Zebra Spawn Alert! Now With Photo's! ;)

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:07 pm

Don't interfere. They'll figure it out. What should you have done to interfere..?

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:08 pm

dunno? cold water change...?

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:12 pm

woah there!!! they have laid eggs in the other cave?!?!?!?!?!

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:16 pm

LOL unpredictable little buggers aren't they

I had one female that used to stay in the beta males cave for days on end, until one day she simply walked into the alphas cave and laid her eggs. They do this just to torture us you know.

Congrats

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:36 pm

haha i cant believe it! i didnt even think about looking as it was so far fetched she would lay in there...!! it was only when i saw him fanning his tail i thought to look! can definatley see some eggs at the back but he's guarding them and i dont want to freak him out by looking too much!

what now? they are due a water change soon and some waters evaporated... can i top it back up or just leave them?

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:08 pm

You can do frequent small waterchanges, but no cold treatments

Happy for you! Now leave them alone you hear!

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:10 pm

roger that!

Plastic Mac · Post by **Plastic Mac** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:09 pm

Congratulations mate, nice ot hear it's finally happened for you.

Plastic Mac

discusbabe · Post by **discusbabe** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:23 pm

Aw that's fantastic news! Congrats!

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:29 pm

i dont want to let the fry escape into the main tank as iv got a smaller one thats mature that i will add the same water too and move the fry eventually, this means that i will at some point have to seperate the fry from dad into a small floating breeder tank... i saw john explain how best to do it but i think my cave is not fully air tight so the vacume wont work... how should i do it and at what point?? any ideas?

cheers,

andrew

Post by **TwoTankAmin** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:29 pm

I have always had good luck leaving the fry in the breeding tank. Once I hit the 5th spawn I decided to spread out the fry so that no single tank disaster could totally wipe things out.

When I moved them it was not until they were free swimming or very close. I then moved the entirer cave and dad to the growout tank. Most of the fry were evicted inside 24 hours and the cave and dad were returned to the same spot in the breeder tank. I accomplished the move using a quart measuring cup which held the cave. i submerged the big cup and thenput the cave in and then reversed the process in the growout tank.

However, what I have found is that the fry seem to grow faster when left in the breeder tank.

A side note, I have found zebra fry to be some of the hardest fish to net. That has resulted in my killing a few despite exercising as much caution as possible. And never ever try to syphon fry, they go in but dont come out. I think they have glue mouths :p

Post by **John** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:00 pm

I think it's not the vacuum that does the trick, just the positioning in an angle between 45 and 90 degrees is what the male doesn't like and forces him to leave his cave

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 12:09 pm

well got a shock today! just got in from work 5 mins ago and to my horror i found my other male trying to get into the cave with the eggs!!! the dad was fighting him off and their mother was even fighting him! i watched as my male guarding the eggs came out of his cave and began fighting and took the oppourtunity to take the eggs out while the cave was empty.... im going away down to my girlfriend today until tomorrow so i didnt want my eggs getting eaten while im gone. im not sure if it was the right thing to do but i freaked out and wanted to save them.

anyway iv got the eggs in a breeder with an airstone. do they need anything else? also how do i tell if they are fertilised eggs? also how do i avoid fungus? i read i should put a snail in the breeder??? they we're laid 2 days ago..

help me before i have to leave plzzz!!!

regards,

andy

Post by **John** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:01 pm

Eggs should be fine like that, a snail in there is allways usefull.
As soon as the eggs hatch make sure you get a good supply of freshwater in the breeder, you can either use a airlift for this or a piece of airtube which is feeded by your filteroutcome to get freshwater in there.
Don't mess with methylblue for fungus.
Eggs are not fertile if they are transparent.

Good luck and have a nice weekend!

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:46 pm

thanks for your reply john!

Well the eggs are not transparent, they are yellowish and have the same texture and glow to them as silicone, and i can see things inside them so hopefully they are good! what type of snail would you recommend?

in various tanks i have:

nerlite, apple, malasian trumpet snails & those tiny small ones that come in on plants...

which ones would be best?

if the eggs hatch would putting the breeder under the spray bars work for water flow?

thanks

andrew

p.s, i noticed some eggs we're smaller than others... is this natural? will the smaller ones hatch?