MattyB

Hey everyone, as some people have noticed peacock bass have flooded the market. i thought it was about time i gave out a write up on how i successfully bred my peacock bass.

(i do not have my pair anymore, i sold them to be bred by someone else with this write up, sadly they have been split and sold off. (Sorry Jules))

since they have flooded the market they are going quite cheap, 7-9 cm at around 30 dollars ea, DO NOT pay over this price, even i think 30 might be a bit high since they are flooded, just shop around as there a few breeders out there, pm me and i can send you in the right direction.

ok here it is, i will add the pics on the bottom of the write up

ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTING THING - Water must be immaculate just before bass have spawned!!! this is what tells you if you have lots of fry or no Fry!! when it looks like there getting close I usually do 50 precent water changes every day so I know once they spawn everything is Perfect. reason for this is because when they spawn the eggs become mouldy etc which fowls the water up and you cant do a water change until there free swimmers. (if the nitrates are bad, you can try doing a few drip water changes but be careful. )
 
 1.   3 days for eggs to become wrigglers (eggs will start to look mouldy/fungus like on 3rd day, THIS IS NORMAL, leave them be)
 2.   Wrigglers turn into free swimmers in 3 days
 3.  As soon as all wrigglers turn into swimmers, get a fry tank (small, pref 2ft) fill half way with tank water than syphon babies straight into fry tank. DO NOT start daily water changes till the next day.
4. once fry are in the fry tank you can start feeding a few hours after. (freshly Hatched Brine Shrimp) Over feeding is a must!! they will eat each other if there hungry. at this stage 50 precent water changes can start on the next day daily.
5. feed them as often as you can, I have left it to 4 hour period without too much of a loss. just keen in mind the more you feed them the higher survival rate you will get. when im home I fed them on a 2 hour basis. than at night just once when go to bed than once n the morning. (don't go getting up early hours of the night lol)
6. feed Hatched baby brine shrimp for 10 days
7. on the 11th day start feeding frozen baby brine shrimp (I used hikari, I brought it from Pet magic, 7.50 a packet when buy bulk)
8. once the parents are starting to show signs of spawning again I put the fry bass into a grow out tank, 3-4-6ft doesn't matter, they will  be able to find the food themselves now. at this stage depending on the size of the tank you go you can cut back on water changes. (if you want to grow them quick continue the daily water changes as it removes the hormones that the fish produce that slows down growth rate)
 
Feeding chart
 
1. first 10 days Freshly Hatched Baby Brine Shrimp
2. 11th day onwards Frozen baby brine shrimp
3. don't need to but at 1.5cm I started doing processed cod fillet and beef heart, taking it in turns with bbs. you can feed them just on frozen bbs up to 4.5cm if you like.
4. at 4.5cm start introducing blood worms, only small quantities, at first they wont take it
5. keep them on frozen bbs and Blood worms, by 5cm they will be on 100 precent blood worm diet only.

My pair that i sold that were split (oddly i believe the male was sold and has been passed around a little)

mum with babies

prepairing for a spawn

vids of babies being fed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHsZNcQ5WY

i will try find my other pictures of the babies when they were at 3cm to 5cm. will post them soon

Hey everyone, been a long long time since I have been on here so I thought it was about time for a update. quick run down, after a lot of thought I decided to shut down most my tanks and ibcs, sell everything for the one tank, and of course go all out. so here is the build start to finish (haven't 100 percent finished yet) 

first of all. I got a 8x3x2.5ft tank late last year, main reason for building this tank is so I can finally have rays. due to there upkeep and the fact they create so much ammonia I decided to use one of my old 6x2x2 tanks as my sump. so that's exactly what I did. here is a few pics of the sump building process. first section 2x2x2 for a fluidized bed with k1. atm I have 30L of k1 but in the future I will put more in. than goes into sponge section, than to dry section of sump, than to heaters. last thing a 9000LPH laguna pumping up into the main tank with a large 3ft long spray bar that I built. here are some pics

ignore the background I was making, in the end I scrapped that idea

first vid is when I first got it running, k1 aint fluidized properly yet, second vid is when sump was more mature. still having got anything in dry section of sump but I will one day lol

https://www.youtube....h?v=bMfzCjwpI9Q

https://www.youtube....h?v=WMvlmW8hD0k

next me and my brother (cabnet/furniture maker) decided to build a wrap around stand. I wanted a tall head cabnet so than I have plenty of room to clean inside the tank and so I could mount my 120w led lighting. I wanted a wow factor so I went for the modern look of high gloss white, rhs of tank opened so can see the tank side on from my kitchen, than the other side blocked off for a large cupboard where I can store all my fish gear,  hide all the bulk heads with easy access. here are some pics

Cupboard and frame of hood getting built 

hood on, cutting out holes in cuboard for plumbing to be accessable

cupboard and some doors on, still had to adjust doors

amost done, still have to put some strips in on rhs and do all the kickers

this is what I am at so far, stocking so far is a 55cm jardini, 25-30cm bala shark and a 25cm motoro ray. still looking for more larger fish to stock with so if you do have anything please let me know.

next prefect is decking out the inside. I decided to go a gin gin quart for substrate. its fine but not as fine as your normal play sand, I like it as it has different size grans in it. next I will going for some large pieces of drift wood with some leaves etc for some aquascaping.