In search of the perfect breeding bowl

[timebomb]

Kwek Leong, whereabout did you get that new bowl? I like the shape of it and if you happen to pass by that shop, I'd appreciate about 6 for my Simps (they look a tad small for my longish peruensis).

Come to think of it, get a few dozens! I'd bet these will sell like hot cakes at the Gathering (it isn't everyday that one find a vessel that's perfect for spawing annuals!).

Ronnie, I'm answering your question here because I think it deserves a thread on its own. I'm afraid the bowl you like is the only one of its kind in my collection. I bought it about 2 years ago from one of the nurseries at the foot of Caldecott Hill. They have a storeroom at the back of their nursery and I found the bowl there among the many flower vases available. It was the last piece when I bought it.

Here's a picture of some of my breeding bowls. The one you like is on the top row, in the middle:

Well the sake bowls are pretty nifty. Looks good. And if it was glazed, even better. Looks much nicer, especially in earthen colours.

The narrow-neck terracotta vase might have been made by Mrs Loh perhaps?

Jianyang, the sake bowls are about 12 cm in height. The openings are a bit small but the fish have no problems entering and leaving. I don't think you would find them in earthen colours though. Would have bought them myself if such colours were available.

My wife has been taking pottery lessons but she hasn't made any breeding bowl for me yet. She's a beginner and she has to go through a course on how to make different shapes of containers before she can design one of her own. She's been bugging me to show off the pictures of her pots but there was never a good opportunity to do so. Until now, that is

Here's my wife collection of pottery pieces which she made herself:












My wife was inspired to take up pottery because she saw the bowl my friend made for me. I think it's the perfect breeding bowl because it's small and unobstructive and can easily be hidden from view. The colour blends nicely in a planted tank. The opening is large enough for fish to enter and leave easily but the narrower neck prevents the peat from being scattered all over the tank. The body of the container is large enough to hold enough peat. It's ceramic which means the sides are smooth so it's easy to pour out the peat when I'm collecting it. Here's a picture of what I think is the perfect breeding bowl:



Don't even think of asking my wife to make a similar one for you. Pottery lessons are not cheap and coupled with the cost of the clay and firing the finished product, it will cost about Sing $40 for one bowl. And that does not even include the effort and time costs. I have never asked the wife to do another one for me because only a friend would do something like that for you

By the way, I sent 2 such bowls to Bill a couple of months ago. I wonder if he finds them useful.

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

KL,

I think the best of the breeding bowls would be the one on the top row, on the right, in the first picture you posted.

I've been trying to find these without much success. I did however, find one rather small and pretty nifty "bottle" at the same shop you went to. Was there with Kee Hoe the other day. I bought just one piece to try out.

[timebomb]

KL,I think the best of the breeding bowls would be the one on the top row, on the right, in the first picture you posted.

Nah, that one's too big. It won't sit well in a small tank. I hardly use it anymore but if you like it, it's yours. I'll pass it to you during the gathering.

Loh K L

[Piscesgirl]

Your wife has done a great job with all that pottery -- I especially like the teapot. wow!

[stormhawk]

Here's the image of the "bottle" that I mentioned in my earlier post.



Dimensions: (H) 10cm (Opening Ø) 3.5cm (Bottom Ø) 5.5cm

Its pretty small and a little narrow but just nice for narrow spaced tanks and I think it'll fit the smaller peat divers just nicely.

KL, thanks for the offer. I'll collect it then. By the way, what are its dimensions?

Oh yes I forgot to add, your wife's pottery skills are pretty good. Nice pieces she made.

[keehoe]

I guess it is about time that i get comments from you guys/ (gals) on the breeding bowl i collected.



From left to right, top to bottom row.
Dimension: Height x Top opening / widest cross section. (in cm)

12 x 6.5 / 8.5
(1 SGD, looks good but haven't put it to real use)

9 x 4.5 / 7
(Most expensive, 10 SGD)

8 x 7 / 8
(2 SGD, from 2 dollar shop) It has another lip that might be effective in stopping peat from running all over

10 x 9 / 12
(3-5 SGD, not sure. Seems to be the best but havent had much luck with it using sand method)

9 x 7 / 10
(1 SGD, after i consume the coconut juice. My shrimp love it. Many of my Yamato are pregnant now.)

5 x 6 / 11.5
(3-5 SGD, wanted to buy the 7th but out of stock, so took this home to try out. Comment: no good, too shallow.

9 x 5.5 / 13
(3-5 SGD, this is the best i had so far. Big bottom to opening ratio. Irregular shape stop the flow of peat wave from coming out and it blend very well into the rocky planted tank.


8 x 2.5 /7
(Cheapest i have so far, 1 dollar for two. But with opening of 2.5cm. Would any fish go in there?)

[stormhawk]

Hi Kee Hoe, I have the same container you have in the top row, left-most of the 1st picture you posted. Mine is of a different colour but same shape. I suppose you got that from IKEA? Ron has several too.

[nonamethefish]

Not too sure if this has been done before-but have you guys tried making a bowl that has a very round body(similar to the last round pot Timebomb posted but with a bigger opening) but the rim around the opening goes up quite steeply?(if that makes sense)

Similar to a Florence flask but the mouth wider and the sides angled outward slightly.

I think that this would help keep the peat in as the current would follow the circular shape of the bowl going across the opening and the steep sides might keep what didn't in. Dunno if the fish would like it or not or if they would have trouble exiting.

Just a random thought.

Also I'm assuming the glaze used on bowls mean't for eating is safe for fish purposes?

[keehoe]

Hi all, Yesterday found another two bowl near my working area. I like it very much as it is tall enough for Simp. With small opening, big mid section.



Height x opening cross section / widest section
14 x 3 / 10

15 x 3 / 11

[RonWill]

Kee Hoe, I like the grey one on the left. What's the cost?

[keehoe]

Ron, it is about 9 dollars. The surface of outside is quite rough. Should be OK if the fish don't knock and rub onto it. Limited number/ pattern available.
Best of all, when i put my finger inside the bowl and feel the lips. It has a thicken lips from inside. So peat moss don't flow straight out from it.
I will bring one to you on saturday. Still need to know what time suitable to meet up.

Those interested please SMS me and i will try go there and researve some.

Personally i like the black one because the opening is on a slanted surface. So larger fish can swim inside without much problem.

[RonWill]

Not too sure if this has been done before-but have you guys tried making a bowl that has a very round body(similar to the last round pot Timebomb posted but with a bigger opening) but the rim around the opening goes up quite steeply? (if that makes sense)

Joseph, it does make sense and I was speaking to a pottery artist about 'a ball with a hole on top' and guess what? He churns out a good number of these but the idiot in me forgot to ask for a name and how I could get some

If I visit the LFS often enough and get to meet this gentleman again, I'd enquire about a group order. Roughly, this terracota-like 'ball' is about 4inches in diameter and glazed on the inside (human and fish-safe glaze :wink: ).

I wonder if it'd be better to add a 'neck' to the ball, so it looks like an light bulb or that Florence boiling flask, except for a larger inner-diameter neck [the Erlenmeyer Flask is also a very nice shape for a breeding vessel]

Kee Hoe, it's tough to shoot black objects and I can't see it very well but I'd appreciate it if you can bring it along on Saturday evening. Poh San will be coming with Timmy's food, I hope. 8pm would be great and hope to see you guys then.

[nonamethefish]

Ron: You and me have got the same picture in mind. It would be interesting to put one of these to the actual test.

You could even got to the extreme and sink the entrance in so that the cross section of the pot would look a bit heart shaped. That way, perhaps te peat would go back down to the fishes with even less of a chance of escaping.

[keehoe]

Perhaps if Ron and Joseph can do some drawing and comeout with a design of "Perfect bowl". Then Mr. Loh might be able to get help from Mrs Loh to make a super bowl to try out.

Maybe setup a bowl making class for all of us. So that we can make our dream bowl. Mmmm talking about that. Maybe i go get some instant clay to do something like that.

I think Kho might have some experience in making silicon mold. Mmmmm

[timebomb]

Kee Hoe,

Since when you changed back to your old nick? I thought you were using MarkC. I'm confused by users who change their nicks or don't put down a real name at the end of their post. Who's Joseph?

My wife will be going for another course in pottery but it won't be soon. As I've said before, pottery lessons are expensive. She has to pay Sing $300 for the next 10 lesson course.

I still think the bowl I showed (the one held in my hand) is the best breeding bowl around but there is room for improvement. I'm thinking of a bowl with a small opening but the lip is flared into a big circle on all sides. Such a lip would serve as a guide for the fish to swim into the opening. It will also catch peat moss that is thrown out from the bowl. This is good because it will let us know there's spawning.

I'm not sure what nonamethefish meant but a good breeding bowl is also one where you can pour out the peat easily when you want to collect it. If the opening of the bowl is such it turns inwards, the peat won't come out when you invert the bowl. That could be a real problem.

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

The Kings brand ice-cream tub that I'm using works very well to tell me whether they're spawning or not. I got that idea from you KL when I first came over to your place. Some of the species prefer to spawn in those ice-cream tubs.

[turaco]

Yes, the king's brand ice-cream tub. Forced a friend of mine to finish the whole tub of ice-cream just to get the tub . You can cut the hole as big as you need. The only drawback is that it float even with peat. Need a pebble to weight it down.

[stormhawk]

Yup. But all you need is just a few round pebbles or just one slightly larger and rounded edge pebble.

I also finished up two tubs of the ice-cream just to get the tubs for my usage as breeding bowls.

My alternative breeding bowl is the standard transparent plastic "tau-huey" or dessert takeaway tubs without any lids. Some species will readily spawn in those. I got this idea after seeing Ronnie use such containers on his fish.

[timebomb]

The plastic ice-cream tub works perfectly but when I talk about the perfect breeding bowl, I'm referring to one that sits well in a planted tank. An ice-cream tub sticks out like a sore thumb.

Loh K L

[RonWill]

'Perfect' is subjective and take on different meanings for some.

In my case, a perfect bowl is one that allows mating frenzy without leaving a mess, be it in a bare-bottom partitioned tank or a planted setup. An unsightly tub, a Florence flask or a hand-turned pottery piece is just as good, so long as I don't have to bring out the siphon.

IMHO, I'd also prefer not to have breeders in a planted setup unless one does not intend to swap or move species around. Killie eggs are a paradox at times; fragile when we don't need it but tough as hell, when we don't want to leave 'strays' behind [I recall you having bleached gravel for some reason, rinsed and rough-handled it, only to find fry hatching out]

Kwek Leong, I feel it's important to distinguish, lest others take it lightly between a permanent setup for killifishes and a conventional planted tank. Both can look nice, serve the same purpose but for different goals.