The QT tank has bare bottom glass only. An airstone and heat to about 82 F.I would take substrate out too.
The QT tank has bare bottom glass only. An airstone and heat to about 82 F.I would take substrate out too.
nice! well sounds like your off to a good start. it took me like 10 tries and I still haven't been successful, but the fry are big right now like quarter size and starting to develop colorsThe QT tank has bare bottom glass only. An airstone and heat to about 82 F.
hello; It only took bout a week of being in the 55 gallon tank for the angels to be settled and to spawn for the third time.
I placed a section of glass with some slate attached but they used a leaf again. I was disappointed at first because the face of the leaf is away so I cannot get any pictures. However a small gem due to this placement. I noticed the female tending the eggs. I had seen her use her mouth before but this is different. She was moving slowly across the eggs and fanning them with one of her pectoral fins. The fin was almost touching them. A very gentle action only seen because I was looking from a different angle.
Hello; Reached another milestone, have some free swimming fry.
First a couple of observations. The male is larger than the female and is rough on her much of the time. She will on occasion get the better of him but often gets run up into a corner of the 55 gallon tank. Even then he will sometimes chase her out of hiding.
After the last batch of eggs were laid on an amazon sword leaf I noticed a different behavior. During previous spawning they got along well together with mainly the female tending the eggs and the male standing by and helping a bit. This time the male was running the female away and guarding the eggs on his own. No cooperation this time. Not sure how to figure this change.
Anyway back to the eggs. I decided to try a different approach. The QT tank still had water in it and was set up with a bubbler, sponge filter and heater. I plugged in the heated to get the temps back up to 80 +/- degrees F.
I clipped the amazon leaf with the eggs attached and carefully transferred it to the QT. It floated so I was able to peel back the sponge a bit and stick the stem in the gap to anchor it. That took a few tries.
I turned off the air to the sponge filter and ran it into an airstone, placing it close enough to create a gentle upflow current in the water near the eggs.
Some of the eggs had already turned white before I clipped the leaf which means they were not fertilized I think. I debated trying to remove the white ones as the parents would do, but decided not to try. I also debated adding some methylene blue dye for fungus control but did not as I do not have any and could not find any locally.
After a day or so many of the eggs had been knocked off the leaf as I had the bubbles too close. I moved the airstone off a bit. I had only six or seven eggs still attached and looking clear. I thought the others were lost.
I started a culture by boiling some lettuce leaves, pouring the water and lettuce into an open topped jug and sitting it aside for a few days.I also have an old coffee grinder and have ground some pellet food down very fine.
I noted the fry are free swimming this morning. There are many more than six so some of the eggs that fell off were still ok.
The QT/fry tank was filled to only about 1/3 capacity initially. I do this in fry tanks so I can add fresh water over time to dilute byproducts and also to allow space to pour in the lettuce/water mix. I added a bit of powdered food and lettuce water this morning. This is my next challenge, that being do I have the right food?
I picked up some brine shrimp eggs a few weeks ago and can start some of them.
Back to the parents. The male's aggression was still very strong at the female so I decided to move him to another tank for a time. She now has the 55 to herself and I hope to feed her up, get her in good shape and maybe some more size. So far so good, she is eating well.
Hello; After removing the male to a different tank I have been feeding up the female. I put the male back in the 55 as the female is now fairly equal in size, maybe slightly heavier, than the male. I think he tried to dominate her again but she seems to have realized that she has the mass to stand up to him.
Anyway I did a WC yesterday and today they spawned. I plan to leave them in with the eggs this time in the hope they will not eat the eggs or fry as at least one has done in the past.
The fry from the spawning many weeks ago are getting some size on them by the way.