Well, they were at it again on Nov. 1st. My male had fry from Sept. 9th, fry from Oct 15th (same female)in the cave with him when on Nov. 1st another female laid eggs with him.
This morning I found the egg cluster otside the cave. I gently put it back inside the cave with a squirt of water. The male slowly backed up, flicked his tail and kicked the eggs back out
Right now they are in a net breeder in the tank. The eggs appear fertile as I can see blood vessels.
Why after 2 successful spawns kick out the eggs? Too many fry in the cave with him? I'm guessing he has 20 young ones in with him from the last 2 spawns.
That is pretty wierd!! I had that happen to me as well and than everything just stopped!!..So that was my chance to separate the group of 18 down to 13 and put the others in another tank. They are settling in nice thanks to your caves...GREAT caves btw!!
thanks for the suggestions. Jerms, glad the fish are setting up camp in the caves, its fun making them and seeing that the fish like them. Nesolb, if I move the fry it will go against my mantra of "sit on your hands"
I will try to move some fry this afternoon to a new grow out tank. Maybe then I can actuall get some good picts of the youngsters. The only problem with removal, the caves have a trap door back, but the fry and Dad loke to stay in all the time
McEve, I have a removable back on the cave, so basically it converts into a tube. I just want to remove the fry before another female goes in to spawn. Anyone else, yes or no to move the fry?????
Alga,
move the fry you are far ahead of the game if you can save the live fry instead of saving the next batch of eggs, the hardest part is over at 22 days old they should be safe enough to take out of the cave and moved to a container in the same tank as the adults this would give the male chance to feed and ragaine his energy for the next wave of females, dont forget to add an airstone in the container and if there are no holes in them you can just change the water, I used to change it at least three times a day once when I get up in the morning, when I arrive from work and just before I go to bed but it would be easier if you just melt holes in them by using very thin wire a pair of pliers and open flame then you will figure out what to do, this is much better than drilling you end up with smooth holes this is to avoid sharp edges where the eggs are very prone to rupture. Good luck
Oh, I thought you meant moving them to a different tank. By all means, if you want to keep them in a fry trap in the same tank, that won't kill them.
They won't be happy about it, unless you provided hiding places in the fry trap, but it won't kill them
I understand you wnat to take care of as many as possible now that they are on a roll, but.... don't forget to take care of the ones you already have in a proper manner. Like zebra046 said, you're way ahead already.
".... don't forget to take care of the ones you already have in a proper manner."
McEve- by this do you mean making sure the father has a break to build himself up ? He comes out of the cave, right in front, to eat but does not venture far from it. For the most part I have been keeping most things the same, food water changes etc...
The ten eggs from the last spawn, in the breeder trap, all appear fertile and have tails, now I need another trap for the fry.
alga wrote:".... don't forget to take care of the ones you already have in a proper manner."
McEve- by this do you mean making sure the father has a break to build himself up ? He comes out of the cave, right in front, to eat but does not venture far from it. For the most part I have been keeping most things the same, food water changes etc...
The ten eggs from the last spawn, in the breeder trap, all appear fertile and have tails, now I need another trap for the fry.
By that I meant don't stress the ones you have, don't move them to a different tank, just... take good care of them It's hard to take it easy when you get one spawn after the other, you want to take care of them all naturally! But it's eeasy to get caught up in the process, forgetting to slow down and plan for each batch, so that you can make sure they will all get the best possible care.
Let the fish be in a frenzy, make sure you take it easy and stay cool
Well, I did it. I removed the fry from in with Dad and counted 18 fry of 2 different sizes. From the egg mass that got kicked out 7 of the 10 look like they might develop, right now they look like picture 3 in the header.
Since I have never thought about what to feed the fry, now that they are isolated what do you suggest. I have been giving them pellets, brine shrimp and microworms.
Mine LOVE frozen cyclopeeze. They also eat frozen daphnia, hikari sinking wafers, NLS grow pellets, and Kevin's zebra mix. Basically any food with a small enough size that they don't risk choking and lots of meat is great for them.
Wow...that is awesome that you have had so many spawns. Good luck with them all. Small spawns and very fragile fry seem to make raising zebras a very difficult thing to do.
? He comes out of the cave, right in front, to eat but does not venture far from it. For the most part I have been keeping most things the same, food water changes etc...
I had a very nasty experience moving young fry (2 months old) so I'd never venture it again.