Baby pics! You asked for it!

Jenny · Post by **Jenny** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:17 pm

Wow, Mindy - they are cute - keep the pictures coming, we love to see them grow up

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:05 pm

I fed my Angel babies that stuff. You'll be totally grossed out by both the smell and how you harvest them, but it's good tucker

I used them for about a week, and the Angels loved them.

You won't though

well... I didn't anyway, but I still used them..

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:03 pm

The babies are 13 days old now. I can't believe they're growing so fast! They'll be off to college before I know it!

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:05 pm

Here's a cheeky chappy who's not afraid of the camera!

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:24 pm

I put in some baby brine shrimp (frozen) to see if they're eating or not. I can't really tell to be honest... but something's brought these guys out to explore... Baby sucker power... it's just tooooooo cute.

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:09 am

Here's some new pics for you guys. 19 days old... and just as cute as can be!

Looks at this one, fins held proud!

And two together...

Doing a headstand!

Can you see the blue in it's eyes?

I just thought this was a lovely picture. Again, the blue is starting to show in its eyes. But if your monitor is anywhere near as bad as mine, you won't be able to see it...

And... look at the pink belly!! Can you tell they had Tetra Prima for their tea last night?

And to the far left is a baby Ramshorn snail, to give you a sense of scale...

Caesars · Post by **Caesars** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:17 am

Mindy, they are absolute darlings!!!! How many of them do you have?

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:19 am

There are five altogether. Seeing as this is my first time, I don't think I've done too bad. I started with five, and nearly three weeks later, I still have five healthy, growing babies! Phew!

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:31 am

Hi Mindy,

The little guys are doing great and are looking very healthy.

Are you feeding whole granules of tetra prima? Little zebs can choke on food that is too large for them, I use a mortar and pestle to finely crush tetra prima before feeding.

Adam

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:48 am

I do feed whole granules of prima, and whole JMC catfish pellets. I was told that would be OK... but if you think it's better to be safe than sorry, then I'll break them up. I figured these prepared foods soon go quite soft and mushy when they soak up, so bits would come away when they're eating them. Plus, with the circulation in their trap, if the bits were too small, I worry they'll just blow out through the slits on the side and the babies won't get anything! I could move the trap away from the spray bar to feed, but I wouldn't know how long to leave them. I don't have time to do this in the morning before work though... if I took them away from the spray bar to feed them, it would have to be in the evening, so that would mean only one feed a day. Which is better, feeding them whole granules twice a day, with the trap in situ so they don't blow away, or feeding them once on an evening, away from the spray bar?

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:38 am

I can see your point about finely crushed food being "blown" away by the current. My own traps are away from the current of the spray bar but I have placed an airstone in each trap so as to ensure adequate aeration.

If you search the forum you will find at least one thread where a baby zebra choked on food, it may have been caused by feeding large granules of food but I can't remember the exact details. Maybe I'm being over cautious but I've decided not to chance things with these little guys.

Adam

Post by **Barbie** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:18 pm

I feed pretty big chunks of "pellet" type foods, as it gives them something to chew on, without it getting blown away. I choked 10 zebra fry on frozen bloodworms, but I've never lost any with prepared foods that are basically ground ingredients that are press formed together. I don't think I'd worry too much about the prima, if it was me.

Adam, don't you have a problem with ammonia spiking off and on in those containers? I wasn't just worried about the oxygen content when I designed the condos, I wanted to keep their water quality optimal too. Yes, I get current that I have to "feed around", but to date, it's worked ok. I figure that same current is there where they would have grown up if we hadn't interfered!

Congratulations again on the cute babies!

Barbie

Plastic Mac · Post by **Plastic Mac** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 7:54 pm

Before I go slightly off topic...great pics, they look excellent and the babies seem to be doing really well.

I wanted to ask a question about the little lines on what seems like the tank glass. Are they scratches or something else? I only ask because a couple of years ago I found little, I'm not sure how to describe them, but little animals up to 5mm long moving on the glass and looked very much like the markings on your glass. I never really found out what they were, but got the feeling from lots of reading that these things naturally might live in the substrate (gravel rather then sand i guess as it's too compact) but if you can see them on the aquarium glass it's a sign somethign might be wrong with the water ie. nitrates to high or something.

I'm certainly not saying your water is wrong, which it probably isn't as your zebs have happily bred in it. However i'm hoping it might clear up a fishkeeping question I've never managed to adquately answer for myself.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:22 pm

Barbie wrote:Adam, don't you have a problem with ammonia spiking off and on in those containers? I wasn't just worried about the oxygen content when I designed the condos, I wanted to keep their water quality optimal too. Yes, I get current that I have to "feed around", but to date, it's worked ok. I figure that same current is there where they would have grown up if we hadn't interfered!
Barbie

Hi Barbie, there is still quite a bit of flow through my breeding traps but not so much that food remains in suspension, some still gets blown out though. I had wondered the same thing about possible ammonia spikes and tests an hour or so after feeding have shown no trace of ammonia. This is a very good point you have raised and something that people should be wary of.

Plastic Mac, those are tiny air bubbles in suspension that you can see in Mindy's pictures. The tiny worm like creatures you refer to are known as planaria a close relative of the flukes if I remember correctly. They are usually an indicator that the organic load within the aquarium is too high. Over feeding coupled with infrequent water changes can bring about an infestation, they are harmless but are a good indicator of ailing water quality.

Adam

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:35 am

They are indeed air bubbles... I noticed them too (after the pics were taken of course!!), but ah well!