New Clownfish Breeder, Starting out questions

[devnull]

First off I am new to breeding clownfish but have been in saltwater hobby for some time now. I purchased a pair of Ocellaris Clownfish off of the divers den at liveaquaria. This is my first purchase from the divers den but have received many great fish from liveaquaria in the past. The fish will be in a 10G tank that I use for quarintine from time to time while I finish the setup and cycle on a 29g that I plan to use as the breeding tank.

I am looking for opinions on bare bottom vs. substraite for the floor of the tank...I assume that in the long run that it will not make much difference to the fish, but I enjoy having a tank that is pleasing to look at even though it will be a breeding tank. Also the pair is fairly small so I am thinking it may take some time before they breed (hoping that they will) so I want their home to be as comfortable and natural as possible.

My current plan would be to use a crushed coral base with a few nice pieces of live rock and either a flower pot or tile.

Thanks for any recommendations, I have truly enjoyed stumbling through all the posts in the breeding section of this site and seeing everyones great setups.

Blair

[Mark]

Blair it's really up to you if you want to make the tank a BB or use sand or crush coral. Whatever is pleasing to you. 29 Gal for Ocellaris is fine, I see breeders with Ocellaris in 10 gal tanks that are doing great. Just keep reading and re-reading these book and book.

[WDLV]

I have run bb tanks, and every type of substrate I can think of. If you're strictly planning to breed, I would just do bb with a flower pot. This is all the fish really need anything more is strictly for aesthetics.
I'm running my clownfish tanks with 10 gallon tanks with Whisper EX45 HOB filters and a 50W heaters. If it's a new pair, I add two flowerpots so the less dominant fish can have a safe haven and if it's an established pair I only need one. I'm getting a pair of marroons that I will probably keep in a 40 breeder but even those would probably do OK in a 10 gallon.

[Zebraofoz]

WDLV,

Do you have the BB tanks plumed into a sump or anything to help with biological filtering or is it a pure mechanical filtering set-up?

[WDLV]

I'm using the Whisper EX45 filters on my 10 gallons. They have a built in "biological" element to the filter but I would not really count that. I leave them BB in case I need to treat the fish for anything. It also improves the efficiency of the filters because there's no poop or uneaten food getting trapped in the bottom substrate.

[Bobct]

If your setting up the 29 as a breeder + having it nice to look at I would go with live sand over the cc. At least your getting the added boi filter from the live sand.