Thanx for the Thoughts, but here are the problems:
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Float bigger plants your Coments won't eat. Maybe H. difformis/Wisteria or Water lettuce, so you can temporarily remove them easily when netting fish.
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I'm not aware of any plants that the Comets won't eat--or at least pick to death. Anubias? Maybe, but they are slow growers that really wouldn't have much benefit in this situation. The comets are the only reason for keeping the plants separated. The minnows don't bother them. I have already considering planting in "Trays", but the comets defeat that from the jump--they will pick anything to death. And, I would need fast growing plants like the Hygro I have in the A. javanicus plant filter.
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Seed the holding tank with media from the aquatic snake tank when you get live food.
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That's a possibility that I hadn't considered. The biggest problem being temp., ph, difference, etc. That may work, but that bacteria will be needed in the given tank for the addition of food (fish), so it would have to come from a different tank than one of the snake tanks. My plant/fish tanks are kept in the 70F's and I'm not sure How different things like ph are.....but I will toss the idea around some.
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Keep a breeding population of low bioload feeders, like Guppies, so you can just thin the herd as needed (and have more control over the food quality), while maintaining the biofilter.
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I've already added Platies and Swordtails to my fully planted 55g and I am raising the fry in a fully planted 29g---Frankly, its not worth the hassle and expense! Even full grown playies and Swordtails are not big enough for the A. javanicus, so I still have to buy 3+" comets. I started raising them for my Chinese Watersnakes, but they clearly prefer minnows.....
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Keeps lots of Biospira around.
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I have Seachem's Stability, but none of them contain the actual bacteria that we have in the end. Plus, I don't know how long it takes for any of the "Bottled" bateria to come out of dormancy and become active--24hrs?--72? It sounds like a good Idea, but I'm am trying to keep from working my butt off for several days/weeks with WCs each time I get more fish.
I've been dealing with this for over 1 yr. I have lost dozens and dozens of fish that I spent good time and money on. The solution maybe simple, but so far it keeps looking expensive.
Hoping a few drops of ammonia from the grocery store will do the trick........?
Thanx for the Thoughts!