Wrigglers in cave !!!!!!!

[Stevie.K]

Hi everyone,

Had a little peep in my males cave tonight, to see 4 or 5 wriggling eggs

It's hard to see in there properly but i can see little eyes & tails!

Did a cold water-change on Sat & had been checking everyday to see if there where 2 fish in the cave, but never saw them together.

Water parameter's are; Temp 29C , PH 6.8 , Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, TDS 240 ppm, KH & GH 5,Nitrate 25-50 mg/l.

I know the nitrate is high & have been trying to lower this as my tap water has high levels & was going to use RO to try to lower the levels tonight, but now with fry i don't want to do too big a change.

Would 10% changes each day be ok with the fry or should i try to lower the nitrate faster, what levels are ok for fry?

It's hard not to peep, but they are a truely amazing sight.

I am leaving them with dad in the main tank for the time being just hope all goes well

[McEve]

Congrats!! leave them to it, but keep changing water, a little every day will do them good!

They'll be fine

happy for you!!

[davo]

Congrats

Always nice to hear that more of these beautiful fish being spawned .

All the best with them.
Davo

[Stevie.K]

Hi all,

Woke up on Saturday to find the remains of 1 fry in my main tank.

Decided to move dad & cave into another tank when i saw another fry out of the cave on its own at 7 days old!

I didn't want to take dad out of the main tank but i didn't want to lose any more fry.

In total there were 4 fry at the start, after they were moved another fry was out too, leaving 1 with dad.

These 2 were put in a trap but i lost one on Sunday, they had both been acting funny.

The other one survived & seems to be fine now, dad is still doing a good job of looking after the other 1!

I guess the fry are 8-9 days old, when do you reckon the eggs were laid?

The last time they laid was 15 days ago & that was when i found 3 eggs kicked out the cave, could these have been the same batch?

Hope all goes well for these little guys, it's hard to lose any

[McEve]

Always keep an eye on your water paramters when having fry. Especially Nitrate. Did you check it? Keeping it low? Changing water every day?

From your first post, you found wrigglers 5 days ago. They hatch after 3-7 days depending on the temp, yours might have hatched after 5.

The eggs could have been laid 12 days ago, or 8, or most likely 10...

[Stevie.K]

Hi,

Woke up this morning to find the fry in the trap dead, don't know if dad had kicked them out of the cave originally if he knew they had something wrong with them?

The one left with dad is still fine.

What age do they come out of the cave normally & when does dad stop looking after fry?

Yes thanks McEve i was checking my nitrate levels very often they are 25 ppl, doing lots of frequent water changes, but i am struggling at getting them any lower as my tap water is very high at around 30-40 ppl.

I have been using larger amounts of ro water mixed 3 to 1 to try to lower the nitrate levels.

I would have been happier using treated tap water so it was easier to keep the water parameters the same for the zebra's but my tap water must be crap, plus the ph is high!

Any ideas!!!!!!!!!

[gugge]

I use a plant called Epipremnum pinnatum and let the rots grow in the water while the leves are on the top of the aquarium, it´s very effective to remove Nitrates in the water.
I visited Janne Ekström(to some known as Janne on PC) and he had them in his central filters to remove Nitrates

I tested it by polluting a small aquarium and then add a plant to it and I was impressed how fast and how much nitrates it could remove from the water!

This doesen´t mean i don´t have to change water it´s a lot of other stuff to remove to with the waterchanges but i get som help from it to keep it at very low levels. and nowadays i have them in all the aquariums.

[McEve]

I use a plant called Epipremnum pinnatum

That's brilliant! I'll try that myself, thank you gugge

Watch your PH too Stevie.K, when you add RO you get less buffer capacity. You might want to keep an eye on the hardness and if needed add a product that increase the buffer capacity.

Hope your last baby is ok?

[Stevie.K]

Hi,

Thanks Gugge & McEve for the top tips & advice.

I will try & get hold of the plant, can you get hold of it easy in the uk?

I do have a buffer i use for my discus, i won't let the water get too soft.

The little fella is still in the cave with dad doing well

When will dad kick the little fella out?

Everything is still crossed!

[Adam]

Hi Stevie.K,

Congrats on the spawn.

The plant mentioned by Gugge is terrestrial and appears to be available as a houseplant. It's particularly interesting to hear of its nitrate absorbing capabilities. I think you should be able to get hold of it at a reputable garden centre.

Here's a link: http://www.plant-force.co.uk/plants.php?id=252&ppid=7

The little fella will stick with dad for a while yet. They seem to forage for food at night and return to the safety of the cave during the day. Some fry leave the safety of dad's cave pretty soon others seem to linger. I have seen fry still with dad after six weeks at which point he moved to another cave to spawn again and presumably get away from them. He may also spawn with fry still in the cave.

Regards.

Adam

[gugge]

It´s quite common so getting a hold of one should not be a problem! over here they are avalible in all flowerstores and even in IKEA They are cheep to..

They grow very fast ones introduced in the water, I don´t have any other plants in the aquariums exept for a "anubias" in one of them.. make sure you clean the roots very

I don´t use any chemicals in the water, there is allmost always a biological solution to problems insted but we have very clean water here.. in other places you might not be able to get a stable enviromet without chemicals.. but the less I change the waterparameters with other stuff the less risk of making a misstake (with that said I use RO water sometimes )

[Adam]

The plants common name is Devil's Ivy, may help with your search. I read up a bit more about it and appears to be considered as an exotic pest species in Florida.

Gugge, I am right in thinking that you grow this plant submerged? I thought that it was grown out of the tank but the roots are allowed to dangle in the water. Very interesting stuff, definitely worth investigating especially if Janne Ekström is using these plants.

Regards.

Adam

[Stevie.K]

Thanks guys for clearing up my questions.

I did search the plant yesterday & i was looking at household plants so thought i was in the wrong place.

Dad & the little fella are in a tank on their own now, i'm hoping to get dad back to the main tank soon as the female is starting to look big again & is visiting caves but the caves are all empty!

[gugge]

Adam: No, only the roots are in the aqarium, The whole plant is not submerged! I let the plant grow on the aquarium(and after a wile up on everyting around the aquarium )

It would probobly be a bad idea to put the whole plant in the water as they probobly would not suvive and as i understand it the plant i toxic "in the plant it self"

I´ll try to take a picture or 2 of it

[Adam]

Thanks for clearing that one up gugge, I thought that's what you meant but wasn't sure.

Stevie, sounds like the female may be looking for the male in order to spawn. Hope the pair of them get it on soon.

Adam