Fish Spawning

[EGGBERT]

Hey Andy! Long time/no bug u!!! I've got some developments to report, and--as per usual--need your sage advice/opinion.

Firstly, fyi, my betta, Egglet, is not blind/no 'diamond eye'. Whatever the eyesight-afflicting issue was, between consistent water changing/monitoring & medication, the condition has subsided. He's doing GREAT--is beautiful & appears to be enjoying his existence. Fingers & fins crossed that this will continue.

Secondly--& this was a bit of a mind-blower for me, but I bet you'll laugh & not be remotely surprised; to wit: the conditions in my modest 10gallon are apparently conducive to reproduction; stand by for detailed explanation.

Aside from my amazement and wonder at the (unanticipated!!!) miracle of new life, there was my horror & crushing guilt at my sense of having committed veritable genocide: shortly after a routine water change (every 3-5 days at this point) I was gobsmacked to see '2' lively HILLSTREAM LOACH fry!!!!!!! One is particularly lively--approx. 3/8" in length--the other hides most of the time, is smaller.

Following this discovery I researched the reproductive habits of the hillstreams & learned that they're EGG LAYERS; I looked for pix of the eggs--couldn't find anything satisfactory--do you perchance have any good photos of them? I'd like to be able to recognize them.

Clearly, it's time to setup a BIGGER habitat. Apart from that, where I need ADVICE is re CLEANING (here & now): yesterday was the 5-day cleaning mark, but clearly--especially since there 'might' be other fry in hiding--I can't/WON'T use the siphon I've routinely employed--instead, I just removed/replaced (using cup) betw. 30-40% of the water. In the meantime I've purchased a couple of 'dainty' siphons--one w/a flow-speed control feature (ordered online, so waiting for receipt).

The occupants of the 10gallon are the hillstreams & snails--all algae eaters, but I supplement everyone's diet w/bottom feeder (omnivore) wafers (usually 1/2 per day--leftovers removed at day's end w/a 'baster').

Reminder: the tank has a bladder snail outbreak, so I introduced assassin snails (very efficient stealth-killers). Anyway, the fry & the bladder snails (before they're taken out by the assassins) are constantly grazing the bottom, so the detritus appears to not be a complete waste (no pun).

Primary concern here: CLEANING... How often, etc., especially since I'd prefer to avoid inadvertently slaughtering more developing, minuscule lifeforms.

Please advise. TY

 

[Andy Sager]

Congrats on the fry.
As for the Betta, anytime clean water helps resolve a problem, that's a sign that what one was doing before, was not right. I'll just leave that at that.
As for the eggs, I haven't worked with these fish before but did find this vid showing them hatching. They are the yellow things in the gravel:

Regular water changes and healthy water are triggers for fish to spawn so you need to keep up with the changing but you need to be a little more cautious as to not change the parameters too much as that can kill off the eggs. You can still use a siphon hose but just don't place it down to the bottom of the tank or around the base of plants as that's where the fish may have spawned. Depending on how many of these you want to have, you'll need to eventually clean up the bottom which means you may accidentally suck up some eggs but tank health comes first because without a healthy tank, the fish won't spawn. As my Mentor always told me, "You sacrifice the spawn to save the parents because the parents can make more spawns. " There's obviously enough food in the tank for at least these 2 fry to survive and they were in there for a bit if they look like their parents. Continue your water change schedule as before you found the fry since it obviously didn't affect them. If you can, doing smaller water changes ( say 20-25%) more frequently can help keep the water clean and not change the parameters too much. So if you were doing 30%-40% every 5 days, do 20%-25% every 2-3 days. Once the fry are large enough to not get sucked up in the siphon tube, you can do larger amounts less frequently.

I'll add that if you are going to upgrade the setup to a larger tank, set that new tank up and let it run for a bit to get some biofilm and algae growing in it before moving the fish into it. Just move the filter and/or filter material from the 10 to the new tank so your tank will be instantly cycled. If you add some of the decor or substrate from the 10 to the new tank, that will potentially help add some more microbes to the new tank. I'd skip adding the bladder snails in the new tank. If you must get snails, get nerite or other types that won't overpopulate the tank. ( Nerites will lay eggs but they won't hatch in straight freshwater. )

 

[EGGBERT]

Andy, thanks for the guidance; i will definitely do more frequent/smaller water changes, & that video was very helpful—now i have a clue what to look for!

About SNAILS The 10gal’s food source for the assassins (bladder snails) was hitchhikers (eggs or barely visible babies) that were concealed in a plant i added to the tank. No one enlightened me about the possibility of such interlopers & therefore there were no suggestions about how to avoid such a plague, but now i’m hep!!!!!

 

[Andy Sager]

Andy, thanks for the guidance; i will definitely do more frequent/smaller water changes, & that video was very helpful—now i have a clue what to look for!

About SNAILS The 10gal’s food source for the assassins (bladder snails) was hitchhikers (eggs or barely visible babies) that were concealed in a plant i added to the tank. No one enlightened me about the possibility of such interlopers & therefore there were no suggestions about how to avoid such a plague, but now i’m hep!!!!!

Accidents and hitchhikers can happen but you don't want to purposely add algae eaters into a tank with algae eating fish fry. That's all I'm saying. Use a method of dipping any plants or decorations that may conceal snails or snail eggs before adding them to the new tank.

As for the two different sized fry, it may be that they were from 2 different spawns or may be male and female size difference. There may also be more fry hiding in the tank.

 

[EGGBERT]

Andy, if one is rinsing plants to rid them of possible hitchhikers, is 'plain' (conditioned or not) water adequate or should another substance be added to it? e.g., hydrogen peroxide: I vaguely remember reading somewhere that that might be a useful additive when attempting to rid plants of dicey microorganisms & such; anything to this in your experience?

Also, re chemistry of the betta tank--the water's pH is consistently 7.6; I'd like to lower it SLIGHTLY--the snails require the higher pH. I recently acquired a packet of almond leaves, but am not sure how much I should drop in the tank (I'm guessing I need to add a 'piece' of, vs an entire leaf for such a small tank--yes?); needless to say, I don't want a drastic dip towards acidity, & I assume the leaf has to moulder for a bit before it does its thing (i.e., I'm assuming it doesn't work instantaneously). Please advise. TY

 

[Andy Sager]

Andy, if one is rinsing plants to rid them of possible hitchhikers, is 'plain' (conditioned or not) water adequate or should another substance be added to it? e.g., hydrogen peroxide: I vaguely remember reading somewhere that that might be a useful additive when attempting to rid plants of dicey microorganisms & such; anything to this in your experience?

Here is a link to an article on different plant dips. Yes, Hy Peroxide is one of them, so is bleach :^0 as well as just leaving them in a separate tank so that whatever on them hatches you can remove and get rid of. Just washing the plant in plain water will not do anything to kill off or remove hitchhikers. How to Quarantine New Aquarium Plants

Also, re chemistry of the betta tank--the water's pH is consistently 7.6; I'd like to lower it SLIGHTLY--the snails require the higher pH. I recently acquired a packet of almond leaves, but am not sure how much I should drop in the tank (I'm guessing I need to add a 'piece' of, vs an entire leaf for such a small tank--yes?); needless to say, I don't want a drastic dip towards acidity, & I assume the leaf has to moulder for a bit before it does its thing (i.e., I'm assuming it doesn't work instantaneously). Please advise. TY

There's no reason to lower the pH. 7.6 is just fine for domesticated Bettas. I raised literally a million Bettas over the years in Florida's rock hard 8.4 pH water with no issues. Almond leaves will slowly change the water chemistry as they decay and they can have antibacterial effects in the water but a good diet and clean water will do the same without the water chemistry changes. You can not control the amount of the changes when using the leaves other than making adjustments as they happen. Just sayin. ( Don't feel bad, I bought a pack of the leaves as well about 8 years ago for my cory cat fry and never opened the package. I had fry grow without them. )

 

[EGGBERT]

Thank u Andy As always, very helpful reply. It eases my mind considerably to learn that the 7.6pH reading is non-threatening!

Looking forward to reading the article about ‘green quarantine’

And guess what: u were right about the hillstream fry population—there r at least 3, possibly 4, thus far, & further, i think the microcosm has some randy assassins: i’ve spotted one baby—perfect itty bitty replica. This particularly blows my mind because several different sources said assassin snails do not readily reproduce in captivity (or was it that they just take for-ever to reproduce?). In any case, fascinating developments!!!!!

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank u Andy As always, very helpful reply. It eases my mind considerably to learn that the 7.6pH reading is non-threatening!

Looking forward to reading the article about ‘green quarantine’

And guess what: u were right about the hillstream fry population—there r at least 3, possibly 4, thus far, & further, i think the microcosm has some randy assassins: i’ve spotted one baby—perfect itty bitty replica. This particularly blows my mind because several different sources said assassin snails do not readily reproduce in captivity (or was it that they just take for-ever to reproduce?). In any case, fascinating developments!!!!!

Yes, clean water makes most fish and invertebrates " randy"