Baby Rotkeil Serverum Diary. Hatched 4/3/10

[star4]

They have started eating now, Star4 formula fry food a basic mix of different foods finely crushed in a pill crusher to a poweder and they LOVE it. Have tried today with another friends camera to get some pictures but each we tried was useless couldnt see a thing, will have to possibly wait another week for pics. I have no idea how many are in the tank but it looks absolutely rammed

 

[pikey0151]

They have started eating now, Star4 formula fry food a basic mix of different foods finely crushed in a pill crusher to a poweder and they LOVE it. Have tried today with another friends camera to get some pictures but each we tried was useless couldnt see a thing, will have to possibly wait another week for pics. I have no idea how many are in the tank but it looks absolutely rammed

thas good init u better be saving one for me lol cant wait to see the pics hope they are doing well, conrats again

 

[Steve Randell]

When they are ready i would really like to take one of the little wriglers off you

Steve

 

[pikey0151]

there is some good news today i have just woke up toda and my jsed eye cichlids have layed eggs again but i dont know what to do with the eggs??? should i leave them witht there parents or take them out? remebering that the last time i removed them they didnt survive :'(

 

[star4]

As soon as my little guys are big enough they will be advertised in the classified section,

Pikey if there is nothing in the tank that will harm the eggs leave them with the parents let them take care of the eggs.

Not sure whats going on with the babies, they seem to be getting tired?? the filter is on the lowest setting but some seem to give up swimming for a while, I thought one was dead but when I netted it, it started swimming again?

 

[pikey0151]

As soon as my little guys are big enough they will be advertised in the classified section,

Pikey if there is nothing in the tank that will harm the eggs leave them with the parents let them take care of the eggs.

Not sure whats going on with the babies, they seem to be getting tired?? the filter is on the lowest setting but some seem to give up swimming for a while, I thought one was dead but when I netted it, it started swimming again?

thanks for the advice i have two rotkiel severums in that same tank so i have now put the eggs in a net nursery with the air stone underneeth the the net. coverd the tank with card and turnd the light off so it is dingy in thr, and also thr were two white eggs in the batch and i reomved them with tweezers so hopefully the will survive i will be sure to keep you posted

 

[star4]

Keep those tweezers handy for any other white eggs.

 

[star4]

I dont know what is going wrong, all the fry were eating great, the same mix I raised the Elliotti and the convits on, but they seem to be dying off?? water stats are fine, doing water changes and everything exactly as I have done before, they just seem to suddenly give up swimming?? The tank has gone from being thick with fry to a few odd ones swimming about, some maybe hiding low down in the gravel, but it sure seems I have lost a lot but found no bodies?

 

[pikey0151]

dont mean to be patrinising (dont know how you spell that) haha i think that it is just instinct to do that of a night,m fish have done this before and i looked it up on the internet and i read "at night even if our aquarium light is on the mother and father of the fry will move them to a safe place or the fry will just start to do this by themselves". if you were to look closely you will see that your fish will go a bit slugish when it is night hahaha thats what my fish do anyway (that why i looked this subject up) haha hgope this was some help to you and hope you luck with them littlens

 

[star4]

I know exactly what you mean about them hiding all my fry have done it, but what these babes are doing I have not witnessed before, they are just giving up swimming and floating round the tank in the current looking dead (the flow is on the lowest setting which was fine for the Ellioti and cons?), but if I go to get them out they swim again for a bit then give up again, there are lots doing it now, I have a fear some infection may have gotten into the tank, not sure how as everything used in the fry tank is always sterilized after use and kept seperate. I am using the same food, the exact same set up, but I have been reading up that Rotkeils are hard to breed in the first place (so I am really lucky there) and the fry are hard to raise, but nothing seems to be telling my why they are hard to raise? Water stats are ok, water changes are measured out and in, but I do seem to have a little more algae grown in the tank at the mo, have partially covered the tank in case the sun in the morning is getting on the tank, but they have gone downhill this afternoon, ruddy typical as I went out!

 

[pikey0151]

Oh I snot know then hope evrythin is ok anyway in my tank today it's so sad, the mother and the father of the eggs are still digging the pits fr the fry to be moved to. The god thing is that there are alot of little wrigglers today I am so happy but not getting my hopes up because I always seem to fail ( touch wood) haha hope evrythin is A OK

 

[star4]

Good luck with your batch, they are better off with the parents.

Sad news, the babies are dissapearing rapidly now, have pulled out some bodies this morning but no where near the amount that are missing, no doubt the water will start going bad with bodies somewhere in the tank, I only have about 20 fry left. I just dont know what on earth has gone wrong this time

 

[minxfishy]

Hi Hon, are the fry in the same tank that you had problem with the fronts? Just wondering.

I would set up a small tank, add some of the tank water (from their current tank) and then cup catch the remaining fry, so they do not get stressed or have a change of water conditions.

Then strip down the tank, remove any gravel, leave it bare bottomed, remove the filter and take out the media, give it a swish around in tank water, clean the filter out thoroughly (that way you make sure no dead fry in the filter). Clean the tank glass, ornaments, plants etc with hot water.

The re-fill with correct temp new water 50% and then put the water you used to set up the tank/bowl with the fry in whilst cup catching the fry back into the main tank.

I dont know what your fry mix is, but consider getting them onto fine crushed flakes, small amounts to not foul the water. Then daily water changes of 20%. Make sure the filter output is facing a tank wall to not blow then around and is creating enough suface movement for oxygen.

It may just be weak genes causing them to die, but a complete strip down will eliminate any contamination, removing gravel etc will make sure no bodies are left causing any water problems too.

 

[star4]

Hiya Minxy, they are in the little tank that the cons were in, the filter has a stocking over it so bodies are getting stuck to that and not going into the filter itself so I can remove them with tweezers. The filter is on the lowest setting and blowing against the back wall with the air diffuser on and the nozzel is just out of the water, I can actually see tiny air bubbles in the water so the o2 should be ok. I am just contemplating stipping down the tank. I am feeding them crushed flake and ground prima (crush it all up in a pill crusher) those that are eating are eating really well and you can actually see the food in their tummies. I had the same with a batch of Kribs last year, just no explaination other than just weak fry.

 

[star4]

Transferred the remaining 27 fry into another tank, used the water from the 400l (that had a water change last night) and some from their tank as I caught them. The collar holding the filter to the side of the tank was full of bodies completely white and it stank when I moved it, there was the problem I just didnt see them there. They are now in another tank no gravel etc, the remaining few seem to be okish some were very weak when I moved them I doubt they will survive but some look as if they are recovering ok, just a case of wait and see now, its up to them. I have almost written an ad for my whole stock I am that upset.