My wife and I ran across this product in a LFS not too long ago, and being that my wife likes keeping guppies and mollies we decided to give one a try. Not knowing if anyone else here had tried one, I thought I'd share our experience.
Unlike one of the floating breeding boxes that sits inside the aquarium, either bobbing around or attached to the side, this unit hangs on the outside of the aquarium, like a HOB filter, and has an airlift pump to continuously circulate a mild amount of water through the box--a small removable gate on the output stops a pregnant female or newly released fry from escaping/being swept into the aquarium.
I had a chance to try out the box for the first time today, when I found a guppy dropping fry. The box set up quickly, maybe 3-5 minutes, from unboxing to filled with water, the airline connected, and the female inside. As it turned out, I was too late to catch anymore fry--it was a small spawn, and the first few had darted into some java moss--but I'm leaving the female in the box overnight just to be sure. She seems less stressed than past residents of one of the floating boxes we tried (no undue attention from other tank residents).
I could also see this box being useful to give a break to harassed fish, or to acclimate a new fish. With a slightly more powerful air pump it might even work as a HOB nitrate filter if filled with bog plants; I may have to pick up another unit and experiment with that.
We bought the medium size, .3 gallon, which at just over $8 didn't seem too bad compared with breeding boxes without the airlift feature.
Thanks.
Unlike one of the floating breeding boxes that sits inside the aquarium, either bobbing around or attached to the side, this unit hangs on the outside of the aquarium, like a HOB filter, and has an airlift pump to continuously circulate a mild amount of water through the box--a small removable gate on the output stops a pregnant female or newly released fry from escaping/being swept into the aquarium.
I had a chance to try out the box for the first time today, when I found a guppy dropping fry. The box set up quickly, maybe 3-5 minutes, from unboxing to filled with water, the airline connected, and the female inside. As it turned out, I was too late to catch anymore fry--it was a small spawn, and the first few had darted into some java moss--but I'm leaving the female in the box overnight just to be sure. She seems less stressed than past residents of one of the floating boxes we tried (no undue attention from other tank residents).
I could also see this box being useful to give a break to harassed fish, or to acclimate a new fish. With a slightly more powerful air pump it might even work as a HOB nitrate filter if filled with bog plants; I may have to pick up another unit and experiment with that.
We bought the medium size, .3 gallon, which at just over $8 didn't seem too bad compared with breeding boxes without the airlift feature.
Thanks.
