shantyt
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Howdy,
I am a relative newbie to keeping aquaria. I have a 25gal planted aquarium that's been set up for about a month. Despite my inexperience, I seem to have pretty awesome luck, because I was able to get my Neon Tetras to spawn earlier today. You know the drill, conditioned them on BBS and flake, did a large water change with slightly cooler water last night, today they were in a spawning frenzy. Got a few with the net and put them in a homemade breeder, so those eggs are safe from the other tankmates. It was AWESOME watching them spawn, little spurts of clear eggs were clearly seen shooting out of the females while the males simultaneously fertilized them.
Anyway, I started some infusoria outdoors about a week ago by placing a banana peel in a gallon jug of water in full sun. I also did the same with a piece of pear.
Neither infusoria culture seems to be doing badly, they both smell slightly funky (the banana peel one smells like a un-kept aquarium, the pear one smells like yeast-fermented sludge). The solutions are both cloudy (bacteria for sure), however I was unable to distinguish any "flecks" or larger microorganisms when samples were held up to the light. I have never made infusoria before, are these cultures OK to use for feeding my fry?
I also have a sponge filter that's pretty filled up with algae, cyanobacteria, and no doubt protozoa, etc. Should I just squeeze this into the breeder with the fry? I also have lots Hornwort and Java Moss in the breeder.
I've read you can use boiled egg yolk for newborn fry. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm a little hesistant to use the infusoria cultures for fear of introducing too much bacteria to the system, and I know I have lots of cyanobacteria on my sponge filter, which may or may not contain toxins. I don't want to kill my first batch of fry here.
Any comments or help would be MUCH appreciated.
Thanks,
Will
I am a relative newbie to keeping aquaria. I have a 25gal planted aquarium that's been set up for about a month. Despite my inexperience, I seem to have pretty awesome luck, because I was able to get my Neon Tetras to spawn earlier today. You know the drill, conditioned them on BBS and flake, did a large water change with slightly cooler water last night, today they were in a spawning frenzy. Got a few with the net and put them in a homemade breeder, so those eggs are safe from the other tankmates. It was AWESOME watching them spawn, little spurts of clear eggs were clearly seen shooting out of the females while the males simultaneously fertilized them.
Anyway, I started some infusoria outdoors about a week ago by placing a banana peel in a gallon jug of water in full sun. I also did the same with a piece of pear.
Neither infusoria culture seems to be doing badly, they both smell slightly funky (the banana peel one smells like a un-kept aquarium, the pear one smells like yeast-fermented sludge). The solutions are both cloudy (bacteria for sure), however I was unable to distinguish any "flecks" or larger microorganisms when samples were held up to the light. I have never made infusoria before, are these cultures OK to use for feeding my fry?
I also have a sponge filter that's pretty filled up with algae, cyanobacteria, and no doubt protozoa, etc. Should I just squeeze this into the breeder with the fry? I also have lots Hornwort and Java Moss in the breeder.
I've read you can use boiled egg yolk for newborn fry. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm a little hesistant to use the infusoria cultures for fear of introducing too much bacteria to the system, and I know I have lots of cyanobacteria on my sponge filter, which may or may not contain toxins. I don't want to kill my first batch of fry here.
Any comments or help would be MUCH appreciated.
Thanks,
Will