu is two plastic cups in which the upper one has a grill in it in order for the eggs to fall through. Unfortunately no succes. Maybe it is becasues the small breeder box stresses them out. I think i should try to install the number two option with a new tank, I can get my hands on a 5 G (25 Liter) one. I hope this will work out. For option two you have two sponge filters on either sides of the aquarium right? And is the end result the same as in option 1 or is option 1 better working? Are there any important things i have to think of while installing it? Like enough sucktion from the spongefilter or things like that? Thank a lot once again for sharing your knowledge and experience!!
Tim de Zeeuw 25 litres is perfect, my option 2 is 20 litres. I only have the 2nd sponge filter in the breeding section for extra filtration. It doesn’t have any impact on the suction of the eggs into the hatchery. I’m also wondering if the cups are too small? I’ve only done it with soft drink bottles or larger containers. Not sure that’s the issue, but one thing to consider. I’ve seen people breed them in breeding boxes, but when I put them in breeding boxes, then never seem relaxed, they are pale and skittish...so that’s another possible reason. In a 25 litre tank I don’t think suction will be a problem. I’m only using quite a small sponge filter and it provides more than enough flow to suck the eggs in. You might just have to ensure you have the right sized pump to run the hatchery filter AND a breeder filter.
@@DIYMick Alright I am going to give it a go! trying to gather all the things I need to set it up! Many thanks for your detailed answers! I hope i can make it happen as good as you did! keep up the good work for the community!
@@DIYMick Well I'm pretty far in setting up option 2! Hoping this will be more succesfull than my previous attempts. I hope I'm not bothering you by asking a few more question. Is the sucktion current strong enough in order to keep the fry from swimming into the other side of the tank where the parents are, and do you cover up the outlet from the sponsfilter to the parents section? And also, which plant would you consider as the best spawning plant to put into the cup that is attached to the tank divider. I got a lot of christmas moss but I'm thinking of buying some javamos since i hear a lot about it for being the best for cpd's to spawn in! I'm just waiting for my new air pump to arrive and for the new spongefilter to then cycle! Any advise on that cycling proces? I'm so stoked to put it all together and have the full tank operating!! Can't wait :D Ohh and one last question now that I think of it. Once the fry in the hatchery is a few days old, how do you move them from the tank to another tank and how old are those fry when they need to be moved in order for them not to eat the new eggs? Sorry for so many questions, I just don't want to screw this thing up haha
it's quite simple if you slow down the video and look at the parts. It's just using the same principle as a sponge filter, but without the sponge. Attach an airline to the bottom of a riser tube. That will create the suction.
I've been breeding CPDs for years and never have I ever thought of an air lift! My hats off to you, these are impressive.
Try it out! You can scale this to any size you want. Will save you time and increase your harvest
Started collecting supplies to bang one of these together. Genius idea mate
Thanks Mate. i'm actually working on an Option 3, which is using one of those old school corner/box filters. They have the container, grill, riser tube, airline..etc. It's basically ready to go, you just need to add a longer riser tube. So an even easier DIY. When I get a chance I'll test that one out and make another video but I reckon it should work
Something like this. www.ebay.com.au/itm/2X-Plastic-Square-Fish-Tank-Aquarium-Filter-Bottom-Box-Transparent-Green-W7Q7-/154070504531
This is my new favorite thing. I've wondered about ways to auto-collect but it never occurred to me to use an uplift tube. Moving parts would probably be a deal-breaker so this is just perfect. Great job!
Thanks! Both versions work well. I like Option 1 for it's simplicity and portability, but Option 2 is really low maintenance. All you need to do is remove the fry as they get bigger as they predate on the other fry and eggs. The biggest pain for me with breeding CPD's is the very manual collection process...not anymore! I'm thinking of a new design using one of those cheap corner box filters..might have all the bits and just need to flip it around or something.
Man am I happy that this just popped up on my youtube feed. The first trap really is an incredibly simple yet ingenious idea! Honestly, I haven't seen anyone using this method before but this might a big game-changer for breeding egg scatters. Ordered all the parts online can't wait for them to arrive and try this out myself.
Thanks..yes..i haven’t seen it before being used yet it’s so simple. Option 1 is definitely simple and cheap, but I’ve found option 2 is really fuss free as the eggs hatch and fry grow in that section without any intervention. If you are doing this on a long term basis I’d suggest a blend of Option 1 and 2. I have the egg return go into a hatchery so you don’t have to move the eggs at all. Not sure if I’m just lucky or it doesn’t matter, but the 5G tank seems to suit Option 2 and i have almost no fungussed eggs. I think the flow seems to keep the eggs healthy and oxygenated until they hatch.
Oh...And if you make one, would love to see your design
@@DIYMick What I love most about solution 1 is that it is outside of the tank. This mainly helps me because I have mostly planted tanks currently and therefore I can set it up while not changing the scape too much. However, having a heavily planted tank might also prove to be a downside as the CPD might scatter their eggs in between the plants instead of the egg intake spot. I'm probably going to start off with the soda bottle setup and DIY some pipes to test things out. But for aesthetic reasons I'm looking into lily pipes which hold roughly the same form but might be too small. However, I think filter intake pipes definitely have the right curve for the uplift tube and can easily be cut to size. I think the benefit of such a setup is then that you can remove the egg intake piece once you have harvested enough eggs or after 3-5 days when the first fry is free swimming and use the breeding box normal.
In terms of fungus, I don't have much experience with small eggs like those of the CPD. What I did notice though is that cherry shrimp tend to keep the eggs fungus free for my Corydoras and Otocinclus spawns. While also moving them into floating breeding boxes, most likely with less flow, tends to grow lots of algae and fungus on the eggs even if shrimp are present in the breeding box. Lastly, larger shrimp try to pick on the fry while they still have their egg sack. I don't think they are intentionally hunting them but I think they are just looking for food. Unfortunately though I have seen shrimp kill some fry in this fragile state making me unsure if adding shrimp to a breeding tank is beneficial.
@@wesselvdkraaij You may have issues if breeding in a planted tank. I have seen CPD's breed in the base of dense plants before. They do prefer the moss, but they are opportunistic, so you may find you get a good harvest one day, then none the next. CPD's do spawn daily as well. With regards to parts, you can use the tubing and breeder box from one of those external breeder boxes...someone else I was helping did that. He just added a softdrink bottle to the intake. Super simple. I think that's what you might be talking about?. I also had an idea the other day which might look a bit neater. I was looking at one of my old corner box filters that everyone used to use years ago. It basically has all the parts you need, just add a riser tube. If you have one of those, you might be in luck. Haven't tested it, but it should work.
I do keep shrimp in my breeder tanks as clean up crew but only since i started using this design as I was always told shrimp eat eggs. With this design, the grill stops shrimp getting in so the eggs and fry are safe.
Lastly..what i've started doing is using a turkey baster to suck up the eggs from the breeding box in Option 1 and then putting them in the hatchery of option 2. That's super easy and i'm getting great hatch rates now. Option 2 is a better long term sustainable solution. Option 1 is more of portable stick it anywhere solution. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. A Hybrid of the two is probably the best all round solution. Another guy i was helping has used this idea and 3d printed a base. You can see his design here. ua-cam.com/video/N_hDl-5Gxjw/v-deo.html
great DIY project! the bottle setup seems to be very simple and efficient
Yep..it produces well and costs nothing to make using spare bits and pieces. Saves me a lot of time as well as increasing the harvest
That's the first I've seen a system like this. Outstanding!
Thanks..me neither..I think i invented it. lol. The beauty is it's simplicity really. Unfortunately it can only be applied to "moss egg scatterers that don't have sticky eggs"..eg danios, but it is saving me a a lot of time and effort with harvesting eggs. It's also increased my harvest numbers by a factor of at least 10 as the eggs are not getting predated on anymore. So simple to make as well
Wow that is a game changer Mick.
Can you tell me what tool you use to cut the holes in the glass?
Excellent job again.
Subbed now too :)
The divider is made from clear acrylic or perspex. Not Glass. So i just use a 19mm spade bit
great idea @DIY Mick! thanks for sharing.
Such a great project, are the newly born babies big enough to eat microworms/oatmeal worms?
newborn fry i feed on a mix of Hikari first bites and Golden Pearl. Then on baby brine shrimp and microworms. I think the newborn fry would struggle with microworms.
I'm blown away. History will remember you as the great Galaxy Rasbora breeder. Don't be surprised if your face appears on a bank note in the future.
Lol..that’s hilarious. Not sure what’s funnier, your comment or your channel name. Thanks!
I had the same idea about 6 months, but haven't been able to make mine work yet as the breeding box system I was trying to use floats. Glad to see it works so well for you and am going to try and get mine to work here shortly. I was trying to use the Penn Plex Aquanursery but the plastic floats and doesn't want to sink naturally, which is problematic when something needs to be down at the bottom. I figured that if I could capture the eggs as soon as they were laid via suction I'd get a lot more, and you seem to prove that.
Maybe the aquanursery is not the best hatchery for this setup?. Just go with a simple cheap breeder box and suction the spawning section to the glass to keep it down. You are right about the hatch rate increasing...i was collecting daily and only getting less than 5 eggs, often none. But now I’m getting at least 20 a day. I had a suspicion eggs were getting eaten which I’d say is confirmed now. Option 1 works well but Option 2 is better all round. It’s less mucking around and i get better hatch rates, but it means you need a purpose built tank.
@@DIYMick Well I thought the aquanursery would be good because everything is already done. Area for fish to lay eggs with hole in the bottom for tubing that was an airlift that sucks the eggs into a separate container. had it not floated it would have been an awesome, easy setup. It wasn't unfortunately.
The issue with the second option is that I have my tanks on end rather than on sides and I would never be able to see my adults if configured it as you have it. Hence why I like option 1. I considered both ways for myself when I thought of this idea but Option 2 wouldn't be the best for how my tanks are situated. I am going to see if I can't get it together today or this week and then will show you what I mean in a video.
I've also never had an issue with hatching rates. I might have one of two eggs per 50 that fungus over. Though that is probably due to them being unfertilized rather than something else going wrong
The Aquarium Library I see what you mean about option 2. What you could try is getting one of those external breeder boxes that has a riser from inside the main tank that pulls water into the external breeder tank. 90% of it is already there and you just need to attach a spawning area/soft drink bottle to the end of it. That should work on your tanks. Lots of ways to do this...all using the same concept. Unfortunately this only suits egg scatterers like the danios otherwise I’d use it more often. I have other egg scatterers (pseudomugils) but their eggs are sticky so wouldn’t work for them.
As for hatch rates, with Option 2, I don’t seem to get any fungussed eggs..none i see anyway. With the Option 1, i still may only get a couple per batch of around 30. I think I could improve that by playing around with the size of the breeder box, but haven’t really been worried. I now find it easier to just get a turkey baster to suck the eggs out of Option 1 breeder every few days (before they hatch) and put them in the hatcher of Option 2. They can hatch in peace and grow a bit before I need to move the fry out another grow out tank
@@DIYMick Thank you the idea of using the breeder box. I have one laying around and that will work wonderfully. I actually assembled it today and am waiting for the silicon to dry. I had been stuck and hadn't given it much thought so thank you for the suggestion and I really look forward to seeing how much my egg production increases.
I have a bunch of floating containers that I am using for fry grow out as I am limited to 3 5 gallon tanks and all three are currently being used for breeding projects. Got in over my head a little with the amount of tank space I have lol.
The Aquarium Library no worries. Just returning the favour! Coincidentally I was reading your comments on your CPD breeding video and saw that 10 months ago my son was asking you a bunch of questions and you helped him out. So now we’re even. Lol. Looking forward to seeing how you go
One more subscriber to your channel, I've always done it manually. This will change the way I work. Looking forward to seeing your new DIY videos.
Thanks mate. Yep...i did it manually too for a while...not hard, but just mucking around with collecting eggs, moving moss around..etc. This is so much easier. Option 2 is actually the easiest once setup..hands free other than moving the fry out as they get big enough to eat the other fry and eggs. I don't post many videos..am planning to do one for my 2 TV tanks, but other than that not a heap
@@DIYMick Keep posting videos of this type (DIY), teaching you step by step, your videos will burst with so much viewing. Success and thanks.
This is the best idea i have seen yet nice job
Thanks. Has worked well for me. I’ve started making and selling them, but for local pickup. Not shipping them. Sold a handful of them
@DIYMick I just tossed some pieces together made one debating think white clouds and celestial Danios be fine together to breed?
@@thedampestcrib6004 never tried that, hard to say, but as long as they aren't competing with each other and chasing each other away, probably should be fine.
@DIYMick looks fine so far my collector is from 1.5 gallon jug so lots of space
WOW!! I'm trying this ASAP! TY for sharing!
This is genius! Only issue I can see is predation from the older fry on the younger fry, but if you can keep regularly emptying the fry parts, you should be fine.
Thanks! yeah definitely. I have about 4 growout tanks on the go at any one time. I need to keep emptying this section out to ensure the newest fry (and eggs) don't get eaten. There's no easy way to breed CPD's completely hands off and still maintain a decent survival rate, but this helps a lot. Got sick of manually checking eggs each day, only to find a handful because they were eaten already
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Could you please explain more about water parameters, male and female ratio and their number in each breeding tank?
And how you feed the fry?
Our eggs appear to be fuzzy not clear, is there something we are doing wrong?
you could try make sure there's a gentle flow of water over the eggs. That will help keep them healthy and not becoming fuzzy and cloudy.
You are a genius . Thank You for sharing.
Brilliant ideas! Breeding tetras so the problem is that the eggs are light sensitive. Could perhaps be solved with dark walls/cover on Option 2.
Yep. Definitely. You could do option 1 then move the eggs to a darkened hatchery
Mate so cleaver! What a ingenious idea. Do the shrimp get sucked through or the shrimplets?
They would yes. I don’t breed shrimp here though. I have adults in there as cleaning crew, but any shrimplets won’t last long. Lol
Thanks for the tip, hopefully it works for me.
so clever mate, love it
Thanks mate. They look a bit filthy though. Trying to work out if I can get some external plants in them to help keep that algae at bay. Ie like a mini hydroponics setup
@@DIYMick for sure! My printer is out of action at the moment but i have also done a design for the airlift principle here since you showed me. If it works ill send the stl
Blake's Aquatics look forward to seeing that!
Great idea thanks for sharing u have inspired me to try an old Betta divided tank as similar for trap
Thanks! Yeah, I could see that working. Good luck!
The God of CPD:)) - very nice!👍
haha. Hardly...but thanks anyway :-)
🤯 that is awesome! Subscribed!
Thanks mate. It’s working well for me with a much improved harvest and hatch rate (with minimal effort). I suspect the adults were eating the eggs before i collected them manually (i collected daily). I might only get 5 or so eggs, but using this method they don’t get the chance. The first time I put this in, I collected about 50 eggs. Just 2 days ago I collected 130 eggs from 2M about about 6F. Hatch rate is also very high (i hatch from Option 2 hatchery). I get almost no failed/fungussed eggs. Saw the first dead egg yesterday for the first time in ages.
That is great! I have been moving pairs around tanks. It works but nothing like that! Going to be building me some egg traps! CPD’s are are like gold around here so thank you!
@@bghobbies1 Where are you? I'm in Melbourne and they are heavily sought out here also. (Trying to find some Emerald Rasbora's as they are even harder to find). Moving fish is around is fine, but just extra effort chasing them, stressing..etc. I'm lazy by nature so anything I can do to reduce effort is what I try do. lol
I’m in Utah USA. I have been wanting to get emeralds too!
Thanks! I'm using two old breeder boxes built similar to your first design. I might post a short video of it, if my cpds like it. I'm tossed up as to of I should mention videos like yours in the description, because, after all, there are no new ideas, just incremental updates based on other breeders and hobbyists.
Possible first video.
They all work just as well at the end of the day, this design just means it’s a bit less effort and in my experience greater yields as the eggs aren’t getting eaten.
that is badass, seriously considering redoing my whole operation... BRILLIANT!!!
Do it mate! I did. I’m now getting more fry with less effort. Every day i was collecting eggs manually and only getting maybe 5 eggs. (They must have been getting eaten). Now I get at least 20 eggs a day...often more. I actually need to expand my grow out capability now because I am getting too many fry.
@@DIYMick been thinking, what this system needs is an auto dosing system that injects a golden pearl solution or infusoria into the fry side a couple of times a day. With an auto feeder on the main side you could just come in once a week to maintain the tank and remove the larger fry.
@@steve852011 Interesting idea...i haven't seen a automatic feeder for fry yet...all the auto feeders i've seen are more targeted at flakes or pellets. You could do this with like a slow drip system from a brine shrimp container (or infusoria). That would be pretty easy to setup I think. Just use a valve to control a very slow drip. Having said that, never had any luck in culturing infusoria. lol. You'd just need to remember to top up the water. The feeding I don't mind though. I have to feed the fish anyway and feeding time is a good time to look at what's going on with them.
@@DIYMick i think you use an auto doser and keep the reservoir full of water and golden pearl mixed and keep an airstone in it to keep everything mixing then every few hours it injects a half mililiter of the fluid.
@@steve852011 yep..many ways to skin a cat. Would be keen to see your setup if you make these changes. Do you breed CPD's commercially or just for fun?
Loving this one, great idea
try it out! You won't regret it
I actually did and it worked so well ! I did it with a lot of other species since. Thanks man. @@DIYMick
@@del9059 great news!!! What other species did you breed? I tried with chilli rasbora's, but no luck, but am breeding emerald rasboras successfully. I thought neon's would probably work too
awesome ideas. thanks
Brilliant!
I love these, great video 👌
Thanks mate. Yeah..better watch out. I'm only a few thousand subscribers off you. lol
nice idea.. what do you feed to your fry after free swimming?
Thanks. I feed them hikari first bites, live micro worms and live baby brine shrimp.
Great setup. I love it! I have a question though... What do you feed the hatchling fry? I've had one successful spawn but I'm not sure how to give the fry the nutrition they need. Do you know if they'll eat repashy gels?
I start feeding them a mix of golden pearl and hikari first bites. I also use live bbs and micro worms. I haven’t tried them on repashy gels though. I had thought about it, but not sure they would go for it. I’ve seen people mix hard boiled egg in a bottle of water and shake it up to create a suspension, and then pour that it. Seems like a good idea but not tried it
Hi mick , thanks a lot for inspiration , i have replicated your option 2 ;. am just having trouble on geting fry go into the hole and meet the paret , what are your suggestion for this solution
Sounds like you need more flow coming out of the hatchery and back into the spawning area. Whenever the fry swim near the hole, the flow pushes them right back. How big is hole? Mine is only about 2cm or less. Maybe the hole is too big so you don’t get as much flow also? If you look at the water levels between the 2 sections it’s good if you can see the hatchery has a slightly lower water level.
How’s the first one going? Do you have to turn the airline all the way for it to have enough uplift?
It’s going well and I don’t need to turn the air up high. The eggs are tiny and naturally fall through the grate so it doesn’t take that much air to lift them up the tubes
Thanks heaps for sharing
My pleasure mate. Hope it works for you
I wonder how something like this would work with cardinal or neon tetras......
I have wondered the same but never tried. I believe they are egg scatterers so in theory should work
What water parameters are best for hatching in your opinion? I struggle with hatch rate.
I don't think they are that fussy. GH 5, Kh 0-1, PH around 7, but anywhere from 6.6 - 7.6 seems to be fine. The main issue is ensuring there is a gentle flow of water over the eggs so they don't get fungus
@@DIYMick thanks
I love option 2. The way it looks is great. Would it work with a matten filter with a hole cut out instead of an acrylic or glass divider? I hate cutting glass.
I assume you need the glass or acrylic divider to create suction. A matten filter probably wouldn't create enough force to suck the eggs into the separate area
James Cho I don’t think option 2 would work exactly as it does in my video with a filter instead of the solid divider. The suction is the key and also doubles as creating a good flow to ensure the eggs don’t get fungus. I didn’t use glass though, I just used acrylic sheet as as bad as you are at cutting glass, I’m probably worse. Lol. Acrylic sheet is cheap and easy to cut (hand saw works fine). You could also use corflute or anything solid and inert. You could also do a hybrid between 1 and 2 and use your matten filter. Ie do option 1 but have have the return going through or over the matten filter into the hatching section. Same end result. You might want to put a sponge filter in the hatchery though just to do the mechanical filtration and creating a flow so the eggs don't die off
James Cho While Option 1 is very easy and cheap to make (and works great) Option 2 i find is better overall. It’s no fuss. I don’t have to touch anything. I just have to move the fry out every few weeks before they start eating the eggs and new fry. Option 1 is good because it’s portable but now I just turkey baste the eggs up every day from option 1 and chuck them into the hatchery of Option 2. I basically get no failed eggs this way. I think i saw one yesterday for the first time in a while. My harvest and hatch rate is through the roof as the eggs aren’t getting eaten by the adults
Truly game changing
Yeah..for the hobbyist and semi commercial I think this opens up so many options. For true commercial operations, they would probably have a much larger scale system that would probably be more efficient. I"m thinking something like a floating type tank for breeding with a grill at the bottom and the eggs just fall through to a big grow out tank. I'm just happy I don't have so empty containers every day and my harvest is so much higher now
How did you make the 1st system? Do you have any tutorial?
No tutorials sorry. But i just used irrigation parts and a softdrink bottle. Cost me nothing to make. Very simple
Great ideas but would like to see more details on assembling each method.
I didn't document the making of them. Option 2 i 3d printed cage and cut the perspex by hand. Option 1 is just cobbled together with some irrigation tubing and a softdrink bottle. You should be able to replicate it just by looking at it
Brilliant
Amazing man... seriously though🤘👌
Thanks mate. The beauty is in it’s simplicity. :-)
What kind of breeder box are you using on the first method?
Just a cheap one that i cut panels out and siliconed fine netting onto. A lot of breeder boxes have gaps too big and the eggs fall through. You could use a normal breeder box and put a stocking around it
brilliant !
thanks. It's working really well for me. :-)
Hi Mick. What hatching rate do you get from your cpds?
It’s quite up and down. Originally i was gettting at least 30+ a day, sometimes over a hundred. This was from 2 males and 4 females. However lately it has droppped, sometimes no eggs, but often only 10-20 eggs
@@DIYMick and out of those eggs how many result in freeswimmers? I have just recently started breeding them. Have three females and a bunch of boys. Normally every second day i collect about 30 eggs from which I get no more than 10 freeswimmers.
Chemodan Zhopov i don’t count anymore but when i did it was a high hatch rate. If you’re finding the eggs go white/cloudy it could mean that you aren’t getting enough flow over the eggs. Try put them in an area with more flow and see if that helps. Some people will add some meth blue to the hatchery, but i haven’t done that myself
Like spilt tank
It’s the easier option to manage
Where can I get the parts to make this?
Very common parts. I used a soft drink bottle and garden irrigation parts mainly.
do you have a video on how to make one of those in the first part of the video?
no i don’t. Just pause the video and you should be able to see. It’s just basically joining some tubes together. Pretty basic DIY
😎 🐟 🏆
Option #1 so smart, I might try to make this myself! But before I'll try that I have this problem.. somehow I can't get my cpd's to spawn. I have a small breeder box in the tank with 2 males and 2 females in there now with a spawning mob. I've had eggs once , quiet some time ago (never hatched) but somehow they have given up on me with laying eggs.. I don't get what I'm doing wrong... Any suggestions? I've also put them in a 2.5 gallon breeding tank for a week with a spawning mob and an egg catcher but that didn't work out either... I would love to breed these but somehow I can't get it done, any advice would be very welcome :)
I haven't had issues with spawning..they seem to do it very easily. Could it be that you are waiting too long to collect the eggs and they are being eaten? I was finding that I was doing daily checks using a manual method and i was only getting 2-3 eggs. I thought they weren't producing much, but after making this device, I got about 50 next day. You could try putting a grill at the bottom of the breeder box so the eggs drop through and can't be eaten. Have a look at some video's from Blakes Aquatics (above) on some of his earlier ideas for breeding them which worked. You could try this first while you work on making an automated one. Option 2 is the the same concept as Option 1, just a more permanent version. Kind of easier as they can grow there as well and only have to be moved when they are a bit bigger.
@@DIYMick Thank you for your response! My setup nu is two plastic cups in which the upper one has a grill in it in order for the eggs to fall through. Unfortunately no succes. Maybe it is becasues the small breeder box stresses them out. I think i should try to install the number two option with a new tank, I can get my hands on a 5 G (25 Liter) one. I hope this will work out. For option two you have two sponge filters on either sides of the aquarium right? And is the end result the same as in option 1 or is option 1 better working? Are there any important things i have to think of while installing it? Like enough sucktion from the spongefilter or things like that? Thank a lot once again for sharing your knowledge and experience!!
Tim de Zeeuw 25 litres is perfect, my option 2 is 20 litres. I only have the 2nd sponge filter in the breeding section for extra filtration. It doesn’t have any impact on the suction of the eggs into the hatchery. I’m also wondering if the cups are too small? I’ve only done it with soft drink bottles or larger containers. Not sure that’s the issue, but one thing to consider. I’ve seen people breed them in breeding boxes, but when I put them in breeding boxes, then never seem relaxed, they are pale and skittish...so that’s another possible reason. In a 25 litre tank I don’t think suction will be a problem. I’m only using quite a small sponge filter and it provides more than enough flow to suck the eggs in. You might just have to ensure you have the right sized pump to run the hatchery filter AND a breeder filter.
@@DIYMick Alright I am going to give it a go! trying to gather all the things I need to set it up! Many thanks for your detailed answers! I hope i can make it happen as good as you did! keep up the good work for the community!
@@DIYMick Well I'm pretty far in setting up option 2! Hoping this will be more succesfull than my previous attempts. I hope I'm not bothering you by asking a few more question. Is the sucktion current strong enough in order to keep the fry from swimming into the other side of the tank where the parents are, and do you cover up the outlet from the sponsfilter to the parents section? And also, which plant would you consider as the best spawning plant to put into the cup that is attached to the tank divider. I got a lot of christmas moss but I'm thinking of buying some javamos since i hear a lot about it for being the best for cpd's to spawn in! I'm just waiting for my new air pump to arrive and for the new spongefilter to then cycle! Any advise on that cycling proces? I'm so stoked to put it all together and have the full tank operating!! Can't wait :D Ohh and one last question now that I think of it. Once the fry in the hatchery is a few days old, how do you move them from the tank to another tank and how old are those fry when they need to be moved in order for them not to eat the new eggs? Sorry for so many questions, I just don't want to screw this thing up haha
Do you sell the fry?
Yeah i do
@@DIYMick how do I buy some from you
Are you Melbourne based?
@@DIYMick no, I'm in the US. Shipping would probably be a deal breaker
Lol..yeah..and they’ll probably all die as well. I don’t even ship locally for that reason.
Can someone tell me how I can make that bubble elevator?
it's quite simple if you slow down the video and look at the parts. It's just using the same principle as a sponge filter, but without the sponge. Attach an airline to the bottom of a riser tube. That will create the suction.
👍
Cpd?
Celestial Pearl Danio. Also known as Galaxy Rasbora
Brilliant