I am so excited!!!!!

[dantodd]

I just looked over at my tank and saw cleaning activity. That's great because I just introduced the new male a few weeks ago.

Next time I looked I saw her ovipositor had dropped!!!!!!!

This is so fast I am shocked. I have no idea if he is going to be competent at fertilizing this nest but I can't raise this batch anyway.

I guess it's time to start the heavy feeding again!

I am so excited, I never got to successfully raise any fry from her last pairing....



:rollface: :D :D :D :D :rollface:

[traveller7]

Best of luck in this round :)

[dantodd]

I'm just thrilled to have a chance again.

[TOURKID]

sweet! congratulations!! how long have u had your female?

[dantodd]

I've had the female for nearly a year. I just added her new mate about 3 weeks ago!

[TOURKID]

thats so cool. I hope I have this experience someday! I caught them kissing cheek spines almost 2 hours after lights out yesterday, I almost bought a baby flower pot today lol

[dantodd]

Well, she's right back on her old schedule. Her eggs hatched on the 8th day (on the 18th) and she is laying 3 days later as I type this.

THis nest is much bigger than her last nest nearly as large as her old nests. The poor male is VERY BUSY as the nest is bigger than him!

He must be pretty tired. They'll get a nice big meal after the nest fully layed. I'll try to get some pictures.

This time I have rotifers all set to go. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the fry to post on the 29th.

Yay!

[TOURKID]

awsome. cant wait to see pics!!

[finding nemo]

Way cool. Will watch for pictures. Congrats.

[dantodd]

You'll have to wait for pics. They put the nest so far behind the rocks that it is impossible to get pictures without a ton of reflections on the glass.

I'm on my way out of town until Thursday so hopefully I'll be able to get a shot when I return. They should be nice and silvery by then.

[finding nemo]

Cool, lots of eyes looking around, lol, have a safe trip.

[ricordiaking]

That's great news dantodd, post pics of the juvi's soon:)


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7723483#post7723483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd
I just looked over at my tank and saw cleaning activity. That's great because I just introduced the new male a few weeks ago.

Next time I looked I saw her ovipositor had dropped!!!!!!!

This is so fast I am shocked. I have no idea if he is going to be competent at fertilizing this nest but I can't raise this batch anyway.

I guess it's time to start the heavy feeding again!

I am so excited, I never got to successfully raise any fry from her last pairing....



:rollface: :D :D :D :D :rollface:

[dantodd]

OK here are some oversized pics I took them all after lights out.

The eggs are on the back glass about 6" above the DSB and sort of tucked behind a rock.

This first picture is with flash and you can see the reflection of the rock over part of the nest. Needless to say, he isn't happy that I'm mucking about with the new nest in there. I'm not sure where she was hanging out when I took this picture. You can see one of the other BTA clones poking out from behind the rock.

http://www.ir.org/Aquarium/Nests/2.1.jpg


Here is a picture from the side shooting behind the rock in the first picture. You can see the clone that was just peeking out in the first picture and also the bleached out clone from the same split. He's bleached out because he kept walking into the seio PH. He eats well but will take a little while to fully recover.

http://www.ir.org/Aquarium/Nests/2.2.jpg

This is basically the same as the first pic but with Actinic and no flash. I have no idea what is fluorescing in the little cluster of feather dusters.

http://www.ir.org/Aquarium/Nests/2.3.jpg

[ricordiaking]

Very nice pics

[finding nemo]

That is one huge nest Dan and great pictures to.
They should be turning brown now. I think you said you are out of town? So hope you have hundreds of little fishies looking back at you when you return.
Let us know if they were fertile ok.

[dantodd]

The first nest was fertile and my wife says they're still there. She hasn't mentioned how many have silvered yet though with all the heat we've been having I'm guessing they'll be pretty early.

I get home early Thursday morning and hope to hatch Thursday night. I'll talk to my wife tomorrow so she'll be prepared in case they hatch tomorrow.

The rotifers are doing really well too.

[finding nemo]

Sounds like you will be ready to go with raising them. Will you capture them at night or remove the nest just before hatching?
You know we will expect loads of pictures of those fry now right?;)

[dantodd]

I'll be capturing with a bowl at night. I've done that in the past with good luck. I'm planning on keeping them in an acrylic cube inside my blacked out 10g with the heater in the 10g so they can't kill themselves on it. This will also allow me to pull the cube out for photos.

[finding nemo]

Perfect.
I made the misstake first time around of adding the small heater right into their nursery. That didn't work out so well for them and was the last time I gave them a try.
I just don't have the time to try raising any but some day would love to.
So will just follow you to see how it's done. Maybe the idea of you doing all the work while we enjoy seeing them grow will take away my urge to raise some;)

[dantodd]

I am so bummed right now....

I checked the eggs every five minutes or so after lights for about an hour and none hatched so I went to bed. You guessed it. About an hour later my wife went into the living room and came back telling me they had all hatched out. So I stopped the pumps and went fishing. None were left anywhere in the display. I was able to save about 8 or 10 from the return section of the sump but that was it.

I'm very disappointed at this point. Arghhhh.... I guess next time I'll leave the lights on until it is dark outside too.

oh well, they're in a nursery with a lot of rotifers at this point. I hope I can get a couple to mmp.

[ricordiaking]

That sucks dude.

[dantodd]

well, it looks like I have about 10-12 alive here at the end of day 2.

Right now they are in a homemade acrylic cube inside that I have "floating" in a blacked out 10gal tank. I've been out of the house all day (at the Gilroy Garlic Festival) so no pictures yet. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few after I feed the (human) family.

There were lots of rotifers in the water I siphoned off the bottom and the fry are much more active than the ones I tried to raise with powdered food were on day two. They seem to be getting some food!

Considering that they all went over the overflow, through the drain pipe, into a filter sock, made it out of the filter sock, under a baffle and were next to an unfiltered return on a mag 7.....

I feel pretty lucky to have as many left as I do!

Pics to come.

[dantodd]

still looks like 10 or 12 fry. Hard to count as they won't sit still. There's a good looking number of rotifers in the water and the fry are still quite active. Here is a picture of 4 of the little guys.

Man are these things hard to get into focus!

http://www.ir.org/Aquarium/Nests/fry2.1.jpg

[dantodd]

off to the races.... She's laying her new nest right now and I still have 10 fry from the last nest.

[dantodd]

ughh..... another problem night.

I was ready for the hatch tonight and despite having everything in place I was only able to capture about 25 fry. I sat and watched them hatch but they just wouldn't come up to the light.

Naturally, when I wasn't ready to riase them I was able to catch hundreds of fry in just a few minutes. Oh well.

We'll see how these guys go and there's always (fingers crossed) next week.

[Andrew]

Sorry for the dumb question but how to do you catch them once they hatch?

[dantodd]

poorly lately!

LOL


Seriously though. They are attracted to a small light at the top of the tank. Then I just use a bowl to pull them out. Just lay the outside wall of the bowl on the water and then when you push it under it will suck the fish in. You can also build a fry snaggerwhich is what I'll do soon. Essentially you just siphon them into a small tank and use a small pump to return water to the main tank so the small tank doesn't overflow. Put the small pump into a permanent coffee filter so you don't pump the fry back into the main tank.

I'm sure you can find pictures using google.