Diary of the 10G GBR/Bolivian Grow-Out Tank w/pics 7/22/06..

[Zagz]

Congrats on the wigglers. Sorry it took me so long to get in on this thread. Been terribly busy. Will post that reason later.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

They are fry swimming around. No longer wigglers. They are all over the tank, lol.

Here's mommy and daddy....

 

[Jchillin]

Those wigglers look great, congrats on your brood and for taking a "second" and more close look inside the tank.

 

[Friendly]

Glad to hear that some survived Lonewolfblue!

I got a question about feeding the fry eggs yolks. After you boil the egg, do you just chop up the egg yolk into tiny little pieces and then feed it to the fry?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Nope....

What you do is take a pinch and put it into a small bowl of water. Then keep smooshing it til it's dissolved, then take an eye dropper and put a couple drops in the tank, or a small dose near the fry like target feeding. Just don't do a lot, as one small bit is enough to feed a lot of GBR fry.

So now it looks like I'll be making myself 2 hard boiled eggs a day, 1 with breakfast and 1 with dinner, lol. And the yolk is a great source of protien that they need.

 

[Billsgate]

Congrats on the free swimming fry! Hard to get pics when so small
Here's my (oldish) thread on raising keyhole cichlids from eggs to adolescents
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53273

I started feeding them freeze-dried BBS once they were free swimming. It's quite handy to have them freezedried, you just add hot water, let it sit for 5 mins, and it's ready! Ok, they are not live BBS, but I did manage to raise 50 out of 100 fry on only that. (And later crushed flakes+spirulina tabs)

One more thing, once they grow a bit larger you should add enough cover (java moss or ferns). It will make them more comfortable IMO, I didn't add any until they were quite large already, and they were always kind of skittish before.

Good luck on raising them!

 

[Guest]

Man we do good work, LOL LMAO congrads guy. Also on your nitrites proplum some of that could be the egg yolk in the tank. I know when I feed the yolk to my betta frys. The nitrites jumps to .5 ppm just like that. At the begaining i couldn't figure out why. I racked my brain til I found that after I done a water changes. It was fine then I added the egg and took a reading. hen I found that for some reason it was causing the nitrites to jump.
Never did figure it out why egg was causing the jump or spike. A guy told me it was the protain in the egg. I have no clue as to the ways of it but what you can do is do a W/C test it. Then add the egg and test it again. It'll jump in about 20mins. SO LWB when you get ready to get rid of them little guys. let me know I'm looking for some good breeding stock for my hatchery. I figure yours are pretty good there always breeding where as mine on the other hand just once about 2 months ago and nothing scents. LOL

 

[Lonewolfblue]

As for the nitrite spike, this was before I even added egg yolk. I'm still thinking it's because of the old eggs in there. Will test the water again today. Could be that I had plenty of ammonia bacteria, but the nitrite bacteria cut back too far. But they'll come back.

As for getting my GBR's, I got then at the lfs here. They only get non-domesticated fish. Currently they don't have any Rams, as she told me that when she's tried ordering, they have only had domesticated rams, and she hasn't ordered any. Can't wait til she get;s more. Would like to get 2 more females, as it will be a little bit for the new little ones to grow. That could also be another reason they are breeding so well, as they are not domesticated. You can also tell by being so colorful as well. She said the domesticated ones are pretty dull colored.

Edit:
New Update....
Did a PWC today of about 2.5G. Also added a couple small plants to see how they like it. And dosed a touch of potassium to help. The fry look great. Got about 40. Will get new pics up here shortly...

Edit:
Here's some new pics.....

Edit:
I decided to move some of the Bolivian wigglers and fry to the 10G. That way, if the Bolivians did anything, I'd still have a lot that I can raise, and not have to wait for the next spawning. Now I've got about 80-100 fry and wigglers in the 10G. Hope all goes well.

 

[crazyred]

Hey, LWB, I just got a ram pair, and I'm curious about your water params.....particulary pH, gH, and kH. I'm inspired by your success and I might try my hand at GBR breeding if I can use a tad of RO to adjust my hard water. What are your specifics?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

For my GBR's, I'm using crushed coral to bump up my kh a little. Here's my 75G stats....

ph 6.5-6.7 driven down by CO2 controller, 34-53ppm CO2
kh 100, 5.6 degrees
gh 70, 3.92 degrees
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 10-20ppm
phosphate 1.25ppm
temp 81-82 degrees
I also run 1 airstone 24/7, 1 inch airstone.

10G outgrow tank - tap water only, no CO2 or crushed coral
ph 7.2-7.4
kh 60
gh 70
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite currently .25ppm
nitrate <20ppm
temp 82

 

[crazyred]

Looks like I have a way to go on my gH!!!! My water looks like this:

pH- 7.0
kH- 120 ppm
gH- 300 ppm (19.7 degrees 8O )

ammonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate 5-10 ppm
temp 80

Dang, I need to get my gH down....I just don't think they'll spawn in this liquid rock do you?

EDIT: here a blurry pic I took of them this weekend with my cell phone. As you might can see the female is on the left and the male is on the right. I think I'm correct in the sex.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Here's the big secret of the Rams. STABILITY. Don't go messing around with your gh and kh, since you have a little harder water, your ph will remain much steadier than mine. That's why I'm using a handful of crushed coral in my 75G. Now with the addition of CO2, etc, my ph has been steady.

Are you injecting CO2? A ph of 7.0 with the hard water kind of looks like you might be. If you are, then I think you are right where you need to be. ph 7.0 or lower and a steady ph.

 

[crazyred]

Yeah, I have two giant pieces of DW in my 55 and I'm doing DIY CO2. At first, I was just using the Red Sea turbo system, but I spliced in the Nutrafin Hagen system to give me even more CO2. Using the chart, I figured that with just the Red Sea I had a little over 20 ppm of CO2....so, it should be even more now. I'll have to check later.

All I was going to do was throw some peat in a filter bag and put it in my HOB.....I think this would help with at least some of the gH. These guys seem pretty happy and the female has the pinkest little belly!!!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

If you can see if you can bump the CO2 up a little more, it will also help. Raising CO2 will lower ph, and if you can get it to around 6.8-6.9, you are doing great. I had my ph down to 6.2-6.4 before the crushed coral, and I didn't like it that low. Now I just have to maintain 6.5-6.7. I was at 6.7-6.9, but decided to lower it a little more.

 

[crazyred]

So the lower pH is more critical to breeding success than a low gH? Interesting. Peat would lower my pH a lot quicker than it would the gH. I would never consider pH down or any such thing. I will test the pH when I get home....it might have come down since starting up the additional CO2 cannister.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I feel the ph is more important than the gh. The gh doesn't have a whole lot to do with your ph, the kh does. That's why I raised my kh with crushed coral.

If you did want to soften it a little, then I'd use RO or distilled water, but then you need to remember you have to use it at every water change. With your parameters, I'd probably start with only 10% RO or distilled, and see where it takes you. But remember, making adjustments will affect the fish, so do it slowly. But if it were me, I'd just put out a little more CO2 if you could, and get the ph to about 6.8.

 

[Musket]

Congrats WOlf. I know you have been waiting a long long time.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, sure have.....

I also noticed that there were a bunch of wigglers in the gravel. I got them out with a turkey baster and moved them to the glass. There were still more when I decided to quit. But I can say one thing, I think I got a whole lot more than a hundred, lol. More than I thought I had, lol.

 

[crazyred]

That is so awesome LWB!!! I am def. inspired by your success. I'm getting an RO unit this week to start doing PWC's on my 55. I'm only going to use RO to replace a fraction of the water.....I will still use mostly tap. I feel this will help tremendously with my pH, kH and gH. Waht size was the tank theat the parents laid the eggs in? I know you got them out and put them in a 10 to hatch out and grow, how did you find them in the main tank? I've got SO many hidden areas in my 55 even if my Rams lay eggs, I'm not sure I would be able to find them.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It was in my 75G heavily planted. They always lay the eggs in the front right side corner in the anacharis. I think they use the anacharis as protection from the plecos, lol. Seems to stop them and they don't come any closer.