Dedicated to Fancy Guppy breeding in the UK
My Fishouse - Alan Hodgson ©
Below is a brief description of my fishouse, I thought it maybe of interest to other fish-keepers, no doubt I have missed out some detail or other, if so please email me and I will be happy to try and answer your queries, well here goes.........
Construction
The fish house is in a 9x6 (8x5 internal) brick shed with a flat concrete roof. It is insulated with 2 inches of polystyrene(walls and ceiling) . A double glazed door also helps avoid heat loss . On the back wall (8 ft) is a wooden rack holding 36 18x10x10 tanks.These are filtered by Algarde Bio foam 45 filters.
The other 8 ft wall has the door and a 5ft rack holding 4 36x12x12 tanks,2 18x12x12 tanks and one 18x18x12 tank. This rack also has a shelf for the brine shrimp hatchers. The 2 18 inch tanks are also filtered with Bio foam 45's the other tanks are filtered with Bio foam 200's. 43 tanks in total.
Air Supply / Heating
The air is supplied by an Interpet Kio air 50 air pump . This is positioned high to push warm air down and through the tanks.The fish house is heated by a thermostatically controlled fan heater. This heater circulates the lower cold air with warm air.
Water / Lighting
For water change water is stored in 6 25 litre plastic jerry cans. These are stacked at the end of the aisle.(2 wide 3 tall). It is local tap water ,dechlorinated ( I use Amquel plus) and aerated while it warms up.
I have natural light from north facing window and a window in the door, supplemented by 5 fluorescent tubes. This gives sufficient light for me to grow Java Moss, I also use a plastic planting mat.
Feeding
The fish are fed *New Era tropical flake , newly hatched and enriched brine shrimp ,home cultured Daphna and cultured Black Mosquito larvae. I do I cultivate Daphinia, Black Mosquito ?,all will be revealed in a future article.
My fishouse is presently home to my Guppies,of course, plus a few Platys and a pair of Albino Bristle Nose.
If I could change anything it would be to have the door in one of the end walls. Set in the end I could have 2 8ft racks with 36 18x10x10 in each . 72 tanks in total