henningc
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 26, 2013
- Messages
- 1,229
Ok, no gold fish or natives, all tropicals here in the midwest during summer. I started this crazy project, a reenactment of a project 30 years ago, during the month of May. I have two stock tanks and two kiddie pools and decided I would like to raise some tropicals. I decided I would breed Endlers, Least Killies, marble crayfish and grow out some Jacks.
Vat #1-150gal-This vat was stocked with 8 female Endlers and 2 males, 4 female Least Killies and 2 males and two marble crayfish. Now 2 1/2 months later have around 60 fish in the vat of all sizes. It is 3.5' deep and the bottom is covered with PVC sections. I have found no baby crayfish, but that could be them hiding. I would say the fry are 40 Endlers, 20 Least Killies.
Pool-#1 is 260gal 10' x 10'. ($17.00) I stocked in 12 pre-hit female adult Endlers, 2 males, 4-6 pre-hit female Least Killies and 2 males. I also stocked 2 marble crayfish. Today, I have roughly 100-125 fish with Endlers out number Least Killie fry close to 2-1 ratio. I have PVC sections covering 1/4 the bottom and have seen the adult crayfish but no babies.
After the pool was set up about a week I heard this God awful loud frog singing at night. It turns out it is a Barking Tree Frog and they are LOUD. Within a week, there were multiple frogs all singing every night. The next thing I observe are hundreds of little black tadpoles. Besides my wife's homisidal looks while the frogs screatch away I wondered if this will create a problem for the fish. I thinned them out tossing some in vat #1 and vat #2. I also brought some, 20-25, inside and put them in tanks. I figured the entire tree frog thing had run it's course after that. Nope! As it turns out they are not harmful to the fish, although no one body of water has too many.
Vat #2 and Pool-#2 were both set up and within a weeks worth of cycling I had water issues in both caused by our well water. Both had to be drained and restarted.
Restarted Vat-#2 -175gal-and added a few pre-hit female Endlers to start a little food chain for my 3 1/2" Jacks. Funny thing is the frogs just kept singing every night. A week passed and I noticed something going on in the vat. Upon further inspection I discovered that there are hundreds of tadpoles. I let them stay there for another week and they did not grow all that fast. I decided to feed a few to the Jacks inside to make sure it would be Ok. They loved them and no ill effects. I started feeding my Jacks and Fire Mouths about 20 per tank each day. I also tossed some more in tanks and in Pool-#2 as it cycled. As it turned out, I got my hands on another type of fish that could eat them, so I was going through 40-60 per day. This lasted for over two weeks. I finally removed a bunch to feed inside fish and tossed the Jacks into the vat. Within a day or so zero tads left in vat. Funny thing is the frogs just kept singing night after night. As of today, my Jacks are still whimped out hiding in rock formations. Might Jacks right?????
The weather got really hot in the high 90s and the frogs abruptly stop singing. I thought Ok theyre done, nope!
By this time it is later June so I stocked Pool-#2 with 5 pre-hit female Endlers, 2 males, 4 Least Killies females, 3 males and two marble crayfish. This pool is 110"L X 72"WX18"D. The pool has a white bottom and due to size I've been using it to harvest mosquito larva for the inside fish. All the fish in the pool are fat due to stuffing themselves sensless with mosquito lava. There are now about 20 Endlers fry and 12-14 Least Killie fry. Again, no baby crayfish to report.
On a side note, the frogs came back after the heatwave and spawned again. I harvested about 95% of the tadpoles and used them as feeders. A second heatwave has started and it seemed to trigger the tads to morph into froglets. I have counted 50-60 froglets that have come from all bodies of water. I was looking at my inside tanks and realized most of the tads were missing. Bad day for me, I had to track down froglets. Being tree frogs they can walk up walls and cielings. I think I found all at least that is my story and released them.
I'll update this weekly. Next year I'll do swords, plays and mollys. I may also super stock one pool full of Endlers and Least Killies and toss in a few Belonasox mid summer. I'm thinking the frogs will be back next year as we helped the population grow big time.
Vat #1-150gal-This vat was stocked with 8 female Endlers and 2 males, 4 female Least Killies and 2 males and two marble crayfish. Now 2 1/2 months later have around 60 fish in the vat of all sizes. It is 3.5' deep and the bottom is covered with PVC sections. I have found no baby crayfish, but that could be them hiding. I would say the fry are 40 Endlers, 20 Least Killies.
Pool-#1 is 260gal 10' x 10'. ($17.00) I stocked in 12 pre-hit female adult Endlers, 2 males, 4-6 pre-hit female Least Killies and 2 males. I also stocked 2 marble crayfish. Today, I have roughly 100-125 fish with Endlers out number Least Killie fry close to 2-1 ratio. I have PVC sections covering 1/4 the bottom and have seen the adult crayfish but no babies.
After the pool was set up about a week I heard this God awful loud frog singing at night. It turns out it is a Barking Tree Frog and they are LOUD. Within a week, there were multiple frogs all singing every night. The next thing I observe are hundreds of little black tadpoles. Besides my wife's homisidal looks while the frogs screatch away I wondered if this will create a problem for the fish. I thinned them out tossing some in vat #1 and vat #2. I also brought some, 20-25, inside and put them in tanks. I figured the entire tree frog thing had run it's course after that. Nope! As it turns out they are not harmful to the fish, although no one body of water has too many.
Vat #2 and Pool-#2 were both set up and within a weeks worth of cycling I had water issues in both caused by our well water. Both had to be drained and restarted.
Restarted Vat-#2 -175gal-and added a few pre-hit female Endlers to start a little food chain for my 3 1/2" Jacks. Funny thing is the frogs just kept singing every night. A week passed and I noticed something going on in the vat. Upon further inspection I discovered that there are hundreds of tadpoles. I let them stay there for another week and they did not grow all that fast. I decided to feed a few to the Jacks inside to make sure it would be Ok. They loved them and no ill effects. I started feeding my Jacks and Fire Mouths about 20 per tank each day. I also tossed some more in tanks and in Pool-#2 as it cycled. As it turned out, I got my hands on another type of fish that could eat them, so I was going through 40-60 per day. This lasted for over two weeks. I finally removed a bunch to feed inside fish and tossed the Jacks into the vat. Within a day or so zero tads left in vat. Funny thing is the frogs just kept singing night after night. As of today, my Jacks are still whimped out hiding in rock formations. Might Jacks right?????
The weather got really hot in the high 90s and the frogs abruptly stop singing. I thought Ok theyre done, nope!
By this time it is later June so I stocked Pool-#2 with 5 pre-hit female Endlers, 2 males, 4 Least Killies females, 3 males and two marble crayfish. This pool is 110"L X 72"WX18"D. The pool has a white bottom and due to size I've been using it to harvest mosquito larva for the inside fish. All the fish in the pool are fat due to stuffing themselves sensless with mosquito lava. There are now about 20 Endlers fry and 12-14 Least Killie fry. Again, no baby crayfish to report.
On a side note, the frogs came back after the heatwave and spawned again. I harvested about 95% of the tadpoles and used them as feeders. A second heatwave has started and it seemed to trigger the tads to morph into froglets. I have counted 50-60 froglets that have come from all bodies of water. I was looking at my inside tanks and realized most of the tads were missing. Bad day for me, I had to track down froglets. Being tree frogs they can walk up walls and cielings. I think I found all at least that is my story and released them.
I'll update this weekly. Next year I'll do swords, plays and mollys. I may also super stock one pool full of Endlers and Least Killies and toss in a few Belonasox mid summer. I'm thinking the frogs will be back next year as we helped the population grow big time.
