Our fish Houses
As most people aspire to a fish house of some sort I thought it may be nice to have a thread were people explain how the fish house they have is “run”.
Description of fish House
Mine is the garage built on the side of my house size is approximately 8 foot wide X 12 foot in length.
Power Supply & Water supply
I have wired in a consumer board from the main supply. I have also run a mains feed of cold water to the fish house.
Insulation
Roof has 3 layers of “King Span” and the external walls have 1 layer of “King Span” over glass fibre insulation.
Tanks
I have two 4-foot tanks & two 3-foot tanks both divided and two 3-foot tanks along with a 30” tank.
Heating for the tanks is the stranded tank thermostat placed in the tank, I also use Eheim thermo filters, and I set the thermo filter heaters to around 24 centigrade and the tank heaters to the temperature that suites the fish, my reasons for this will become clear later.
Filtration is either Eheim 2324 or 2328 thermo filters and an Eheim power head or Aquaball for each tank or section. I also use Eheim Liberty HOTB filters at times.
On the 4 foot tanks the water returns via a spray bar and an internal weir/ sump. The smaller tanks I use just a spray bar.
The power heads use a spray bay, the Aquaballs have diffuser heads. All the power heads and Aquaballs have foam filter to trap debris and waste matter.
Substrate is either sand or mixed sand with small gravel depending of the fish.
Caves are a mix of wood and clay again depending of the fish.
Décor is bogwood and slate with a plant attached to one or two pieces of bogwood and a pot with a plant in each tank, this is to absorb some of the Phosphates and organic waste.
I have cover glasses on every tank but no hoods. Lighting is suspended Tubes with a twin main light.
Water
I use Reverse Osmosis water mixed with HMA
During the winter I use a booster pump but during the summer I run un-pressurized.
Daily 5 % to 10% water changes of heated R/O HMA mix with a TDS of around 180 to 200 and a Kh of about 4 to 6.
Water changes are quite simple I have fitted a Tee piece on the return of each Eheim Thermo filter with a male tap on the end. I connect a pipe to this tap and the water is pumped from the tank to the drain.
An Eheim Pump in the R/O but is used to refill the tanks.
I mark each tank with a fill point and a drain point of 10% so it is easy to do 5% or 15% water changes quite accurately. This system also allows me to use water from a mature tank to top up or fill a new tank.
Spawning and conditioning.
As I have two heating sources on each breeding tank I can turn of the tanks heaters and the temperature will not drop below the pre set temperature on the Thermo Filter.
I first stop water changes for a week and add a few lumps of soft bogwood. Then feed meaty conditioning foods along with Courgette having starved the fish for a week; next I drop the temperature as described and then do two water changes a day of neat /cold R/O water for two days. This will bring the TDS down to a very low point along with the PH both are conditions you would find in river water after a long and heavy rain storm.
Then I bring the TDS up to around 200 by doing a water change of fairly weak R/O HMA water mix.
Spawning normally takes place during this period.
Feeding
Food is more of a personal choice for most fish keepers based on old hobbits and choice in the area but I do believe in a very mixed variety of foods and avoiding fatty foods or cheap dry foods.
At present
I am breeding
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L4XX
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L173
Loricaria simillima
Hypancistrus sp. L136C
I have small groups of the following young fish growing on to obtain breeding groups
Hypancistrus sp. L260
Hypancistrus sp. L184
Hypancistrus sp. L134
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L4XX
As most people aspire to a fish house of some sort I thought it may be nice to have a thread were people explain how the fish house they have is “run”.
Description of fish House
Mine is the garage built on the side of my house size is approximately 8 foot wide X 12 foot in length.
Power Supply & Water supply
I have wired in a consumer board from the main supply. I have also run a mains feed of cold water to the fish house.
Insulation
Roof has 3 layers of “King Span” and the external walls have 1 layer of “King Span” over glass fibre insulation.
Tanks
I have two 4-foot tanks & two 3-foot tanks both divided and two 3-foot tanks along with a 30” tank.
Heating for the tanks is the stranded tank thermostat placed in the tank, I also use Eheim thermo filters, and I set the thermo filter heaters to around 24 centigrade and the tank heaters to the temperature that suites the fish, my reasons for this will become clear later.
Filtration is either Eheim 2324 or 2328 thermo filters and an Eheim power head or Aquaball for each tank or section. I also use Eheim Liberty HOTB filters at times.
On the 4 foot tanks the water returns via a spray bar and an internal weir/ sump. The smaller tanks I use just a spray bar.
The power heads use a spray bay, the Aquaballs have diffuser heads. All the power heads and Aquaballs have foam filter to trap debris and waste matter.
Substrate is either sand or mixed sand with small gravel depending of the fish.
Caves are a mix of wood and clay again depending of the fish.
Décor is bogwood and slate with a plant attached to one or two pieces of bogwood and a pot with a plant in each tank, this is to absorb some of the Phosphates and organic waste.
I have cover glasses on every tank but no hoods. Lighting is suspended Tubes with a twin main light.
Water
I use Reverse Osmosis water mixed with HMA
During the winter I use a booster pump but during the summer I run un-pressurized.
Daily 5 % to 10% water changes of heated R/O HMA mix with a TDS of around 180 to 200 and a Kh of about 4 to 6.
Water changes are quite simple I have fitted a Tee piece on the return of each Eheim Thermo filter with a male tap on the end. I connect a pipe to this tap and the water is pumped from the tank to the drain.
An Eheim Pump in the R/O but is used to refill the tanks.
I mark each tank with a fill point and a drain point of 10% so it is easy to do 5% or 15% water changes quite accurately. This system also allows me to use water from a mature tank to top up or fill a new tank.
Spawning and conditioning.
As I have two heating sources on each breeding tank I can turn of the tanks heaters and the temperature will not drop below the pre set temperature on the Thermo Filter.
I first stop water changes for a week and add a few lumps of soft bogwood. Then feed meaty conditioning foods along with Courgette having starved the fish for a week; next I drop the temperature as described and then do two water changes a day of neat /cold R/O water for two days. This will bring the TDS down to a very low point along with the PH both are conditions you would find in river water after a long and heavy rain storm.
Then I bring the TDS up to around 200 by doing a water change of fairly weak R/O HMA water mix.
Spawning normally takes place during this period.
Feeding
Food is more of a personal choice for most fish keepers based on old hobbits and choice in the area but I do believe in a very mixed variety of foods and avoiding fatty foods or cheap dry foods.
At present
I am breeding
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L4XX
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L173
Loricaria simillima
Hypancistrus sp. L136C
I have small groups of the following young fish growing on to obtain breeding groups
Hypancistrus sp. L260
Hypancistrus sp. L184
Hypancistrus sp. L134
Hypancistrus sp. Xingu variant L4XX
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