fellowfishfanatic523
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- Nov 29, 2011
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Hi everyone! Fish forum newbie here! I have been in fish keeping for a long time but never joined a forum before my friend recommended you guys to start of with! But anyway more important matters at hand! On Sunday last I went to my local aquatics shop looking for some Peacock Gudgeons (Goby). During all my time of fish keeping I have always stick to the simple life, started out with guppys and platys, then cory and mollys then shoaling tetras and rasboras. Then I discovered loaches and gouramis. And well since that's all I have ever kept really. I have always thoroughly admired anyone who has had the courage to venture out and own Cichlids and killifish/gobies. I had always thought that owning them would be a dream for experts only. But I finally plucked up the courage to start thinking about which I wanted to try and own. So, I have always been and will always be the type of person who will repeatedly research a fish before remotely considering getting the fish in question. After several weeks of research on cichlids angel gobies I decide gobies were my best bet to start off with. Although like everyone probably, the second I started looking at cichlid profiles I FELL IN LOVE! I thought that gobies would be an easier fish to begin with, so i went to get some!
But as always it didn't turn out the right way. When I got to the store the manager told me they had.gone bankrupt and they were selling all stock on the cheap. I got so excited with all the fish around but.unfortunatly they didn't have any Peacock Gobies. There was a little tank in the corner however that immediately caugt my eye. German blue rams and boy were they utterly gorgeous. I had to get a pair, they were doing 2 for 12. I could resist. There were 6 in the tank, 2 of which looked like males and quite pale. The other 4 had paired off at seperate sides of the tank and had both started digging a pit and they all looked amazing. I asked the guy for a pair and he hooked out the female from pair 1 and male from pair 2! He said they were the prettiest but I asked for both from pair 1 so he netted the other male and put the other one back.
So I had my pair I also got 6 different live plants (all background ones)from them 10 for them all, I had been planning.on replacing my silk plants with live ones anyway in that tank. So I headed home to drip acclimatise the rams into there 25gallon tank. My only worry was that the tank had already got some 'dither' fish in. 8 Rummy nose tetra and 6 Kuhli loaches. And my ph probably wasn't quite low enough for them at about 7.5 I hoped the plants and wood I bought previously would help with that when I put them in.
I drip acclimatised them for about 7 hours in a small bucket and at first I was so scared. They looked more than awful and the male especially kept tilting onto his side. I honestly thought my ph had started to kill them. However to my surprise as I put them into the main tank within an hour they looked amazing again. They swam all around 'investigating' even around the top levels with the rummys at times. I had my fingers crossed as to whther they would make it through the night. Every day since they have been getting more and more active and increasingly colourful. Since I got them the female has ballooned out, at first I thought it was dropsy! But then I noticed that hour by hour her breeding tube has been getting more and more prominent and her pink belly stronger and stronger in colour.
On Tuesday morning my female started getting quite agitated with the male. Not aggressive just jumpy. Both of them constantly fin flicking and body wiggling next to eachother She started swimming over to my decor each piece in turn and picking bits off them, after a few hours of this she started wriggling across the surfaces quickly several times in a row. The male stayed near by at all times but never came too close, whenever use swam away there were never any eggs below her. I figured that she was maybe practising and deciding whether that particular cave or rock was suitable. It was so sweet to watch.
Since I have had them I have fed them on frozen bloodworm on Monday, Live daphina on Tuesday and Live brineshrimp Yesterday morning. All day yesterday the female was getting quite frantic her breeding tube was becoming more prominent by the minute it seemed and whenever she settled with he male on a rock kuhlis or rummys would come right next to her as if they knew food was on the way!
So as a temporary measure I grabbed aload of my old plastic and silk plants, cleaned them and placed them in certain areas around the tank. I had placed a large pebble in the tank a few weeks ago and I moved this to the front left corner of the tank and placed plastic ferns around it. I then placed some of my smaller silk plants around the side of a cave on the front right corner (somewhere she repeatedly practised on). I then put some more pebbles around the place. After about an hour both of them were in the little shaded section I made at the front left after spending a long time exploring the new areas. They started frantically picking at the pebble it looked like in fast forward! They did this for about 4 hours non stop. Of course I just had to go and miss the start of the breed though! I had sat watching them on and off all day so I gave in and went downstairs and figured that 'A watched pot never boils' saying might apply and they spawned! I came back upstairs an hour later and she had layed about 100 eggs and was still laying more the male was doing his job too
They carried on for about another hour and then got to guarding.
I must say I am still in shock. It was so beautiful to watch and I can't believe the eggs would be so small! Parents are doing really well so far guarding the eggs round the clock from all other fish. No squabbles between the two of them so far but my kuhlis are far too interested in what's going on. my rummys have got the message and are staying way away but the Kuhlis keep trying to get at the eggs and my Rams are nipping them every time they do, without luck. On the brigt side both the male and females colours are stunningly beautiful and they are still flirting with eachother! But I am worried that the kuhlis are stressing them out too much and I don't wont thw loaches to get hurt either. What should I do?
I only have one spare tank for breeding and at the moment it is full with some Cardinals atm that are in quarantine at the moment with a bad case of fin rot.
The only other tank I have is a 5 gallon long. It's 40x20x10cm (LxHxW) Should I remove the pebble with the eggs on and put it in my spare nano tank or should i remove the eggs and the parents and put them all together in the mini tank?
Help urgently!!
But as always it didn't turn out the right way. When I got to the store the manager told me they had.gone bankrupt and they were selling all stock on the cheap. I got so excited with all the fish around but.unfortunatly they didn't have any Peacock Gobies. There was a little tank in the corner however that immediately caugt my eye. German blue rams and boy were they utterly gorgeous. I had to get a pair, they were doing 2 for 12. I could resist. There were 6 in the tank, 2 of which looked like males and quite pale. The other 4 had paired off at seperate sides of the tank and had both started digging a pit and they all looked amazing. I asked the guy for a pair and he hooked out the female from pair 1 and male from pair 2! He said they were the prettiest but I asked for both from pair 1 so he netted the other male and put the other one back.
So I had my pair I also got 6 different live plants (all background ones)from them 10 for them all, I had been planning.on replacing my silk plants with live ones anyway in that tank. So I headed home to drip acclimatise the rams into there 25gallon tank. My only worry was that the tank had already got some 'dither' fish in. 8 Rummy nose tetra and 6 Kuhli loaches. And my ph probably wasn't quite low enough for them at about 7.5 I hoped the plants and wood I bought previously would help with that when I put them in.
I drip acclimatised them for about 7 hours in a small bucket and at first I was so scared. They looked more than awful and the male especially kept tilting onto his side. I honestly thought my ph had started to kill them. However to my surprise as I put them into the main tank within an hour they looked amazing again. They swam all around 'investigating' even around the top levels with the rummys at times. I had my fingers crossed as to whther they would make it through the night. Every day since they have been getting more and more active and increasingly colourful. Since I got them the female has ballooned out, at first I thought it was dropsy! But then I noticed that hour by hour her breeding tube has been getting more and more prominent and her pink belly stronger and stronger in colour.
On Tuesday morning my female started getting quite agitated with the male. Not aggressive just jumpy. Both of them constantly fin flicking and body wiggling next to eachother She started swimming over to my decor each piece in turn and picking bits off them, after a few hours of this she started wriggling across the surfaces quickly several times in a row. The male stayed near by at all times but never came too close, whenever use swam away there were never any eggs below her. I figured that she was maybe practising and deciding whether that particular cave or rock was suitable. It was so sweet to watch.
Since I have had them I have fed them on frozen bloodworm on Monday, Live daphina on Tuesday and Live brineshrimp Yesterday morning. All day yesterday the female was getting quite frantic her breeding tube was becoming more prominent by the minute it seemed and whenever she settled with he male on a rock kuhlis or rummys would come right next to her as if they knew food was on the way!
So as a temporary measure I grabbed aload of my old plastic and silk plants, cleaned them and placed them in certain areas around the tank. I had placed a large pebble in the tank a few weeks ago and I moved this to the front left corner of the tank and placed plastic ferns around it. I then placed some of my smaller silk plants around the side of a cave on the front right corner (somewhere she repeatedly practised on). I then put some more pebbles around the place. After about an hour both of them were in the little shaded section I made at the front left after spending a long time exploring the new areas. They started frantically picking at the pebble it looked like in fast forward! They did this for about 4 hours non stop. Of course I just had to go and miss the start of the breed though! I had sat watching them on and off all day so I gave in and went downstairs and figured that 'A watched pot never boils' saying might apply and they spawned! I came back upstairs an hour later and she had layed about 100 eggs and was still laying more the male was doing his job too
They carried on for about another hour and then got to guarding.
I must say I am still in shock. It was so beautiful to watch and I can't believe the eggs would be so small! Parents are doing really well so far guarding the eggs round the clock from all other fish. No squabbles between the two of them so far but my kuhlis are far too interested in what's going on. my rummys have got the message and are staying way away but the Kuhlis keep trying to get at the eggs and my Rams are nipping them every time they do, without luck. On the brigt side both the male and females colours are stunningly beautiful and they are still flirting with eachother! But I am worried that the kuhlis are stressing them out too much and I don't wont thw loaches to get hurt either. What should I do?
I only have one spare tank for breeding and at the moment it is full with some Cardinals atm that are in quarantine at the moment with a bad case of fin rot.
The only other tank I have is a 5 gallon long. It's 40x20x10cm (LxHxW) Should I remove the pebble with the eggs on and put it in my spare nano tank or should i remove the eggs and the parents and put them all together in the mini tank?
Help urgently!!
