Flooding around us but our house stayed dry! Still many roads closed and traffic is a pia. Some people lost everything, a friend of my daughters at work lost everything. Her boss just bought her a laptop (she is a parent and recently went back to college, again) and people have been bringing her groceries, and things she might need. So some things here make you want to cry, but for happiness now!
Thank you Andy,
and Bob.
My Pearlscale pair spawned two days ago and the eggs are still on the slate. ? I can see a few white ones on there so maybe this is a sign that they will let them become wigglers and maybe they will even get to adult size. I guess I will find out soon enough. I didn't post the day they spawned because every time I do they eat the eggs the next day. So I figured I would wait a couple of days to see would happen. ?
I know how you feel. It's hard to keep writing that "my most recent spawn has turned white, yet again " as has happened with the trio spawn (even tho it was expected.) On a brighter note, the female Marble, that I thought I was going to lose, today brought out her tube and is filling out nicely so spawn #2 ( another expected dud) should be just days away. WHOOOOPIEEEE
Well sorry to hear that Andy. I know exactly how you feel. I just walked by my breeder tank with the pearlscales and she was kicking his a$$ and I looked over at the slate and almost all of the eggs had turned white. She was making him pay for not doing his part. It was kinda funny because she had him trapped in the corner and she was going to town on him. I could just imagine in my head what she was saying to him. Lol Oh well maybe the next spawn he will do his part better.
I know that sometimes the partners take revenge for unsuccessful spawning results but it's not always the male not doing his part. My males have all gone through the spawning at full participation. Either they are shooting blanks, the females are sterile or the water is not right for the eggs to hatch. There are so many reasons why spawns don't survive. That male"bashing" is more a sign of immaturity of the female I believe. She should know that she needs him to make more babies. I'm just sayin'
That old addage that it take a few times for the fish to "get it right" may now need to be extended to more than a few times. in the case of my Silvers, this was to be their 6th spawn together before he croaked. I have done everything from lowering the PH, artificially hatch them, used just plain rain water and did nothing and I got the same results: DUDS. I believe the fish just need more practice at this point. That is why I am trying to get some proven successful breeders to see if they still have problems with my water. That to could be the problem. The water, where I am, may just not be suitable to hatch eggs in. THAT would mean a big change in my plans. But then again, none of the fish that have spawned have ever bred before so maybe it's an "A" for effort and a wait and see game. Who knows, time will tell. I don't get too up.... or down.... on new young fish spawning. Duds are SOP with them (Standard Operating Procedure.)
Don't let the female beat him up too much. Put in a glass divider if you have too to protect him. He might become useless if she beats him too badly.
'till next time
I have some very unfortunate news. I lost my black pair and their spawn. I'm a little uncertain as to what happened. I was away a day and a half leaving early Saturday morning returning mid afternoon Sunday which meant that I didn't feed them or see any of my fish before I left. I returned to finding them laying on the bottom of the tank and the eggs had gone fuzzy with the food in the tank completely untouched. What I do know is my wife mentioned that by the morning feeding one of them was laying on its side but still moving so she thought nothing of it. So this tells me that it wasn't any of her feedings that caused this (as it over feeding). Now the heater I had in the tank was one of those cheap tetra heaters that could barely keep the tanks at 74 so I purchased a new heater on Friday night and put it in that evening. Any thoughts on whether that could've cause this. A foreign substance on the heater that was toxic perhaps. The temp was 78. I checked that right away. I didn't bother checking the ammo and nitrite as I knew they would be through the roof with them being dead for almost 24 hours and the food also breaking down. I'm very saddened by this the lost of such beautiful fish.
I did not think to check to state of the gills. I can say that my tanks are all run by blower so air is pumped in there continually. Also the temperature was at 78 so extreme high temp is out. There is plastic in the tank so they weren't any co2 emitting from plants. Now as to the eggs covered in fungus could have been caused by fungus over the white eggs since the parents weren't there to pluck them away. Unfortunately this was their second attempt at spawning. They actually laid their eggs on Friday afternoon. I can say that I did water changes on Thursday evening. Since then I found the eggs laid after that were mostly white. Even from my koi angels which have been pumping out out large fertile spawns faithfully. I began to doubt the water quality from the tap.
There is much sad news here lately. I am so sorry for everyone's losses. Rather heart breaking. Wishing everyone some good new starts.
Oh so sorry for everyone's loss. I hope things get better for you all.
I agree. I'm more frustrated by the "what in the world happened" and would like to discover what happened for preventive measures. I've double checked all my water parameters and everything checks out. I can say that I normally use Prime but ran out and am using conditioner that's good for both fresh and saltwater. So I'm thinking in terms of what was different I did a water change using this conditioner and the heater is different. Is there a possibility that there was a toxic substance on the heater. Perhaps I should have scrubbed the heater first. Or do I have a bad batch of conditioner. I'll be performing and test on the conditioner this evening.
I know it sounds like I'm heartless but this is the nature of keeping livestock. Bottom line: sometimes they die for reasons unknown. Worse is that they are programmed to die in a fairly short amount of time compared to us and other longer lived pets. This is why I don't name my fish. It makes the loss even harder when you know that "Joe" ( arbitrary fish name) died today. Don't get me wrong, I do/did name some of my pets. For example, I had a squirrel Monkey for over 21 years. (average lifespan: 20- 25 years. Mine died at 24 years old.) He had a name My dogs, having lived for over 15 years ( average lifespan of my breeds: 10-15 years), had names. My turtles ( average lifespan from 25-100 years), had names. My fish (average lifespan: less than 5 years), had tank numbers My rule of thumb: if it can be flushed down a toilet, it doesn't get a name. Like I said, I know it sounds heartless but that's just me. I don't treat my fish with any less regard than any other pet I've had, I just know that I am not totally in control of their lifespan. You do the best you can and HOPE for the best. Truth is, if I mourned every fish I've lost over the years, I'd probably be huddled in a corner somewhere bawling uncontrollably like a baby as there have have been many losses in that time. Not all were surprises. Many of my fish lived their natural lifespans. I just get solace in the fact that I have created more fish than I've lost. That evens the score for me
So thank you all for your kind wishes but it's just part of the hobby.