GBR eggs!

[chinoanoah]

I have had a female GBR that produced eggs before (with no success), and now she has done it again but this time with a different father fish in the tank. This time it is a gold ram (which i wasn't even sure if it was a male or not). Does the female only develop eggs when she wants to procreate? Does the male have any say in her decision? Anyway -- I'm so stoked! They are protected the eggs quite well from the tetras so far!

Noah

[robott]

yay. how exciting. (my exclamation point doesn't work, or else there'd be a lot more.)

[joy13]

There is a variety of things that can cause a female to want to spawn. Water changes with cooler water, it simulates the rainy season will work sometimes. Extra water changes. Change of food can cause it too. Temperature change either warmer or cooler will cause fish to spawn.

Do you have plans of keeping the fry or are you going to let nature take its course?

[new2betas]

Originally Posted by joy13

There is a variety of things that can cause a female to want to spawn. Water changes with cooler water, it simulates the rainy season will work sometimes. Extra water changes. Change of food can cause it too. Temperature change either warmer or cooler will cause fish to spawn.

Do you have plans of keeping the fry or are you going to let nature take its course?

I concur with this Joy - when I do a large or small water change with slightly cooler water and feed frozen bloodworms, I can pretty much guarantee my pair will be "in the mood".

[SWerner13]

protect those eggs!!! you can use my twenty gallon tank if you need it

[chinoanoah]

I plan on keeping the fry if i ever get any. Any way of ensuring that I get fry?

[joy13]

There is no way to say for sure to say you will have fry. Some parents takes them a few times to get it right others will eat the eggs right off. If you have eggs that make it you should start seeing wigglers in a day or 2. After the egg sack is consumed you will have to decide to live in the tank but with tetras they will probably get eaten in a little while. Do you have any cultures started for live food or are you going to do something else?

Do you have any idea what made them want to spawn?

[chinoanoah]

No clue. Only thing new i did was starting my fert dosing. Still no co2. The male GGR has only been in the tank for about 2 weeks.

What are cultures?

[chinoanoah]

Some of the eggs are a LOT brighter than others, and now surface of my water seems to have a little hint of a film over it (....semen?)

Is there a link someone can give me that tells me the way to raise the fry the best? Should i remove the oto's and tetras?

[timwag2001]

i'm in the same boat as you. just noticed the parents gaurding the eggs. i guess i'm gonna have to get a new tank. i want to keep the fry. what do you mean cultures?

also the eggs are attached to a plant. should i remove the whole plant?

[bs6749]

Hate to disappoint you all but ram eggs hatching out in a community tank isn't that common. Even less common is the presence of any wigglers and even more rare than that is any decent number of the fry making it to adulthood. It just doesn't happen in the wild or community tanks. 1-3 adults may be produced out of a clutch of 150-200 eggs in the wild. The whole concept behind breeding setups is to maximize the number of fry that make it by minimizing predation (even the parents may snack on the fry) and maximizing available food resources.

Cultures refers to colonies of microworms, walter worms, vinegar eels, BBS, etc. that are most commonly fed to free-swimming GBR fry with depleted or absent yolk sacs.

The film on the surface is most likely the result of the fertilizer that you dosed and nothing more. It may also indicate that you need to up the aeration and/or surface agitation of the tank.

Any eggs that are unfertilezed should be obviously white right now if there are any present. The parents may have picked out the bad ones. Depending on when the eggs were laid and the water temperature you should have wigglers about 60 hours after they were laid. They can hatch out as soon as 48 hours or as late as 72 hours. My experience has been ~60 hours at ~84 degrees.

[timwag2001]

if i remove the leaf that the eggs are on and put them in another tank. what do you think the odds are? do i need to keep both parents with them?

[bs6749]

If you move the eggs you should leave the parents where they are. It's very possible to artificially rear the fry. Start with a smaller container for the eggs. I recommend 1/2-1g glass jars. Keep them there for the first 2 weeks so that you can keep the food to water ratio high and the fry don't spend energy looking for food. This means that they will grow faster and be ready to move to a 10g tank sooner. It also means that you will have to change the water about every day. There are some other tricks to avoid changing it every day but if you can change every day that's best in my opinion.

[timwag2001]

ok. does my jar need filtration or airation at all?
and what kind of culture and how do obtain and start it?

[bs6749]

You should put an airstone just over top of the eggs and the surface of the water should be slightly rolling AT MOST. Preferrably I'd back the flow down a little bit. Put a capful of hydrogen peroxide into the jar every 12 hours to kill bacteria and fungi.

Cultures can be found on www.aquabid.com in the live foods section. Just look for a culture starter of microworms and you shoud be all set. Directions should be included with the culture, if not you can do a quick google search and pull up tons of different sources on the subject.

[colematthewmalaka]

Put some antifungal solution in the tank such as Maroxy.
You'll need a microworm culture or vinegar eels or something then after about ten days you can use BBS (baby brine shrimp.)

[bs6749]

It's very rare that fungi attack eggs and I wouldn't treat for fungi. I'd treat for bacteria, which are almost always what looks like fungus attacking the eggs. It's true that the bacteria will attack eggs, but nearly all of the time the eggs are unfertilized. Healthy eggs should be able to defend against bacteria until the wigglers hatch out. The threat to healthy wigglers from this fungus-like bacteria is that they may become trapped in the webs and be unable to get away. Treating with hydrogen peroxide is an effective method for those that may not have access to fish meds. Acriflavin is by far the choice antifungal agent among breeders due to its effectiveness. Maroxy is more of a treatment for a fish that already has an ailment rather than being used as a preventative.

[chinoanoah]

Ok. I'm going back home soon and I'll update you all with the progress.

[colematthewmalaka]

Originally Posted by bs6749

It's very rare that fungi attack eggs and I wouldn't treat for fungi. I'd treat for bacteria, which are almost always what looks like fungus attacking the eggs. It's true that the bacteria will attack eggs, but nearly all of the time the eggs are unfertilized. Healthy eggs should be able to defend against bacteria until the wigglers hatch out. The threat to healthy wigglers from this fungus-like bacteria is that they may become trapped in the webs and be unable to get away. Treating with hydrogen peroxide is an effective method for those that may not have access to fish meds. Acriflavin is by far the choice antifungal agent among breeders due to its effectiveness. Maroxy is more of a treatment for a fish that already has an ailment rather than being used as a preventative.

I always have trouble with fungus and use maroxy to prevent it it works great, i breed bettas and almost always have fungus problems.

[timwag2001]

thanks for the advice bs!

how do i change the water out without sucking out the wigglers?