Little Nemo Diary

[-Nemo-]

Day 35

Baby Count: 8


1G water change today, to clean up all that yucky stuff from the bottom. Going to give them some BBS tonight, and probably will continue to do so a couple times a week. The black pigment on their caudal fins have started on the larger ones. Boss and I think two others have started to get the black. On the picture you can see a crescent shape where the orange pigment ends on his fin, and (you can't really see it too well on the picture )) where there's a thin line of black starting.

Clutch 4
Day 9

Baby Count: 10


They got their first BBS tonight! Also a small 1/2G water change. All seem to be doing well with big and full tummies. Still hanging on the sides of the tank.

Top-View

As I was taking this picture, one of the babies happened to turn on his side, so a side-view. You can see his eyes really well. (He's actually nearly upside down in this picture. His belly is on the left in the picture, and the top is on the right.)

Clutch 5
Day 4


Little black eyes visible now

Close-up:

I just spent that last 45 minutes reading this topic and all I have to say is that I did not waste my time. Glad how your progress is going, gonna look often for updates.

Glad to hear! I've got another one hooked




PS: I've got a pair of baby bengaii cardinals on hold for me at work

 

[Haych]

doing an amazing job !

you can see the colour is so bright.

good job

 

[SBL]

Cardinal Diary next then? Hard to believe a FW keeper like me now is realizing SW may be my next ank after the 100 USG Cichlid tank.

 

[seffieuk]

Loving the close-up photos

Seffie x

 

[-Nemo-]

Day 36

Baby Count: 8


All doing well! Gave them some enriched flake today and still gobbled it up as usual, yummy yummy! Black on caudal fins darkening up more.

2 pictures from Boss (You can see the faint black lines on his caudal fin)

Clutch 4
Day 10

Baby Count: 9

Well, needless to day the BBS went over well with them! There's even one who's going crazy, racing just under the surface and I can see him opening and closing his mouth as he catches BBS
I also gave them some enriched flake today, but unsure as to whether they ate it or not.
It also looks like they're starting their metamorphosis! A few are wagging their little caudal fins!

Picture of one (You can see his orange belly full of BBS)

Clutch 5
Day 5

Eyes more apparent now. Need to figure out where i'm going to be putting these guys. I need a bigger house! I also discovered 3 more eggs which are attached to the opposite end of the pot compared to where most of them are. Very odd, hasn't noticed them before. I wonder how they ended up there!

And the closeup for Seffie

Cardinal Diary next then? Hard to believe a FW keeper like me now is realizing SW may be my next ank after the 100 USG Cichlid tank.

Eventually a Cardinal Diary I hope! Mine are going to be juveniles, however, so it will probably be quite a while before they breed. Us saltys must convert freshys

 

[SBL]

Well, will be in the middle actually. I'll always have FW in my heart.

 

[bae1994]

wow they look like litle bats

 

[-Nemo-]

Day 37

Baby Count: 8


Some more BBS and enriched flake for them today!
Black on their caudal fins is darkening up on those which have it.

On the left- black pigment darkening & on the right- Baby who has the third stripe misbar

And littlest baby makes an appearance

Clutch 4
Day 11

Baby Count: 9


Some more wagging going on! Feed more BBS and enriched flake again today, no signs of flake being eaten yet.

Clutch 5
Day 6

Silver starting to show

And the close-up

 

[SBL]

Wonder how they go from creepy balls with eyes to clowns. When will you give boss and his siblings away?

 

[Haych]

good question, how old are they when you can sell them on?

 

[-Nemo-]

Day 38

Baby Count: 8


Boss seems to be getting more pigment on his back (or second) dorsal and anal fins. That little one is always ahead of everyone else. Fed some BBS today along with flake and I will be giving them some more Nutramar Ova tonight. 1G water change done today.

They saw me and were looking up for food

Clutch 4
Day 12

Baby Count: 9

So I'm doing a 1/2G water change today and I look in, and what do I see?? Orange babies with stripes! It looks like 3 out of the 9 have gained their head stripe! Unexpected. Considering how clear the stripe is today, they must have been signs of it yesterday, and I simply missed it. This means that they technecially started gaining their stripes on Day 11. The previous clutch gained their stripes on Day 13.
This clutch is 2 days ahead of schedule which is great! The faster they go through meta (i'm now abbreviating metamorphosis because it's too long to type ) the better!

I'm giving credit for these 2 days to two different factors:
1. Large extra density of rotifers supplied
2. 4 Black sides of tank rather than 3 (allowing for the food to be seen better)


Other than the stripes, they're still chowing down on BBS and rotifers. I will stop rotifer addition within the next couple days.


Baby with first stripe!

Comparison of a baby with a stripe and one without

Clutch 5
Day 7


Hatch night tomorrow!
More silver on their eyes, you can really see their yolk-sac well on these pictures (especially the close-up); the yolk sac is the large orange/yellow looking mass underneath their eyes. I'll do a final egg count tomorrow.

And the close-up

Wonder how they go from creepy balls with eyes to clowns. When will you give boss and his siblings away?

good question, how old are they when you can sell them on?

It's not about how old they are, but how big they are. Different factors are going to greatly effect their growth rate. The accepted "sale size" is between 1 - 1.5 inches. Normally it will take around 3 months for them to achieve that size, so I still get to take care of these darlings for quite a bit more time. The oldest bunch are probably only about 1.3cm at the moment.

 

[SBL]

Wow! 1.3 cm? It looks atleast an inch in the pictues. Now spending my time on SW alittle more than FW. Hmm, you've changed me -Nemo-, you've changed me.

 

[-Nemo-]

Day 39

Baby Count: 8


Nothing new to report. Fed some more nutramar ova and flake food. I forgot to mention this earlier, I started feeding them a lot more. they're now being fed 4-5 times a day, with rotations of flake food, enriched flake, nutramar ova and BBS.
This picture was just cute enough for a new avatar.

Clutch 4
Day 13

Baby Count: 9


Looks like one is already getting his second stripe, and a few more are getting their head stripes. And then there's the new runt who's teeny and isn't even wagging his caudal fin yet. I guess there's one in every batch. Fed some BBS today and still giving some rotifers for the smaller ones.

Second stripe can be just seen

Clutch 5
Day 8

Egg Count: Still around 570

Hatch night tonight!
Still very excited about these guys! Hoping for a large hatch rate.

The Close-up:

I've been planning on setting up a small hatchery system, especially when I start raising the cleaners and cardinals and whatever else ends up catching my attention, just haven't gotten around to it yet; Still in the planning stages. So this is what the corner of my living room looks like:

I have room for 4 larvae tanks (clutch 5 is going into the left container) and then the grow out tank isn't pictured, but it's on the right. This will keep me until I can set up the other system. I've Got 2 weeks until Cleaner eggs hatch so hopefully by then!

Wow! 1.3 cm? It looks atleast an inch in the pictues. Now spending my time on SW alittle more than FW. Hmm, you've changed me -Nemo-, you've changed me.

Nope, they're still small little fish. I need to figure out a more accurate way to measure them.
1 person down... lots more to go

 

[Haych]

wow the second batch are really coming on with their stripes!

 

[SBL]

So, by tommorow you'll be raising 3 batches at one time. Up for the challenge young Nemo of the Anemone? I need to start reading, already thinking of changing over the remaining 29 USG instead of getting rid of it. You're crazy Nemo. Changing the word is un-realistic as Bon Scott from AC/DC being still alive.

P.S. Whats this ^guys^ problem?