Thought I would give building an egg tumbler a go. It seems there are mixed reviews on using these but I have a couple of electric yellows that keep holding for a week then either eating the eggs or spitting them so I thought I'd test my new project out with their latest holds. Doing this made me realise the attrition rate you get from spawning to free swimming as I would normally get 20-30 fry from these girls but stripping them early gave me 100 eggs! All going well, it may be worth building a few of these and stripping the eggs early. I realise there are pros and cons to this but less stress on the female and more fry seems like a winning combo to me. I'll still let younger females hold their first few spawnings until full term but once they are away, this could be a good option. Anyway, time will tell. It seems getting a successful design is not that easy. It's all about the right amount of tumble! I already see a couple of design flaws which will get ironed out on version 2.0

Not a bad little rig.

Mind sharing your design flaws so we can learn? :spop:

:thup: Good work.

I made one a while back and found I could easily adjust the tumble by shifting the airstone up or down inside the tube.

:thup: Good work.

I made one a while back and found I could easily adjust the tumble by shifting the airstone up or down inside the tube.

was it successful at bring eggs to free swimmers? Any attrition?

I think I need more tumble. I have a few eggs starting to go pale around the outside that aren't getting enough movement.

Not a bad little rig.

Mind sharing your design flaws so we can learn? :spop:

I made it on impulse the other night with what I had lying around. The clear tube is an old gravel vacc I cut up but the internal diameter was larger than the 40mm PVC I had. To overcome this I built up the edges with electrical tape (the red tape in pics) so I could get a tight fit. Ideally, the PVC pieces should be larger than the clear so that there is no "dead" spots in the tumbler part due to a lack of air flow. Also I used garden netting but mosquito netting would be better as you can mould it into a small bowl shape so the eggs are always rolling to the centre then tumbling etc. The other thing I would add is a piece of foam to the bottom to act as a mini filter as I can already see a sediment build up on the netting which could contaminate the eggs.

All a good learning curve!

I just use a standard syphon,stick some cloth over the end and stick a airline through the top and it seems to work as long as no other fish are in the tank.

Makes sense fishy fish, thanks. Hopefully some are getting enough movement. Also hopefully the ones that aren't don't contaminate the ones that are...

OK so I lost a few eggs due to lack of tumble then a few more from over tumbling them and getting sucked against the top mesh guard. Getting the right tumble is tricky! But I removed the bad eggs and now I have a bunch of eggs at head and tails stage! Stoked!

Woohoo Good onya

was it successful at bring eggs to free swimmers? Any attrition?

Yeah, it worked well. It sounds like I had the same problems as you. Once I got the tumble right it was fine.

Congrats, good to see your emergency rescue tumbler work.

Oh and :nfs:

Nice Work. :thup:

Update...

I count around 30 survivors now so approx 30% survival rate. Certainly not fantastic, but it would definitely improve with some basic design improvements and maybe having a tank dedicated just for tumblers so there is less waste contamination. The fry are at various stages of developement with the egg sac almost completely gone on some and free swimming, while others still at heads & tails stage.

I'm not yet sold on the idea of stripping all my fish early and tumbling their eggs, but a tumbler certainly has its place. One of the frustrations of mouth brooders, especially in large community tanks, is having females at various stages of holding. I have to dismantle my tank to catch the females which is quite an undertaking and it's frustrating when you go to strip a fish to find the fry aren't quite ready. Or there could be a female that has only begun to hold while several others are ready to spit and you don't want to have to dismantle the tank in another week or so for the one female. In both these instances, I would now consider stripping the female and tumbling her eggs. If you can think of other situations where it would come in handy please share. :thup:

I'll be shifting the fry to a grow out tank in the next couple of days and I think I might retire Egg Tumbler 1.0 to the "pool room" (any "The Castle" fans out there?) and begin designing E.T.2.0!

Shifted the electric yellow fry to a grow out tank and the final count was 36. Started with 100 eggs, so that's a 36% ROI

I think I will attempt Egg Tumbler 2.0 and see if I can improve on this.

Still, 36 fry from two yellow lab females isn't the worst outcome in the world. I wonder how many I would have got had I stripped them at free swimming stage? I reckon there is definitely an attrition rate that goes on while the female holds from eggs to free swimming.

Anyway, to be continued...

Shifted the electric yellow fry to a grow out tank and the final count was 36. Started with 100 eggs, so that's a 36% ROI

I think I will attempt Egg Tumbler 2.0 and see if I can improve on this.

Still, 36 fry from two yellow lab females isn't the worst outcome in the world. I wonder how many I would have got had I stripped them at free swimming stage? I reckon there is definitely an attrition rate that goes on while the female holds from eggs to free swimming.

Anyway, to be continued...

Probably only get 1% to adulthood in the wild so even if most of your fry die before they grow up you're doing pretty well.

:thup:

OK so I lost a few eggs due to lack of tumble then a few more from over tumbling them and getting sucked against the top mesh guard. Getting the right tumble is tricky!

First of all nice work! Interesting to follow your progress.

If I may add an idea for your tumbler 2.0.

I remember seeing in trout hatcheries back home big upside down cone shape (funnel I guess) egg tumblers where water flows from bottom to top like yours. This way the flow is fast at the bottom and slow at the top and the eggs is always suspended somewhere in the middle bouncing around.

Harder to make I guess but would work very well I think.

I remember seeing in trout hatcheries back home big upside down cone shape (funnel I guess) egg tumblers where water flows from bottom to top like yours. This way the flow is fast at the bottom and slow at the top and the eggs is always suspended somewhere in the middle bouncing around.

Harder to make I guess but would work very well I think.

I bet an inverted water/coke/juice bottle would work well for that. Might be a bit light for a permanent setup though.

The mention of inverted coke bottles reminds me of bbs hatcheries.

The mention of inverted coke bottles reminds me of bbs hatcheries.

Which are pretty much egg tumblers.

:slfg: Pretty sure that's why I said it.

Mind you if you use anything like the same flow rate you can with shrimp you'll probably murderise your fry..

Shifted the electric yellow fry to a grow out tank and the final count was 36. Started with 100 eggs, so that's a 36% ROI

If you started with 100 and now have 36 you have a negative return :slfg: :digH: :smot:

you start with 2 yellows and have 36 now then your return is a good one :slfg:

cracked out ET 1.0 for an emergency tumble with much better results. Out of 50 eggs, I can only see 2 or 3 that haven't reached heads & tails stage and are looking a bit milky coloured. Maybe the design is OK? I still like the cone/coke bottle idea and it's low tech which is easily replicated. Will give building one a go soon.