HELLO! Morning!

Right. I've got a pair of those as named in the subject living in a 55. They've chosen the inch gap between the glass and internal filter to lay a clutch of big orange eggs. I found them yesterday. Mr Bristles is doing a fine job of fanning them the proud chap that he is and there looks to be over 40 but less than 70 eggs. I'm trying to decide if I should try and raise them.

Tankmates are hungry cichlids. Once these fry hatch then they are just going to drop down onto the gravel correct? They are going to be eagerly devoured and Mr Bristles is going to be heart broken for a couple of days. I'm trying to decide if to try and raise them and the price of the accessories I can grab on my lunch break will determine the feasibility of this.

Current plan is to take the 35 long I've got spare and fill it tonight with old tank water and some filter filth, add a piece of bog wood and a few pieces of plants but not anything else. Add the eggs and use an airpump driven sponge filter near the eggs resting on a few stones. See what happens?

Urgh. Well they don't play fair! I came home today wanting to get some washing in as it was raining and they'd hatched. Dad was keeping them together but they were spreading out across the back glass/being sucked into the filter/flying out across the tank with the filter outflow.

Must have been very recent as the cichlids hadn't cottoned on yet. I managed to capture between 15-20 and dropped them into a plastic floating breeding trap. I say floating in the loosest sense because if it didn't say it on the box I'd not use that word to describe it. Copious aquarium clips/heater holders and some string have hold of it now though.

Wriggle!

I'd say using a plastic shot glass and a net was the best way to catch them. The cichlids caught on half way through and kept getting in there. They had the decency to look guilty though.

Tiny Sev eh?

Ok. A plan is forming.

After looking for filters on-line and finding nothing very good commercially available, like only a single Fluval for ordering I ended up looking at home made designs and finding things suitable for either:

- Small tanks - foam in a canister and airpump. 5-10 gal.
- Large tanks - Foam, uplift tube and powerhead. x-x gal.

I've just figured out how I'm going to filter it. I've used my own design but it is a combination of the foam in a canister and the foam attached to a powerhead. I've attached an image.

Basically it is the top part of an internal power filter with the bottom cut down pushed into a food grade plastic tub which I've put a layer of ceramic media into. Then the rest has been topped up with more media and finally a deeper gravel layer. The output has had a piece of plastic tubing attached to deflect the outflow and give surface agitation.

I've tested it and it works. The flow rate is still fairly hardcore as it is a 400lph power head but then within the tank I believe it will be impossible to suck up and dice fry.

Next I'm going to get a plastic exercise matt and I've got some wood to cut to prepare a base for the tank. I am going to put it on the bottom level of a two tier metal tank stand I've got. I was going to put it somewhere awesome in the lounge which I've got earmarked for a shrimp/planted tank but the gap turned out to be a couple of inches short. Oh well! I'm also going to have to look at the electrics in that area because two tanks and two plugs mean I should actually get around to doing a wall mounted multiplug thing with breakers.

Ok. I got my mat and wood. I set my tank up. I made a little modification. I filled the remaining part of the power filter with some foam to avoid any gravel which may work its way down from flying into the impeller. ANYWAY.

While cutting the wood outside the cichlids learned a new trick. Those ******'s sucked the fry through the paper thin slats in the breeding trap. Man I just want to punch their stupid faces.

I still went ahead and set the tank up though. Half full. heated. Bare bottom. Piece of wood. Output pipe clipped across the back to reduce the effect of the flow. Water from other tanks + full squeezings from a 305 external (pig disgusting!) I figure it will do as a QT tank and fingers crossed for some more eggs?

How do people keep these things cycled? I just chucked a couple of frozen prawns in there which is my usual method when cycling tanks. Feed them? Ammonia solution every few days?

Hey butcherbeast! Since your sticking around here and doing some great posting. How about doing a do it yourself article on this with pics.We have a D.I.Y. section.That way all our readers can see and learn from you!

I don't know how I missed this but it is a interesting thread....Any more signs of another spawn yet? Any updates or new pics? You could buy a couple of guppies to keep the tank cycled.