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Home      Reply		Viewed: 302 -- Replies: 12
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Posted	FRUSTRATED MALE
02-04-2006 17:38 by Lexter	PLEASE HELP, i know people have already advised me on this, so sorry for being a scratched record BUT, its really doing my head in now, so need to use the knowledge thats available on the forum, if you sick of me bringing up this subject, no hard feelings, just ignore it!!!! 1. I want want to keep various pairs of breeding convicts togther in a big(ish) tank, but need them divided up as with mine it never works mixing them, they all got to used to their own space 2. Currently I have 3 lots of 2 footers next to each other, which means 3x filters, 3xheaters and its getting to be a pain 3. Ideally i want total length of tank / tanks to be 6 ft or 7ft and i want at least 6 or 6 compartments, to house part 1, newish born fry part 2, older fry, young convicts parts 3,4,5 breeding pairs parts 6, maybe a breeding pair Of Kribensis 4. At first thought about getting just one six footer, BUT finding it hard as the depth of tank must not exceed 15" and i dont even need it higher than 15" which means i think i got to a tank specially made 5. any tank over 4 foot i will need to hire a van and so with money tight am now thinking about either having 1x 4footer and 1x 3footer OR 2x 3 footers 6. My budget is very tight, maybe £100 for tanks and filtration, unless i sell some stuff 7. Still can work out what to do for filtration, as there will be lots of fry in the tank, at anyone point there may be fry in ALL 6 compartments 8. The cons hate looking at each other and flare up through the dividers, should i just force them to get over that and get used to it, or make it so they cant see each other??? 9. If i had a 4 footer and a 3 footer, could i get away with Fluval 4's in each tank??? the 4 footer would be 48x15x18, so only 200 litres, but would there be enough water flow (was thinking about using a spray bar as well attached to the Fluval 4) 10. Its just that i have quite a few Fluval 4's already and want to make use of mature filters, the only other think i could think of was getting 2x small externals and using my mature fluval spounges to help spped up the cycling, BUT buying 2x small externals will hammer the budget!!!! Any ideas, especially interested in water cirulation, filtration and effective ways to divide a big tank with regards to keeping fry safe in each compartment, CAN IT BE DONE???????? if you've got time, feel free to write a LONG reply, i need practical ideas and examples
02-04-2006 17:42 by Lexter	am sure i will get bored of some many convicts ONE DAY then at least can use this set up for other breeding projects, which is basically my main interest in fish keeping (breeding)
02-04-2006 17:42 by Lexter	i also dont like the idea (makes me nervous) of having a big 6 foot or 7 foot tank and it ALL relies on one filter, it may be a good filter, but i hate putting all my eggs into one basket!!! anyone else have this fear????
02-04-2006 17:45 by clownloachlady	i didnt like the idea of my eheim doing all the work in my 180, hence the second external. Now i think the tank can run quite safely on the sera filter. Eggs in a basket... funny...
03-04-2006 09:23 by PaddyD	1. They will adapt better to smaller spaces if they dont have to share. e.g 1 pair in an 18" tank can work, but 2 in a 36" may not work. Separate tanks will work better. 4. Just keep looking, there are odd size tanks about when shops sell up or fish rooms breakdown. Alternativly get one built. Or go for a 5x15x15 and one other? 5. As you are dividing tanks anyway - this may be best option - fairly easy to get 3 and 4 tanks . And more flexible in the future. Also risk of loosing all your fish to a tank going down is reduced. 6. Another reason to use two tanks 7. Personally I would go with Spong filters - 1 in each tanks, if you have spare fluvals you could use them as well, they are cheap to run. But for one pair of convicts, and to stop fry being sucked up, sponge filters are good/cheap and easy to maintain. 8. Use decorations etc. to make it so there are areas they can see their neighbors and areas in which they cannot and feel secure. 9. They would be fine, but would each section get enough flow? You woul have to have the spray bar at one end and filters at the other. But during maintainace one section would always get disturbed. 10. Externals are excellent and will make your life easier as long as each section gets sufficient flow - also bigger is better the difference between a small and a medium external may only be £10 Personally I would use one big air pump, and filter each section as if it were a separate tank with sponge filters.In a setup divided as you say, this would not be to difficult to maintain. Use 2 or three heaters set up so there is one heated section, then one without a heater, then one with a heater etc. this way you don’t spend much on heating but every tank will be ok. Lastley - I would really recommend you go for other species from the same genus - Cryptocara. Why, because convicts are very common and the quality of fish can be quite poor. The other species breed in pretty much the same way. Have a small commercial value, but better than convicts, and the quality of stock is better.
03-04-2006 09:25 by PaddyD	http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Cryptoheros
03-04-2006 17:04 by -Rob C-	You'll never part Lexter from his cons!
03-04-2006 18:56 by Lexter	thanks very much Paddy, will look into your idea's especially Cryptocara fish
04-04-2006 00:51 by heros hero	Could you not stack your 2 foot tanks,get them drilled and use an external to power a trickle filter system?You could sell one pair and use the 3rd tank for growing on the fry
04-04-2006 02:08 by Lexter	thanks Heros, can you tell me more about how to go about this please?
04-04-2006 15:54 by telboy	oi lexter! dya know that section you revised on obsesive behaviour well!!!
04-04-2006 18:33 by Lexter
04-04-2006 20:36 by Lexter	i am laughing telboy but i dont get it........

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