46 replies to this topic

[ibm450]

cool stuff...please keep us updated

[werdna]

I am guessing these guys are classed as 2 days old now. Does it count when they are eggs? Doesnt for people, but that could be cos we dont want to be reminded of what our parents were up to...
Anyway, all fry are now swimming freely and probably 50% bigger than yesterday.


Andrew

[waxy]

It looks like you put a bit of meth blue in the water?
Does this help the fry in some way?

[werdna]

I added the meth blue originally when they were still eggs as one on the clump had turned white and started to go mouldy.
Last night I emptied some of the water out and added more from the tank, so there is less in there now than there was yesterday.
It might look like there is more now as I took the photo on an angle instead of straight down.

Andrew

[nick05]

How many did you get in this batch Andrew?

Edit: Many still in the cave?
And how did you remove the white egg? I've always struggled with this.

[werdna]

Nick I havent looked inside his cave yet, I like getting a surprise when the fry finally decide to come out of the cave!
And I worry that shining a torch in there may stress the male out and he will dump them early, wasn't that the issue you had?!

Of the fry in the icecream container I lost one of them, so still got about 8 so far.

To remove the white egg I broke it with some tweezers then swished it round in the water to remove all yolk then grab the remaining shell and pulled it off the bunch.
I didnt try to separate the good eggs cos I was afraid they might break too.

But there are heaps of old shells outside his cave now so it is a good sign!

Andrew

[nick05]

tweezers... good idea doh!
that one bad egg always turns clumps bad for me so will try that next time, cheers!

lol yea my male is getting used to the torch, now he just looks at me and thinks grr not this idiot again lol
nah I didn't look last batch until I saw the shells lol

[werdna]

Just don't borrow that good pair off the missus, you may find it shoved somewhere the sun don't shine!

[werdna]

Day 4
Let there be colour!
And they have a fish tank of their own now, upgraded from the icecream container yesterday.


Andrew

[nick05]

Glad you finally got a camera, these pics are great. Be good at the end to show day by day all in a row. Day 1 being the day they hatch

[werdna]

I was thinking of doing that, but forgot to take a photo yesterday, so will have to go every second day now!

[waxy]

Good idea Im keen to see the progress

[werdna]

Day 5
Was struggling to get a shot of them today, so I have 2 average ones.
It appears that in the last 24 hours they have picked up the hiding away from sight habit!
Guess the trick is that if you only have less than 5 day old peps in your tank you will always see them!

There is also some calcium stains or something on this tank that for the life of me I cannot remove.
I have tried lemon juice, razor blades, clr. Any other suggestions?




Then as I turned around I noticed my gibby perched on a bit of limestone watching me, so I took a shot of him too!



Andrew

[werdna]

Day 6
They are really starting to look like peps now.
Egg sack is almost completely gone.


And sorry Nick, I still don't know how many are in the males cave...!

Andrew

[dazzabozza]

I like how in the earlier pics they still use their sucker mouths to climb the tank walls even with large yolk sacks. Cute!

[werdna]

I agree Daz, Its quite fascinating to watch them grow and see them acting like their parents, and you can really see it when taking daily photos.
They arent very effective at removing algae yet tho!

[ibm450]

so at this point of time, what will you be feeding them?

[werdna]

That, Sir, is an extremely good question! And something that I am still experimenting with.
I am going to try a few different things to see what gives me the greatest survival rate.
Coming from an african cichlid background I am used to fry eating anything and about 95% surviving to 3 cm. My current survival rates with these fish are really low, however a major factor may have been the heat issues I was having during summer.
I am going to try a bit of everything on these and see what their favourite seems to be.
I will try nls grow, sera flora, spirulina sticks (high hopes for these), zucchini, and of course a bit of wood to rasp on.
This is the fun part now!

[nick05]

Well the storm did it's job, I forgot to do a water change but mine have bred. I have about 10 eggs kicked, but it's ok I got the good ol torch in there and he's on a really big clump lol
Haven't done a water change in probably 10 weeks or so will top it up soon tho cos the level has dropped down really low.

I've found I've had really good survival rates, and growth rates just on algae wafers and wood.

[werdna]

I am pretty sure my poor growth rates were from the temperature.
My 5ft fronty tank hit 35 degrees, and they were in a 1.5ft, so who knows what that hit.