[TheSplishSplashery]

I'm still in the beginning stages of looking into betta breeding, so this idea is pretty random, but I'm wondering if it will work and looking for advice from more experienced breeders.

So right now my biggest challenge in deciding whether or not to breed is how I will manage the males that I eventually decide to keep. I'm thinking of using heat tape to heat beanie containers lined up side by side (paper between obviously) in rows on a book shelf [As a University student in a single bachelor style suite I have limited space] and a sorority set up for the few females I keep. I am worried about water changes taking up too much of my time and so I have been looking for ways to help cut down on it. A drip system or circulating sump system is too much money for me to invest as a beginner, though it got me to thinking about water changes. My idea is to create a siphoning tool to help make changing water easier. It would be an individual line of air tubing spliced every couple inches with T-joints and off the T-joints would come down a shorter piece of tubing and capped off at the end. My idea is that if I create a piece long enough to have a stem going into each fish jar (I'm thinking about 6 fish will fit on each shelf so I would make it have 6 stems) I could then suck on open end of the system and create a siphon that would empty all 6 jars simultaneously. I would then only have to do each shelf at a time, rather than each jar individually. I suppose it could be used to refill the containers afterwards, but I would most likely just fill each container back up individually, rather than try to hoist a bunch of water up above the level of the shelf to allow it to flow down into the siphoning tool. Here is a picture of what I mean to construct:

I know it won't make water changes dissapear, but I think it would be a cheap alternative to a circulating system and would drastically reduce the water change times. I know that cleaning the jars out of poop and food waste would still need to be done individually, but I plan to buy twice the beanie containers necessary and just rotate them out as necessary. What do you guys think?

 

[indjo]

I'm not sure what you mean but from the picture - if you refill tanks in that way, more water will flow out of the first outlet tube and less water flows out to the last tube. . . . unless, perhaps, the total suction is very strong. So the first tanks will fill up faster than the last/next tank.

Here is a combined water circulation used by fish shops. The disadvantage is the possibility of disease out break.

View attachment 326201

A= individual tanks
B = water pump
c = filters (optional)
D = pipes siphoning water from tank to tank. Pipe must be bigger than pump pipe to ensure faster suction compared to pump (so water doesn't over flow in one tank)
E = pump pipe. You can make holes above each tank so other than water from the tank beside it, they also get direct water from pump.
*** Arrows show water flow

 

[TheSplishSplashery]

I just want to use it to drain water out for water changes, not to add water. It wouldn't be kept in the tanks, just used as a tool.

 

[indjo]

I have never drained water that way so I'm not sure whether or not the suction will be equal in each tube. But it should work.

 

[kevonnn]

Because connected water sources try to remain at the same height, this should work. If one tank drains slower, then that tank would actually begin to drain faster than the others until they are all even again.