My last success was with Java Fern. The roots are a great hideout. But then I got Angels, and the only plants not destroyed were Anubius, Amazon Swords, and a Tiger Lotus that is hanging on.
Well after the sad news of yesterday I got up to believing there is a fish god. This morning I woke up to 18 fertile cory eggs. Here we go again. I suspect the panda's but we never know!
I have 5 healthy fry. They are either panda's or melini - too soon to tell just yet. I also woke up to more eggs this morning so I have 20 or so eggs in another pot floating in my fry tank! I suspect the panda's again but it's too soon to say for sure.
This is a photo of the 5 taken last night
I've been raising them in a plastic sandwich box which fits neatly into my breeder net cage which is hung on the side of my fry tank. I've added loads of java moss and I've been feeding them on microworms. Every night before bed I take them out of the tub (I suck them up with my turkey baster) and move the fry into a seperate container and change all the water for water from my main tank. I then add the fry back and add some more microworms, put the moss back over them and pop them back into the cage in my fry tank. They just have an airstone in with them. They are 2 weeks old today
In a week or so I'll be moving my baby harlequins out of the fry tank just in time for the cory fry to move in
I still have 5 fry but now I also have more eggs too!
I collected about 20 eggs but there's quite a few that arn't fertile. It looks like about half of them are good. They're starting to darken but I know now from experience that that means nothing. I've had a lot of eggs darken slightly only to stop and not actually hatch. We shall see what happens.
The fry are growing well now. I've still got them in a plastic tray with some moss and an air stone. I've not done it this way before so I'm jittery about it but so far it's working. Every evening I remove the fry using my turkey baster and set them aside and then throw away their water and take some fresh from the parents tank. This 100% water change daily seems to be keeping ammonia at bay. I have a culture of microworms on the go for food for them. I've not actually seen them eating any but they must be otherwise they would have starved by now.
There is one of the five that is smaller so that one isn't eating as much as the others - either that or 4 are female and the little one is male!
Argh!! I now have several furry eggs but the problem is they are well and truely glued to fertile eggs! I've tried gently swishing them around with a pipette in an effort to unstick them but no joy. I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to lose the lot now
I don't no, I need to get some next time I'm in a fish store. The breeding seems to be getting more prolific now so having some in stock won't be a waste
panic over - the eggs are hatching. I have one out so far. Now for the next dilema .... can the newly hatched babies go in with the two week old babies or are they large enough to eat them ??? Hmm
the 1st batch will be 3 weeks old on Monday so nearer to 3 weeks than 2 week old. They're about half a cm in length now and are still on microworms. They are still living in the plastic tray floated in my fry tank, the fry tank still holds 10 juvenile harlequins which are about 2cm - almost big enough to move out. The angels wouldn't be able to eat the females as they are deeper bodied but the males amongst the 10 are slim enough to be angelfish food.
I have no other choice now than to make a decision: Do I risk that half cm cories could eat newly hatched or do I risk moving the harlequins. On balance I think the 1st cory batch are still too small to be able to find food in a 30 litre tank as I think they'd be scared to break cover for fear of being harlequin food and so keeping them where they are for another week is a good plan - that's following Ian Fullers advice aswell.
I think I'm going to have to risk adding the newly hatched to the tray with the 1st batch and hope for the best
okay so I got brave. The juvenile harlequins have joined the adults in the big tank - so far so good. My angel's havn't even noticed!
The (nearly) 3 week old cories are now living in my floating breeder box with some moss in the fry tank and the newly hatched (4 so far) are in the plastic tray that the 3 weekers grew up in - that's also floating in my fry tank.
The beauty of the breeder box is that the 3 weekers now benefit from filtered water so I can stop sucking them up with a turkey baster now and just let them grow for another week or two. Then they can be set free into the tank. By then the newly hatched will be big enough to move into the breeder and by then I might just have more eggs!!
It's a case of rotating now. It seems the sensible option