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HI

I could use a thought here. have a breeding group of 6 with 15 1.75 inch young ones in a 70 gal planted and caves tank. New fry are really hard to catch,can easily be injured in the catching and do poorly in a fry tank and also don't do too well in a breeder net (nitrate can sneak up just in the net due to the ever present over feeding). However, the fry almost always starve to death if left on there own in the 70. So, my breeding rate is much higher than my survival rate.

I want to bit the bullet,move the adults to a smaller tank,where the fry should stand a better chance of finding food.The question is : what size tank?. I have 20 longs and a 30 long and I'll go with the 30long just to get more water in the tank per footprint than the 20 long . The idea is all 6 adults in that one smaller tank.It will disturb them,though,they could stop breeding and the dominant male could even kill the subdominant male who,in the 70,still breeds.So, that's a problem. I think there are 4 female and all spawn.
So what has been the best area of success for other breeders

I got an awful lot of spawns with 13 adults in a 30 gal breeder (35x18x13 inch). Over a 3.5 year period I did lose 4 fish. Plants to start removed over time, bare bottom always. But works for one may not be what works for another. I would say I had a few too many.

To insure fry get food I usually feed two different size food appropriate for adults or fry.