Baby Rotkeil Serverum Diary. Hatched 4/3/10

[minxfishy]

Poor things, they work their hardest to produce these eggies and when their back is turned, they disappear, must be confusing for them

 

[star4]

The last batch I left in the tank the pair were getting exhausted defending the eggs they battled on for 5 days, actually had fry themselves, which I was really pleased about but the pair were shattered and were getting pale and in their stress stripes a lot of the time and just gave up and let the Texas have the fry in the end. Removing the eggs is best for the pair I think (tell me if I am wrong) the female has chance to recover from spawning and the male (Timmy) is a gent and leaves her well alone, only snuggling (as I like to think lol). Its a hard decision really, I want whats best for Timmy & Toni, I would rather do the raising myself knowing that they are not getting exhausted constantly caring for fry and spawning again as Toni is laying every 2 weeks almost to the day . I may yet sacrifice my community tank, sell off my angels and gourami and use their tank for the Rotties.

 

[minxfishy]

I was only joking. I know your doing the right thing, as you say defending them from those guys would be stressful on anyone. Yes what you need is a nice tank just for them to let them get on with it alone. Must be room somewhere in that house, I mean its not like you have many tanks right

 

[star4]

Could remove the radiators I suppose they take up wall space, stupid design of my front (well back) room, only have 2 usable walls for tanks. Could remove a couple of units out of the kitchen make room for 1 more maybe, but the stupid cooker is in the way then Could always swap one of the 180l for a 300 in the kitchen once all the Ellioti have gone Better still sell both 180 and get another 400 I just have too many fish lol

 

[Spishkey]

((star)) just caught up with your posts in 'the fishouse' so dabbed over here to read the diary. knew i should got a cuppa ready, been here reading for ages lol!

you definatly need to invest in your own camera so we can have more pics heh heh

id just got my other 2metre tank nearly empty to start wading out into some other cichlid species..and dang blast my OH comes home with 118 guppies...and where do you think he shoves them?

grr! looks like i'll have to treat myself to a new tank

 

[star4]

(((((Spishkey)))))) lovely to see you Definately time to treat yourself to another tank lol.



Batch 1 growing slowly, looking like propper little sevs now, bold and up the glass to investigate, no colouration as yet, little tinges to the fins but other than that they are just have their black stripes.

Batch 2 doing great now, no more losses thankfully, I guess I have around 40 left, will have to see how many when I move them in a couple of weeks as its impossible to count them.

Batch 3 I am a little upset to discover some (about 10) of these have bent spines I dont know what went wrong with the hatching or whether its because the female is spawning too much? the remaining fry all look good so far, got the awful job of euthanising those struggling to swim, not a task I am looking forward too, will have to do it tonight once the kids are in bed else there will be lots of tears!

 

[Spishkey]

your doing so well, congrats!!

instead of having the not so nice job of euthanising those with bent spines..could you not pop them in with jethro? i'm sure he'd love the snack...or is it just eggs he likes?
i've finally tracked down some convicts this morning..i can have 12 for a measly €5 but the only place i could put them are with the oscars at the moment!...or i could just put them with the guppys..would soon have my tank guppy free again methinks...

 

[star4]

I doubt the fry would get to the bottom for Jethro the texas would have them first, but me I would be paranoid that something is wrong with them that could harm the texas (I doubt it but I am a looney )

 

[star4]

Small disaster with batch 1, gone to feed them tonight and one of the boys must have pushed the bar down on the filter turning it up to full power. I found 2 of the smallest sevs stuck in the stocking covering the intake pipe, sadly lost them both, too small to try and revive

 

[kaivalagi]

Sorry to hear that, I worry every time I see my fry go near the filter...
I so badly want to see some pics of batch 1

 

[star4]

Pleased to report no more misshaps or disasters, batch 2 & 3 have been combined in the same tank, can hardly tell the difference between them. It could be I have changed my food, I am crushing prima tetra with a pinch of bloodworm with crushed brine shrimp and garlic flace, or its the tank they are in as this one where it is positioned gets natural light all day, but not direct sunlight.

Have tried again to get pics of the first batch but just little blurry blobs I am afraid.

 

[kaivalagi]

Can you do some pics of the bigger sized batches?

 

[minxfishy]

Im going over to stars house sometime soon so I will take my camera over and get some pics

 

[kaivalagi]

That would be great, I bet those batch 1 fry aren't so tiny anymore

 

[star4]

Got some tank-re-arranging to so, hopefully Minxy will be over Saturday so long as I get straight this end first lol.

All fry doing great, one in batch 1 is growing lots quicker than the rest, cheeky little fatty he is getting too lol he is a good full cm and looks like a propper little sev now