They were pretty nasty...He died last night.
I, again, don't know what might have, or could have helped. All I know it this is another rookie mistake that shouldn't have happened. It's embarrassing to share personal failures such as this...but this is a reality show in text and pictures. This entire thread is about a guy starting something with no formal education or even relavent experience. All I knew about rays when I first got them is that they need clean water and lots of water changes... I'm very happy that I've been successful with that part of it. All of the adults are well adjusted, playful, and happy.
This male, like the Pearl female, seemed very active. Too active. The female pup, which is doing fine, just kinda wanders around the tank, but those 2 seemed as of they were looking for a way out, or trying to escape something. I think it was stress...one was shipped on a rough plane ride, and this one was tormented and bitten for several hours before I got him out. I think both of them used up their last energy in a "panic" of sorts...
I have plenty of ways now to divide and separate. The new pool is done, I've just been putting off the sump upgrade and some plumbing work. The extra space will be very nice for dividing up groups and separating the females.
I would have thought that I'd recognize a difference in behavior before she gave birth. I noticed it with the last birth, but that girl only hung on the side of the glass that I used to divide her for one day, and then didn't eat one meal...all right after I dropped the glass in to divide her. I thought she was just pouting, but now I know the signs. But this big girl never changed a bit. she ate dinner like her normal self, never avoided any of the other rays, she just popped out 2 pups in the night and started looking for food again.
It will get easier now I think, now that the conceptions is taking place here. Since those 2 were pregnant when I got them, I didn't know exactly what to expect. But now I have a mark on the calender for each of the pregnant females. I marked the date when the male stopped hassling them. Just based on the bites, and the male's behavior, I "think" that the Henlei/Motoro is pregnant, and I "think" that the Motoro hybrid is pregnant, and I KNOW that the first Motoro to birth is pregnant again. I'm sure of it because as soon as the male started leaving her alone, she started eating double what she ever has. She even started sptting water at anyone in the room trying to get attention for another meal.
I feel like a brick today. Races went good last night, so I hung out afterwards and had a few "sodas". Every time I get to bed late (3am) it seems like I wake up earlier (6am). I hate that!
Well, I have 3 tanks now starting another spawning cycle. The fry production is doing quite well, and I've shipped a lot of fish. I havn't posted any ads or anything as I'm shiping most of them to Kansas. I have been able to take care of some local inquiries and a few shipments have gone to MFK members. It's making it hard to get started on my 2nd gen...Each time I hold some back, I end up selling them. But part of it is that I need a couple more 10 gallon tanks to get started. I now have 3 favorite females, so in 3 separate tanks, I'll start by separating the F1's from parents a, b, and c, and work forward from there. I'm fortunate to have great help from White Brook Tilapia (Thanks Kellen!) with genetic guidance, and I can't wait to get through a few more generations. It will be very beneficial once I've improved this strain of blues beyond the pond-bred random genetics that they currently are.
I guess with all this, I can admit another mistake. It's quite possible that these new fish that I aquired were not totally healthy..there was one that died before I picked them up. I was intelligent enough to not mix them with my other fish, however when I put them into the 150g I also failed to compensate for the additional bioload, and I didn't increase the water changes...in fact, I slacked off as I focused on the breeder tanks. Without testing the water, I'm taking the blame for what cycled through to be 7 dead Tilapia. First it was 2, then I started changing out water like crazy, but I'm guessing that the damage was already done. Over a period of 4 more days, 5 more died. I guess it was good to have those ones go, if any, and it put me on a very strict water change schedule for ALL the tanks. I'm doing them each every other day right now, and then I might slow to twice a week and go from there. As I add tanks, I'll need to write the date on each tank, or the day for the next change.
That's all for now.
I, again, don't know what might have, or could have helped. All I know it this is another rookie mistake that shouldn't have happened. It's embarrassing to share personal failures such as this...but this is a reality show in text and pictures. This entire thread is about a guy starting something with no formal education or even relavent experience. All I knew about rays when I first got them is that they need clean water and lots of water changes... I'm very happy that I've been successful with that part of it. All of the adults are well adjusted, playful, and happy.
This male, like the Pearl female, seemed very active. Too active. The female pup, which is doing fine, just kinda wanders around the tank, but those 2 seemed as of they were looking for a way out, or trying to escape something. I think it was stress...one was shipped on a rough plane ride, and this one was tormented and bitten for several hours before I got him out. I think both of them used up their last energy in a "panic" of sorts...
I have plenty of ways now to divide and separate. The new pool is done, I've just been putting off the sump upgrade and some plumbing work. The extra space will be very nice for dividing up groups and separating the females.
I would have thought that I'd recognize a difference in behavior before she gave birth. I noticed it with the last birth, but that girl only hung on the side of the glass that I used to divide her for one day, and then didn't eat one meal...all right after I dropped the glass in to divide her. I thought she was just pouting, but now I know the signs. But this big girl never changed a bit. she ate dinner like her normal self, never avoided any of the other rays, she just popped out 2 pups in the night and started looking for food again.
It will get easier now I think, now that the conceptions is taking place here. Since those 2 were pregnant when I got them, I didn't know exactly what to expect. But now I have a mark on the calender for each of the pregnant females. I marked the date when the male stopped hassling them. Just based on the bites, and the male's behavior, I "think" that the Henlei/Motoro is pregnant, and I "think" that the Motoro hybrid is pregnant, and I KNOW that the first Motoro to birth is pregnant again. I'm sure of it because as soon as the male started leaving her alone, she started eating double what she ever has. She even started sptting water at anyone in the room trying to get attention for another meal.
I feel like a brick today. Races went good last night, so I hung out afterwards and had a few "sodas". Every time I get to bed late (3am) it seems like I wake up earlier (6am). I hate that!
Well, I have 3 tanks now starting another spawning cycle. The fry production is doing quite well, and I've shipped a lot of fish. I havn't posted any ads or anything as I'm shiping most of them to Kansas. I have been able to take care of some local inquiries and a few shipments have gone to MFK members. It's making it hard to get started on my 2nd gen...Each time I hold some back, I end up selling them. But part of it is that I need a couple more 10 gallon tanks to get started. I now have 3 favorite females, so in 3 separate tanks, I'll start by separating the F1's from parents a, b, and c, and work forward from there. I'm fortunate to have great help from White Brook Tilapia (Thanks Kellen!) with genetic guidance, and I can't wait to get through a few more generations. It will be very beneficial once I've improved this strain of blues beyond the pond-bred random genetics that they currently are.
I guess with all this, I can admit another mistake. It's quite possible that these new fish that I aquired were not totally healthy..there was one that died before I picked them up. I was intelligent enough to not mix them with my other fish, however when I put them into the 150g I also failed to compensate for the additional bioload, and I didn't increase the water changes...in fact, I slacked off as I focused on the breeder tanks. Without testing the water, I'm taking the blame for what cycled through to be 7 dead Tilapia. First it was 2, then I started changing out water like crazy, but I'm guessing that the damage was already done. Over a period of 4 more days, 5 more died. I guess it was good to have those ones go, if any, and it put me on a very strict water change schedule for ALL the tanks. I'm doing them each every other day right now, and then I might slow to twice a week and go from there. As I add tanks, I'll need to write the date on each tank, or the day for the next change.
That's all for now.
Keep up the great work!