My Celebes Fry Updated: 10 Fry Now

[myrtle]

Those are beautiful looking fish Robby!
I have been feeding the adults the bbs every time I feed the fry. If I didn't I'd end up throwing half the bbs away anyway and it's perfect for the Threadfins who haven't been doing very well recently
With the bbs, once they've hatched do I need to continue the aeration (I know I have to use them within a day or two)? I've bought some food for the brine shrimp which I'm hoping will prevent the first hatched from dying and polluting the water while I hatch the next batch though I know the yolk sac will be gone and therefore the nutritient value will be far less.
I think the deaths may have been from the water as the hatching container was floating in the fry tank and as I used an anti-fungal treatment in the water I didn't aerate it. The fry hatched about 2 minutes before I ws going to leave to go to work so I didn't transfer them to the fry tank until about 4 hours after hatching (the fry tank being a breeding net within the original fry tank contining the month old fry so temp fluctuation is out of the equation). However, they are constantly spawning, I can't seem to stop them, so even with constant feeds of frozen food (daphnia, artemia, bloodworm) it must be taking it out of them. I think the only way to stop them spawning is going to be to drastically reduce the photoperiod andtry to give them chance to build themselves back up again! Hopefully the bbs will help with this.
Thanks again for all the advice, it's much appreciated!
Jo

 

[mikev]

You should maintain the aeration until you harvest and feed the shrimp... best to feed all of it and rinse the hatchery, or dying shrimp will spoil the culture.

Constant spawning should not damage the fish if everything else is ok... no reasons to even think in this direction... if your adults are not doing well (please explain!) then something else is wrong. Possibly wrong water or a disease.
If hatching container was simply floating, your antifungal could not get into it.... probably not this.

Leaving fry in a container for 4 hours will not kill it. Even for 12 hours. 24 hours -- possibly. They can do without aeration for a day. Not this.

 

[drobbyb]

No mike, I don't have those dubs anymore, I had to sell those too.

Right now I'm teetering on the edge: My mother in law has a 110 gallon tank sitting empty in her living room, and there has been talk of giving it to me. It would cost me about $300 to $350 to set it up properly, but an acoustic bass guitar is about the same price, and I've always wanted to play. Quite a dilemma lol.

 

[mikev]

uggh.... I happen to be an owner of 5 dubs... all females need to find a male somewhere.

good luck with your decision!

 

[myrtle]

The 9 Celebes are in a tank with the Threadfins (and other, see my sig) and over the last few days there has been quite a bit of flicking going on. I have also found a few (3) of the Threadfins dead over consecutive mornings although there has only been flicking with the pencilfish and the cories. The Celebes haven't been flicking but I've had to wait until yesterday before treating the tank as the medication will kill the shrimp and removing the shrimp took about half a day as there were a lot of sub-adult cherries to find! I've been feeding the ZM fry food 200 microns to the Threadfins as it is the perfect size for them (I also bought the infusoria grade and the 400 micron).
I started treating with Waterlife Sterazin yesterday straight after the weekly 50% w/c so hopefully once the treatment is completed they'll be feeling a bit better. As I say, the Celebes are showing no signs of flicking etc but of course that doesn't mean they aren't affected.

2 more fry have hatched and they seem fine so I have a total of 7 including last months now plus about 10 eggs that I picked yesterday. My hybrid herbies are also trying to spawn now! The dominant male is displaying a fabulous breeding stripe and chasing everything away from the moss including the fully grown angel although he is not succeeding in herding the females into it,much to his disgust, I'm sure!

Good luck finding your males Mike, you're in a better position over there than you would be here!

Robby, forget the guitar, you can pick one up for £40 in the free ads! Setthe tank up - you know you want to!!

 

[mikev]

yeah, this sounds like a protozoan infection. Cannot comment on the med -- unfortunately, in the UK they don't disclose the ingredients -- but hopefully this works. Good luck!

What makes you think your herbies are hybrids btw? Just because they are from a lfs, or something else is wrong?

 

[myrtle]

The herbies never quite looked right and I was quite sure they were hybrids when I bought them. This has been confirmed by some of the experienced breeders on the rainbowfish forums. One day I'd love to have some decent ones but in the UK it's nigh on impossible

 

[myrtle]

Just thought I'd update this thread with how the fry are doing. The first 3 that hatched are still going strong and now they are 2 1/2 months old they are large enough to see them properly. I think I've sussed out why they are seemingly aggressive to each other - they are all male. You can see their tiny little fins flaring at each other, it's rather cute! Unfortunately one of them appears to have a deformity to his mouth; he appears to be missing his top lip

. It's obviously not affecting his feeding but he does look a bit odd! The second lot of eggs that I picked all hatched and all seven are going well too. The bbs goes down very well and I've also been feeding the adult Threadfins and Celebes with it and their colours have really brightened since I started feeding it. Hopefully in another month or so I'll be able to introduce them to the main tank but at the moment they are still far too small!