Ellioti.. I Now Have Wrigglers!

[Dave26]

I got a breeding pair of ellioti from Adzilla last week, and got up on Tuesday to find a load of eggs! I hadn't expected any action so soon! As I was feeding the fish tonight I noticed a wriggler and as I watched a few more appeared, and mum jumped into action moving them straight away, I don't think she was happy with where the eggs were! Here are a couple of photos, sorry about the quality!

I'm trying to get my hands on a fry tank with little success currently (if anyone has one please get in contact!) How long would you recommend leaving them in the main tank for? The tankmates are 5 emperor tetra and 3 juvenile geo's (brasilensus I think).

 

[thereverendturtle]

Leave them with the parents for two weeks or so. You'll find that the parents will move the fry quite often. Good luck.

 

[adzilla88]

They usually dig a number of pits, and regularly move the fry between these.

Atleast they must have settled in well!

 

[rob_cool1]

Mine were always moving them. Looked like bombs had gone off in my tank, looked a mess lol. But they did really well bringing them up considering I had barbs, Corys, plecs etc they didn't let any of them near the babies.
I left mine all natural and wasn't going to move the eggs until they had done it many times so they got used to parenting.
I has them for 3 days, they were both about 1.5-2 inches so didn't know the sex before they started breeding

 

[Dave26]

Today's update- they're free swimming!

Here's a little video, apologies about the quality.

http/i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm159/wiganrl123/A27783BA-3260-4869-8952-D672273DD37A-3001-000004157EE0E846.mp4

I've got a 2.5 foot tank set up for them, how soon can I transfer them? Want to make sure as many survive as possible!

 

[star4]

I would move mine at around 10 days old, around 14 days the parents might start eating them to get ready to spawn again. At 10 days they should be feeding themselves, crushed tetra prima (almost a powder) is great for elliotti fry

 

[Dave26]

Thans star. Is that 10 days from the eggs being laid or 10 days from them wriggling?

 

[star4]

Sorry 10 days from hatching and you should be ok . It depends on the parents, I am only going off my pair 12-14 days after hatching and they would eat their fry and spawn again.

 

[adzilla88]

As some may know, these 2 Ellioti used to be mine.

On one previous spawn I removed a previous batch hours after the eggs were laid (only because my severum took a liking to them) and put the eggs in an empty tank.

They hatched in July and they are still doing great. I just need to start rehoming them/taking them to the garden centres or aquatic shops now.

Just to clarify, I do feel it is best to leave them with the parents after hatching. I only opted to separate mine as my severum put an end to several previous spawns and before rehoming my breeding Ellioti pair, I really wanted to try my luck at raising some fry.

Like star4, I fed my newly hatched fry crushed prima and they are doing great!

 

[Dave26]

Tonight I decided to remove the rest of the fish from the tank. Hopefully this will let the parents relax a little and give the fry some more space and access to food. The poor geos were spending most of their time at the surface at one end, so they seem much happier in the other tank. Now it's just a case of waiting a few more days then putting the fry into their own tank. The water has been sat in there a few days, when it comes to the day before putting the fry in I will swap half the water out for tank water from the tank the fry are currently in. I'll also rinse the sponge from my external in the water to seed the sponge filter in the fry tank. The next day I'll siphon the fry in. That sound ok? I'm aiming to put them in their own tank on the 21st, 10 days after hatching.

 

[star4]

Another easy way is to just put the sponge to your sponge filter inside your external filter for a couple of days in one of the middle trays, it will be loaded with bacteria then. Just tansfer it back to your fry tank and fill up with water from the main tank and syphon up the fry and pop them in the fry tank. Just one thing when you are syphoning the fry you will get nipped by the parents, it doesnt really hurt much just a bit of a shock