Bandits Log

[retro mjm]

Hello,

These will be the first fish i will meaningfully breed kept guppies before and they just bred like crazy still have 1 of the fry that i cudnt catch as it was a new born i gave the others away.

This is my 4ft 55g that all my fish are in atm
http/www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5254935&l=52236a9305&id=776622576

This is the tank with the corys now in it all 6 of them plus 1 fry that is the pic below this one.
http/www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5299111&l=53e9f71cac&id=776622576
http/www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5299114&l=cd7c7a01a5&id=776622576

Feeding on bloodworms brineshrimp (both frozen) also JMC catfish pellets and algae wafers o and the used to get flake off the bottom in the 4 ft as i only just moved them 2 minutes ago.

Only issue is i would like to lower the temp of the breeding tank but the heater is 150w and its as low as it goes and the temp is 78-79F atm i may have to pop up to maidenhead and get some things and need to start a microworm culture as i have no food for the fry apart from the same things as the adults plus some insect larvae i think its daphnia as well.

Corys seem happy and settled in quickly but then they were moving back into there old home anyway.

Im hoping that the bandits wont eat their own fry as they arnt the biggest of corys. not to fused if they are egg eaters i just have to be quick on my feet and stick them ina breeding trap (another thing to add to the list)

Wish me luck.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi retro mjm

Nice tanks! I'll be looking forward to seeing you raise some of the C. metae fry.

I would suggest unplugging the heater. The bandit corys will do better in cooler water of 70-75 F., especially if you want them to spawn.

 

[Harlequins]

Good luck with the bandits giving you lots of fry

 

[retro mjm]

Unplug it? Wouldnt the temp drop really low like lower than 70f.

I will unplug it as i need to do some revision for exam so im going to be in all day 2day, i banned myself from going out lol dam uni work sucks ahahah

 

[Inchworm]

Hi retro mjm

Unplug it? Wouldnt the temp drop really low like lower than 70f.

That would depend on your climate. Where do you live? I live in New York and almost all my cory tanks are unheated. In the winter, the house heat is on and I have to worry more about the water getting too warm than too cold. In the spring and fall, I have the best temperatures for corys. The furnace is off and the windows are open. This is when they are most apt to spawn for me. The summertime is the difficult time for me. With the air conditioners running I have to watch the water temperature and even add heaters to maintain a minimum temperature in a few of my tanks.

 

[retro mjm]

well im in plymouth in the uk but it seems to have stablized at 72F so its perfect i just did a cold water change aswell and the temp only dropped a couple of degrees which is suprising But has risen back up now.

Just fed sum brine shrimp (frozen) i will start a microworm and a brineshrimp hatchery soon but i have a job interview 2moro which is exciting because if i can get the job i can buy more corys i fancy a nice black species any recommendations also maybe a larger species of corys. I like my rarer species so any suggestions are welcome.

Corys seem much happy though one is still very shy but they others seem just as happy as they were in the 55g. My albino rts who is a grumpy sod at the best of times seems even more misurable now though. He doesnt like my tetras or the single guppy in the tank and my betta prefers the other end of the tank which is good i suppose. I think he needs some new cory friends.

Thanks

 

[retro mjm]

found 5 eggs just know it 1430 btw here in england lol. All look fertilzed as the have black dots on them. The bandits seemed to like to lay on my plants. i have a chinese take away box (properly cleaned and boiled) that is full of laterite and 3 different types of planys but they laid 3 around the chinese pot on plants a 1 on glass and i also found 2 more on a seperate broad leafed plant. All is well im waiting for a delivery and once thats in im going to rush down to my lfs and buy some brineshrimp eggs and stuff for a diy hatchery so i can feed them bbs. Woop.

The eggs are currently sitting in a fish net would you advise buying a small breeder net trap for them as im scared the fry will fit through the holes as its a large 5 or 6" net.

What a day been great

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats on your eggs ,my tri's hide their eggs all over the place i tell them to lay them where i can see them,but they don't listen

Good luck with them,i bring my eggs on in a fine meshed net so the fry can't go through when they hatch,with an airstone running underneath

 

[retro mjm]

yer i tried that one aswell but they dnt like to be bossed about lol.

Do they need the airstone i have a pretty decent air pump but i dnt know if it could cope with 3 bottles of brine shrimp and an airstone on that tank as its 20" of water deep so quite deep.

If the start spawning as crazily as urs harlequins im tempted to buy a cheap small maby 15G tank as a fry tank/grow out tank. I think the extra volume of the 25g would reduce the effect of any water quality issues (i dnt have a test kit uni students are very poor) (spend too much on booze) but i do keep up on regular water changes i try and do 10% bi weekly on the cory tank and usually judge by plants and colouration on my 55G its low tech but high light (accident lights came with tank) so the more macro ferts i can keep in the water the better.

I have my brine shrimp eggs and all the stuff to set up only have one bottle atm (you can only drink so much coke lol) And a 2nd bigger bottle is almost empty so should be able to have an almost continual flow of bbs that are still very young so they still have their yolk sac.

When would u advise for the frys first feed as i need to plan my feeds due to the 24-36 hour hatching of the brineshrimp?

thanks

ps just wish i could get as much action as the corys lol exams ruin everything

 

[Harlequins]

I would go for a fry tank personally,the fry would benefit from daily water changes and keeping the bottom clean,bad bacteria soon builds up often killing fry...

have a read up on the pinned topics,there's a very good account for setting up a fry tank

I did go down the grow me own micro worm,but the tiny amount i was feeding the worms grew to fast,so now i use defrosted baby brine shrimp and firstbites.
The fry's egg sac normally last a few days before they need food,if you feed them before they've used up their egg sac it will just pollute the water.

I know inchworm has mentioned that she puts the newly hatched fry in a tank and squeezes filter mulch over them for the first week and the live on the microbs,i'm sure inchworm will correct me if i've got it wrong

 

[retro mjm]

thanks i will see about fry tank if i get lots of fry and if i can get the job im currently going for.

i wasnt too keen on the microworms because of the fact u cant freeze then which i will do with exess bbs plugs eggs can be stored which is a bonus so no wasting.

The mulch is an intersting idea i will look into that.

i will refresh my knowledge on the fry tank.

Its all come a bit to quick the bandits have only been in their own tank for well not even 2days yet and i wasnt expecting anything for at least a week. Im a bit swamped atm with job interviews and exams and after exam #101## up lol but then thats wat being 19 and a student is about really sorting out priorities lol booze fish other fun andd at the bottom of the list exams lol

thanks for your help i got most of my inspiration from ur trinillitus log so u have to take the credit for that if this works

 

[Harlequins]

mine was only purely trial & error but thanks anyway

Good luck with the exams and let us know how the eggs/fry go

 

[retro mjm]

i got the job i was going for so i will be purchasing a small fry tank and get a box filter for it. All the eggs look cloudy but only time will tell if they hatch or not.

 

[retro mjm]

4 out of 5 eggs hatched so far but no sign of fry

Missed out on a small tank and filter because i forgot to bid !#39####!

but will get one once ive sorted a few things out...my life is very hectic atm