Artificially raising Keyhole cichlids REPORT.

[Billsgate]

28/05/2005

Moved the eggs to hatching tank. No agression from the parents when removing, it was done quickly. Eggs left the water for 5 seconds before immediatly entering breeding tank (I know, should acclimate them, but it'll be fine....I hope) There are around 200 eggs. Not all of them are allowed to make it, or else I'm in deep trouble.......I could get rid of 40 though. I'll also be 'removing' fish that stay behind in growth. This advice was given to me by my lfs. And I think they're right, that way only the healthiest specimens are introduced back into the lfs. And I don't have room for fishies that stay behind. Harsh, but necessairy. :?
Hatching should start around 6:00 p.m. on the 29th of may (my birthday!!! )

Will keep you posted on progress!!

 

[BrianNY]

Great job Thomas! One more thing..... It's unlikely that all of the eggs will hatch. If you notice any that are obviously fungused, remove them with tweezers or eye dropper. This will help prevent fungus from spreading to other eggs.

 

[Billsgate]

I already see 2 eggs that are growing fungus. Will remove them asap. I've also read that the methylene (?) blue is used to stop blue light, which stimulates fungus growth. I'm covering the tank completely with towels and checking every now and then. Tank is covered to keep light from reaching the eggs too much so fungus doesn't grow as fast.
I forgot to pick up the methylene blue few days ago at the lfs, so I'll see how this method goes.

BTW, parents are still protecting the area where I removed the rock from. Silly beasts... hope they aren't mad at me for doing this With good feedings and regular water changes they spawn every 2-3 weeks, so next time they can try to raise them themselves again. (If my artificial raising works out, otherwise I will remove the eggs to try again.)

Tank is filled with a mixture of 50% water from the tank they came from and 50% water from my other tank. (all have same water values)

Here are the readings for my breeding tank water:
NO2: 0
NO3: <10ppm
PH: 7,4
GH: >16°d
KH: 3° d

 

[Jchillin]

Tank is filled with a mixture of 50% water from the tank they came from and 50% water from my other tank. (all have same water values)

That answers my question...I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Billsgate]

Wahoo, I'm beginning to see wigglers!!!!

Eggs are hatching now. I think there are around 80 'good' eggs left, rest has gone white (though my estimation of 200 original eggs was a bit high, maybe 150).
I had a hard time removing the eggs that had fungus on them. I tried with tweezers, but I always caught at least one other Good egg as well. So I decided against removing them. And the ones I did get loose either busted when I got hold of them with my tweezers, or flew off the rock into the tank, thus creating waste, and I don't want that, because I'm not doing any water changes in the first week and a half-2 weeks.

So once all eggs have hatched I'll wave the wigglers of the rock and remove the rock with the 'bad' eggs on it. That way removing most of the waste without having to syphon off with the risk of removing wigglers.

Keeping my fingers crossed!!


I will try to take pics of the wigglers, BUT, my digi cam sucks, so things this tiny may be hard to catch.

 

[Jchillin]

Congrats...you became a keyhole "dad" on your birthday to boot!!!

 

[Billsgate]

Morning of 30/05/2005

Last night before I went to bed I removed all the babies from the rock. I did this by gently brushing by them with my finger. All of them got loose, but also allot of fungused eggs :?

They were spread throughout the whole bottom of the tank. In the morning when I woke up, nearly all the wigglers had somehow moved themselves together! So they're now nicely wiggling next to eachother.

There are around 50-60 wigglers.

Here are some pics, notice the high amount of bad eggs. Not going to syphon them off though, because I will suck allot of babies up.


General view:

Detail of wigglers+ bad eggs:

 

[BrianNY]

Congrats Thomas. You've earned my respect as an outstanding aquarist.

 

[Jchillin]

Ditto - Not that you hadn't earned it already.

(Psst...update your sig...you're a father)

 

[Billsgate]

Congrats Thomas. You've earned my respect as an outstanding aquarist.

Thank you

Ditto - Not that you hadn't earned it already.

Again, Thanks!

(Psst...update your sig...you're a father)

Done!

 

[verucaproduce]

That is so very cool! Thanks for sharing this with us. Now if you were just in the U.S. so I could buy some babies. *sigh*

Oh...and Happy Belated Birthday!

 

[revhtree]

That is awesome Thomas!!! Congrats!!!

Keep us updated!

 

[MOOGLY]

Have a better pic of the fry ? they look so tiny I would love to see what they look like.

We have keyholes and love em they are such neat fish to watch they get along well with our molly's too

 

[kaaikop]

Wow, how cool!!!
Keep us updated, can wait to see pictures of them growing up!
Congratulations, great job!

 

[Billsgate]

Thanks again everyone

That is so very cool! Thanks for sharing this with us. Now if you were just in the U.S. so I could buy some babies.

I hope you find some!!! Would be neat to have some more people owning these nice fishies.

Have a better pic of the fry ? they look so tiny I would love to see what they look like.

The fry are indeed tiny, they are just about 1 mm across. I made a drawing just to give you a general idea. The black marking on the back, I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's their keyhole yet

 

[Fluff]

That is incredible Thomas. Congrats!!!

 

[Blucat]

wow i hope they all survive! You still got a high turnout of wrigglers

 

[revhtree]

Those are so cute. I would love to be able to do that with clownfish.....

Cant wait to see them hatch out! Top notch!

 

[Billsgate]

Those are so cute. I would love to be able to do that with clownfish.....

Go for it!!!!!! Seriously!


31/05/2005

Yesterday I found an excellent way of removing the bad eggs. It took painstakingly long, but at least now all is clean. All the bad eggs started growing a hairy fungus on them. Just took me a tweezer and allot of patience to remove all of them by grabbing them by the hair

I don't see any dead wigglers whatsoever, so I'm thinking all are still there!
Their eyes are now more clearly visible, they are starting to hop around every now and then, but it's mainly still wiggling, and trying to land back on their bellies. (Hard to stay upright when you're belly is super fat. ) The tails are also growing, and there are more black markings on their bodies. I've seen some pictures of 2 week old keyhole fry on the net, and they too have allot of random blackish spots, camouflage colours I think.

Here's another pic, it's a bit blurry, but if you look closely you'll see the tails on some of them.

 

[Fluff]

ohhh, how exciting.