Boom Boom Bolivians..... LOL Pics 7/23/07 - Aquarium Advice

Lonewolfblue · 07-23-2007, 04:55 AM

Well, this morning during feeding, all my Bolivians were acting normally, and came and met me for food. I then went outside, and worked on my front fence. When I was done for the day, I came back in and didn't see either of the Bolivian pairs. I looked around, and guess what I saw? Both pairs layed eggs at the same time, lol. Now I'm sitting on 2 sets of eggs, LOL. When they start spawning, they don't quit, LOL.

black hills tj · 07-23-2007, 10:32 AM

Hmm...anyone ever shipped eggs?

Lonewolfblue · 07-23-2007, 07:51 PM

Will let you know how things go. It really got to me so bad that I had to bring up one of my breeder tanks, put water from my 75G in it, and took a spoon and moved the eggs from the one in the gravel into the breeder tank with a sponge filter. Will see if I can raise some fry this time. It's a glass bottom 10G, and the only gravel in it is from the small spoonfull when I scooped up the eggs. I also have a powerhead in there for circulation, which I'll remove when the eggs start hatching and I start getting free-swimmers and let the sponge filter provide the only circulation. It's rated for a 30G tank, so it does have some circulation, lol.

**Zagz** · 07-23-2007, 08:59 PM

Good luck Wolf, I was able to raise the bolivian fry so I am sure you will have no trouble.

Lonewolfblue · 07-24-2007, 01:13 AM

Here's pics.....

SparKy697 · 07-24-2007, 11:18 AM

Wow, what a day!

If those were GBR eggs I would say that they look nice and fertile by their color. Is the same true for the bolivians?

If your experience is anything like mine, you should be ok. I had to remove the female early because of aggression from the male. Then the male died shortly after the babies became free swimmers. The little ones seem to do ok on their own from what I can tell although I only got 5 out of the whole spawn of 80 or so eggs.

Good luck and keep the pictures coming!

Lonewolfblue · 07-24-2007, 11:49 AM

Yup, same for Bolivians. The coloring is nice, and can start seeing the eyes. They should be hatching real soon. When they go bad, they turn white, like the GBR's.

Lonewolfblue · 07-25-2007, 12:33 PM

Look at all these wigglers.....

Edit:
Well, since the tank wasn't cycled, now that I'm getting ready to feed the fry again, I moved a cave from my 26G over to the 10G, which will have beneficial bacteria on it. Also, it's loaded with java moss. That should take care of the cycling, lol.

SparKy697 · 07-26-2007, 09:28 PM

Hey! They are well on their way!

I noticed that mine seem to really like hiding in moss too. Hope you have a high survival rate.

Lonewolfblue · 07-26-2007, 10:47 PM

Well, I don't know what it is, but they just don't stay alive. I've searched all over, and I only find 2 that are still alive. All the others are dead.

Edit:
Could this be the key? Nitrates?

http://cichlidae.com/article.php?id=31

Quote:

Fry Development
The female moved the wrigglers by mouth into the depression that had been dug beside the spawning rock. The wrigglers were tended carefully by the female, for the 4-5 days it took for them to become free-swimming. The male continued to defend the spawning territory, checking on the brood frequently for several seconds at a time. For the brood care period, the yellowish body colour, the black eye stripe and the black lateral blotch of both the male and female, became very intense. The pair continued to feed during the spawning cycle, however, the female would not leave the brood for very long. The fry may be left with the adults, however, the numbers decrease quickly in a community aquarium, as the parents are not particularly efficient at defending the mobile fry. Also, the intake on any power filter should be covered with a sponge that does not restrict the water flow but, pre- vents the mobile fry from being sucked into the filter. To ensure some fry survival, I removed most of the fry, about 90%, soon after they became free-swimming. I placed them in a 40 liter (10 gal.) aquarium, with- out substrate, filtered with a mature sponge filter for the first week or so, then transferred them to a 120 liter (33 gal.) filtered with a sponge filter and a box filter with the lid removed (so it does not trap fry). I did, however, leave the pair in the community aquarium with a few fry to ensure pair bond stability, although, after several days, all those fry had been eaten by the other fish in the aquarium. Rearing the fry presents few problems. They can be started on live, newly hatched , with prepared foods added later as they grow. However, the fry seem sensitive to nitrates, which can cause mortality rates up to 100%. I lost the entire first brood to nitrate toxicity before realizing their sensitivity to it. To prevent further losses due to nitrate, I did a 30-50% water change every other day, combined with regular filter cleanings. This resulted in healthy, fast growing fry from the three subsequent broods the original pair produced. Another rather obvious precaution is to not crowd the fry excessively during the first few months. I used a 120 liter (33 gal.) aquarium for the 80-100 fry per spawn for the first three months or so, then moved them to a 90 cm, 160 liter (3 foot, 40 gal) aquarium to prevent crowding. After several months they begin to show the adult colour pattern, at which time they can be sold or traded to reduce density in the rearing aquarium. The young fish can usually be sexed at about 4 cm (1.6 inches) total length, around 5 months old.