I got eggs again.....

[Lonewolfblue]

I now have eggs in my 29G Planted tank. It was quite interesting, they dug severaal pits, and chased fish away. Then finally decided on this one leaf. lol. Pretty cool. And the planted 10G is getting ready to lay eggs again, probably very shortly, lol. And as for the other 2 breeder tanks, they aren't quite ready yet I guess, lol. But anyways, here's a couple pics....

Edit:
And they are defending a 6+ inch radius around the area, lol. Pretty cool......

[trotty]

Great photos, good luck, i hope they come through for you!

[EXM]

For the eggs try using methalane Blue. It demotes fungal and bacterial growth on the eggs, and is even healthy for the other fish and plants follow the directions exactly though. If you overdose, you can kill your plants, possibly eggs, and you will turn your glass blue. So be very careful when dosing. I would reccomend underdosing slightly, just in case.

[Lonewolfblue]

Nope, not going to use Methalene Blue. This is a show tank, and I don't want to take any chances.

[rich311k]

Congrats Wolf. Good luck.

[bs6749]

Hey Lonewolfblue, do you use pimafix and melafix when your fish spawn? I think I remember you saying something about some blackwater additive (by Tetra possibly) to minimize fungal infections and I am interested in trying some out. Anyone else use the blackwater stuff? It never fails that my eggs get some fungus (even after changing all ten gallons of the grow out tank). I guess it is my fault because the parents are not present to fan the eggs and I have a hard time picking off the white eggs. Any suggestions on doing this?

Sorry to hijack your thread. Great pics of your fish and good luck with the little guys. : )

[kostasonia]

Wow, how nice. Can you just post your water parameters? Just to confirm the theory...

[Lonewolfblue]

As for anti-fungal, I've been using Hydrogen Peroxide 3%. I dose 5ml per 10G. But I'm not dosing anything in the planted tank. It's usually the 10G where I move the eggs to that I dose. I use Pimafix after the eggs hatch. As for Blackwater, never used it.

As for water parameters....
Temp - 89 degrees (Treating ick)
ph - 6.4 (Pushed by CO2)
CO2 - Approx 47ppm
gh - 100
kh - 70
ammonia - 0ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
nitrate - Approx. 25ppm
phosphate - approx. 2ppm

[bs6749]

When I dose for fungus I do the HP thing along with the recommended dosage for both pimafix and melafix but I STILL get fungus. I have no idea what is going on. I really don't know what else I could do for treating it. I have heard that the blackwater stuff helps to rid the fungus and is used by some discus breeders for this reason. Should I try a very low pH like 5.0-5.5? Maybe my placement of airstone is not correct? Who knows...

Edit: Sorry for posting the wrong thing... I use maroxy and not melafix which is for bacteria (the melafix) correct?

[Jchillin]

Spawned again eh? Do you have enough room in the fry tanks?

[maxwell1295]

I say it's time for LWB to get more tanks or start shipping some of those babies to NY.

[rich311k]

Originally Posted by maxwell1295

I say it's time for LWB to get more tanks or start shipping some of those babies to NY.

I think this is an excellent idea.

[Lonewolfblue]

Originally Posted by bs6749

When I dose for fungus I do the HP thing along with the recommended dosage for both pimafix and melafix but I STILL get fungus. I have no idea what is going on. I really don't know what else I could do for treating it. I have heard that the blackwater stuff helps to rid the fungus and is used by some discus breeders for this reason. Should I try a very low pH like 5.0-5.5? Maybe my placement of airstone is not correct? Who knows...

Edit: Sorry for posting the wrong thing... I use maroxy and not melafix which is for bacteria (the melafix) correct?

The key to the fungus is circulation/ Try using a small powerhead on the opposite end of the taank directed at the eggs. Then when they start hatching, remove the powerhead so they fry don't get sucked into the powerhead. But keep a distance between the eggs and the powerhead so you don't blow them all over.

[bs6749]

Lonewolfblue... I just cleaned out my 10 gallon tank (yes again) and I put eco complete on the bottom (getting plants tomorrow from fish_4_all). I put ALL RO/DI water in the tank along with a few drops of pH down to help lower it a bit. Right now it is at 6.8-7.0. I also added 5ml of Tetra Blackwater stuff (instead of the recommended 10ml/10 gallons). My female is going to lay eggs tonight so I think I will put them in the 10 gallon tomorrow after school.

As for the current... I have a whisper 10 HOB filter in there along with a 6" long or so airstone that has created quite a current. I will shove a piece of sponge filter in the intake of the HOB filter once they hatch. Maybe I should try a powerhead though next time if I can't get one before I put the eggs in. What temperature would you recommend keeping the fry tank at? I am pretty sure you are going to say the same as the main tank that they will be taken from so that is what I am prepping for right now. But do you think they may do better at a slightly higher/lower temp than the main tank? It is set at 80 degrees. My only real problem after I have the fry hatch is that they only seem to last for 7- 10 days. Do you think that they can't find the food that I feed them? I start to feed them before they have lost their egg sac completely and become free swimming. I really want to figure out what is wrong.

[EXM]

I have just recieved notice that if you are loosing fry, you should try sand. The fry are so small that they will slip 'into' the gravel and may die. My source said that when one removes the undergravel filter, you will see the fry under there.

[bs6749]

My first few tries were in a bare bottom 10 gallon tank. The next few tries were in the same cleaned out 10 gallon with pool filter sand. They seemed to like the sand. The fry in the filter could just be the ones that died and THEN got sucked in and not the other way around.

[chantale101]

Congrats Lonewolfblue!!

[Lonewolfblue]

As for the water, someone else had told me if using RO water, to not dilute it more than 50% RO. The eggs and fry still needs some hardness to properly develop. And stay away from chemicals like ph down. Don't worry about the ph. Just bring hardness down, which will bring TDS down as well. And also, the blackwater does the same I believe, lowers ph. If it does, then blackwater is ok to use as a ph lowering additive. Ph down will only bounce right back up in a couple days and cause fluctuations in ph. Once I get another tank, I'll set it up as eggs only. Currently I have no available tanks, so the eggs are still with the parents. And the parents are doing an awsome job protecting them. They are on day 2. And guess what? The other planted 10G tank is laying eggs as I type this, lol. Got 2 batches of eggs now, lol. They are the ones that have been laying eggs every 7-9 days.

As for the Eco, it's pretty fine with some larger gravel. Nothing to worry about with the eggs or wigglers. Also, I don't use under-gravel filters. So there's nothing under the Eco Complete. Just plant roots, lol.

Also, what plants are you getting from fish_4_all? He's got some good plants. For my planted tank, my main plant is Wisteria, as it will suck everything out of the water, lol. You won't have any water issues with it in the tank. There's another one I got from him that's doing excellent in my 10G, and is another nutrient hog. I believe it's a hygro, just can't remember the name off the top of my head. It's great for breeder tanks, as well as egg tanks. That way if you do overfeed, which I do with fry to make sure they get plenty to eat, I have no issues, as I have the wisteria.

Also, for snails, great cleanup crew. Just don't have them with eggs or wigglers. They will eat them. If you can make sure it's snail free til they are free-swimming, then go ahead and add snails as your clean-up crew.

[Burks]

Your GBR's are just breeding factories! Running out of room yet?

[bs6749]

I am getting wisteria from fish_4_all LOL. Funny, LOL. I think he is including some other clippings for me but I am not sure. I guess I will find out later this afternoon when hopefully they arrive. He sent them out Monday, I think, by priority so...probably today? I don't know what I am going to do for lighting though as I do not have a light soley for the 10 gallon tank. What I think I am going to do is put the 24" light from my 55 gallon over it at night when I go to bed. It has an 18,000K Powerglo lightbulb in it. Is this too bright? I think I am going to take 5 gallons from my main tank and put it in the 10 gallon and the 5 from the 10 I will put in the main.