|
Setting up the
spawning tank:
First, rinse the
new tank.
Also rinse the corner filter to get rid of all
the carbon black powder.
Pick a place for the tank. It needs to be away
from direct sunlight, away from heat/air condition vents and must be
placed preferably on a fish tank stand, or on a STRONG table/piece
of furniture. Water is heavy. About 8.5 Lbs per gallon. Even though
your tank is going to be filled only halfway to spawn your pair, you
will later gradually add water to it and end up with a full 10 or 5
gallon tank. Pretty darn heavy. So think ahead and please do not
place it on the floor. A tank placed on the floor cannot be cleaned,
because you cannot create a vacuum to suck out tank water and clean
the bottom that way.
Fill tank halfway with clean water. You can use
fresh tapwater or aged, pretreated tapwater. If using fresh tapwater,
remember to add Amquel, Novaqua, Aquarium salt (1 small teaspoon per
2 1/2 gal), aquarisol and, if necessary in your area, PH down.
Add 3 drops of Maroxy (to prevent fungus which
tends to attack eggs)
Now place the filter in the far back corner. Yes,
I know the water level is not high enough to cover the filter silly!
:) That is why God created diagonals :).
Just put it at an angle so that only the top of
it is aligned with water surface.
Plug your air pump, cut your air tubing in half,
add a valve in the middle to restrict the airflow and attach one end
of tubing to the air pump and the other to the filter. (pretty darn
obvious :) ).
Using the valve, restrict the airflow so that the
filter is barely bubbling. A bubble or two per second would be good.
Place your thermometer in the front of the tank.
Float it in a the corner, or affix it with suction cups, whatever.
Now place the submersible heater, also in
diagonal, towards one of the back corners as well. Once you are done
fussing around with the heater, and only then, plug the heater in
the electrical outlet. Heaters can be dangerous. Always unplug them
before working on tanks. Make sure to turn heater all the way down.
Then turn it slowly back up until the light comes on. Leave it be
for now.
Next, cut your stirofoam cup in half. Imagine you
have a big sword, imagine you placed the cup standing on a table in
from of you, and then cut it in two equal halves vertically. Get it?
You end up with two half cups that look like little plane hangars
:). Hopefully baby bettas will park under there soon :)). Put a
piece of tape on the round edge, float your hangar with the cut part
down, and the top of the cup facing you, push it right against the
glass. Tape it to the glass so it won’t float away.
Take your bushy plants, remove their base, tie
them together with the plant weight (flexible) and place your
artistic creation :) in the back of tank, near heater and filter.
Last, place glass chimney, standing up, inside
the tank, near the cup.
Let the tank run for at least 24 hrs. 3 days
would be even better, giving a chance to the water to age some and
to the temperature to be optimal.
Twice a day, check the temperature. Your
thermometer should read 80F to 82F. Keep adjusting heater until you
reach this temperature. Once this is achieved and stable for about 2
days, you can introduce the breeding pair.
(Oh goodie goodie!!!!) |