32L Planted Aquarium

[Joshwainwright]

Brilliant! 

 
That moss is going to look great too once it's attached and has grown a bit.
 
What actually are the fry? I've just had a quick look back and didn't see it mentioned...

 

[Shelster]

Yeah I was trying to see about the fry too, it's gotta be some kind of killifish? If they egg bearers?

Looking forward to pics when they bigger

 

[Naringlo]

Yeah, I'll cut the line in a week or two. Haha basically everything just needs to GROW and spread now. 
 
I was going to keep the fry thing quiet but I got too excited. They are not Killifish unfortunately. They would of been but I failed at hatching those. 
 
These are Pseudomugil gertrudae 'aru ii' or spotted blue eye rainbowfish. They seemed a little easier and they were easy and early to hatch. (Y)
 
They lay eggs on floating plants or moss or fine leaved plants. I can't remember which ones. I got them sent to me and they arrived in a plastic vial in blue solution. Just some eggs in water basically.

 

[Joshwainwright]

A nice a choice of fish! I can't help but love the fins of the males, they should look great in your tank.
 
I've just done a bit of research and they lay their eggs on dense moss or of course a spawning mop so we might even see you breeding them
 
Apparently the eggs might have hatched quicker because of the temperature being at the higher end of what they like, what's it currently set at? 

 

[Naringlo]

Thank you, the male's fins caught my eye too. I like the bits of yellow too.
 
Oh good, thank you for that, luckily I chose the right plants for these fish.
 
Well I decided to mix it up to see what works best. I put some in a container of aged tap water (apparently tank water may contain something that harms the eggs like mold or bacteria) on top of a heat mat which was at 22c. I put the others in a baggy of aged tap water and put them in my tank which is at 24c.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Well that's not really at the top end so I guess you were just lucky to have the short wait. Good luck with the fry anyway! 

 

[Shelster]

Ah I see, as in your profile pic?

Yep I would have been too excited too! How many eggs for potential hatch?

 

[Naringlo]

Yeah I'm not really that lucky with these things so thats good.
 
Yes, they hopefully shall grow up to look like my profile picture. 
 
I think there are 20 eggs altogether but it looks like there are 10 left I think.

 

[Naringlo]

So 4 from each bag has hatched so now there are 8 fry in total. I've let them out of the bags and kept the eggs in the bags. They love the floating plants so that's all good. Very happy with the hatch rate. There may be more because I did put some eggs in the main tank before.
 
Besides that, the plants all seem to be growing fairly quickly, just hoping the P. helferi does well.

 

[Shelster]

So where did you buy the eggs from?

I know they sell chicken eggs on eBay for hatching, but never really thought of it for fish before

 

[Naringlo]

eBay of course. There are a fair few different types of eggs there.

 

[Naringlo]

7 more eggs hatched. only 5 left. So far its a 75% hatch rate which I'm impressed with. So hard to find them in a 32L. I'm hoping none died :L
 
 
All the plants still growing slowly but looks rather healthy. I'll post a picture in a week or two.

 

[Shelster]

That's really good success rate

How did you cycle the tank? Mature media?

 

[Joshwainwright]

I actually found myself looking on eBay at chicken eggs last night Not fish eggs, chickens!
 
75% is a great success rate though, I'd be happy if no more were to hatch. I hope the fry are surviving

 

[Naringlo]

18 hatched in total now. Bought 8 more shrimp for maintenance. The new ones are so small! :L
Everything in my tank is tiny! haha

Nitrates snuck up and were hitting 40 - 80 so did a big water change.

I think 6-7 fry may have died. Either eaten or the nitrates. Or even just hiding It's hard to see.

@Shelster Yeah I put the media in my big tank before I set this one up. It was in there for 3-4 weeks. But I doubt there is much ammonia being produced with 11 shrimp and 12ish small fry

@Joshwainwright Haha why chicken eggs? Yeah I think I may have siphoned a few with the water changes but I always check with a torch. Can't say netting them helps. Because they're so small, netting them damages them so much so I just siphon the water but I put the tube in a breeding box to minimize the danger of that. If any do, I use a pipette. So hopefully that will keep them surviving. I may currently be down to 10 fry but I'm unsure. It's hard to see them. Still got 2 more eggs that may hatch.