Kriber

Tadpoles are dodgy Ira. I once had some in a plastic container (5litres?), read somewhere they eat meat, fed them chicken offal and generally looked after them well (i thought) and they all died really quickly 24-48hrs? When I was at primary school one of my friends had some in a stinky old unfiltered tank (~3'1'1'?) in the classroom, apparently paint and all was put in there... and they all survived or at least lived for ages. Then another time i had some in a ~5l plastic bowl again, ignored them for ages, dont ever remember changing the water, went out to the garage one day and found frogs and tadpoles with legs! So there you have it, Tadpoles - treat em mean, keep em alive!

My swordtails and Kribs orient themselves towards the light in the morning as well (b4 tank lights come on). Maybe its just easy to notice in larger slower moving fish, then again zebra danios would look like utter nutters if they reponded to the light more strongly than gravity.

Hi Caryl, Didn't see anything like that at Redwood yesterday (out in the shop anyway!) but who knows what has happened in the last 24hrs.

Sometimes after a water change some of my plants appear to send out a stream of air bubbles over 10 bubbles a second, sometimes the rate is a lot slower maybe 1 per second. I wonder if this is due to an excessive O2 level? as when I mix the cold with hot water it comes out of the tap quite aerated. Any ideas?

A radio station is giving a $1000 setup containing 'Nemo' away as first prize in a school holiday competition. Hope it goes to someone with a few clues!

Yes, a Hacksaw worked well for me

Yep, most (prob all) of mine started out with bits of white in them, so I guessed it was only a matter of time. Clear with a brown tinge - I'll be on the lookout for these next time . Both times I left the adults in and they ate them all after a few days, hopefully they wouldn't eat all the viable ones (if I ever get any!) and they're just recycling resources. The guy in the shop said they will normally eat some but not all. Did you keep the adults in with them Ira?

Good work Ira How does the male fertilise the eggs, does he just swim over them releasing sperm like a krib would? I've had 2M1F bronze cories for about 5 weeks. Brought them on a Monday and they spawned on Fri ~300 eggs, sadly they all got the damn fungus Then about 3 days ago they spawned again (~150 eggs all fungused again :evil: ) At one stage after the female deposited some eggs I watched for about 5 mins and no male went near them, so I'm wondering if the males aren't pulling their weight. Does anyone know if the males take longer to mature, the female is a beast of a specimen, the males a bit smaller? I didn't use any fungicide but I would of thought that a couple wouldn't succumb. Anyway Ira, hope your results are the opposite than mine Kriber

Hi all, do swordtails drop all of their young basically at once, or over the course of a few hours? I found only 4 fry today, the mother is still in with them (and looking fat) how many could she have eaten? she's not chasing the 4 that are still there. The only other inhabitants in the 2ft tank are 3 bronze cories and a 1cm long krib I thought swordtails give birth to something like 50-70 young. The mother is probably around 7cm long, does it take a while for them to start producing larger batches of fry? Ideas anyone? Cheers, Kriber

Be careful with potassium nitrate, you wouldn't want to mix it with sugar and stick a lit match to it!

How fertile is the male? Have you ever got better results? I once had approx 90 fungused eggs out of approx 180 and I bet the parents were brother and sister as probably 80+% of the fry were at least a little deformed. Are the parents closely related? If your serious about breeding them use good parent stock or you'll regret it later on when the fry are all rubbish What temp are you operating at? 5 days seems like a while to hatch. Some didn't hatch and get eaten by the adults before you noticed that they had hatched? Does any food accumulate in the peebles for the fungus to initially grow on? When I used marbles I removed them straight after the spawning and spent far too much time trying to syphon out any remaining food. Personally I think some kind of breeding net is better than using peebles/marbles, see some of Pegasus's posts for some ideas. Hope somone can solve your prob Kriber

Thanks for that Ira, unfortunately I had a feeling that might be the case. Oh well any excuse to buy fish is a good one Kriber

Hi all, Are there any bottom feeders/scavengers that wont eat other fishes eggs or fry at all? I recently had 3 oto's in my breeding tank and they cleaned up all the powdered flake that reached the bottom of the aquarium, did a good job on the algae too I've read however that they will sometimes eat their own eggs, so there's probably a good chance that they'll eat other spp. eggs as well?? I gave up on ramshorn snails as they reproduce far too much for my liking :evil: Although I've discovered that if I crush them the zebra danios appear to enjoy eating them :lol: The left over food concerns me more than the algae so the 'cleaner' wouldn't have to be an algae eater. Would any of the cory cats be suitable? Kriber.

What Africans are you getting into CHCH. cos I want to but them 1st!!

Cheers Steve I'm not serious about breeding marliers (at the monent at least) as I havent even got my Kribs to breed successfully yet. Thanks for the info nonetheless. Kriber

Yes, they spawned around 20 days ago, ate their eggs and haven't spawned again approx. 2 weeks later like I've read they often do. Bought them from the same shop (probably dumb move) but they never fight. Better go feed them some frozen bloodworms.

Hi Christine, welcome to the forum. What other species of fish have you bred? Got any breeding (aquarium fish ) secrets of stories you'd like to share? Happy fishkeeping Kriber

Thanks Steve My pH is approx 7.4, but the marliers I got were locally bred in similar water the LFS's told me. What does this mean generally? my water is quite soft, I've never tried to get a handle on what values equal what hardness under the varying ways of describing it, is 100CaCO3 quite soft? I dont know the age, or sex of my 2 marliers, one is approx 3cm and the other is maybe 5cm. I haven't observed the 'wiggling' for a while (the small one was doing it to the big one) and the larger one chases the smaller one away quite often. so I don't think their 'mates' What sizes are your pair? Keep up the good work Kriber

They seem to do it all day long :-? It really looks like they are sick but none are dying (knock on wood) They must just be lazy

Thanks for the idea Peety. I don't think it would be heat strock though, the tank doesn't get above 27 or below 25. About 5 are playing the game right now, approx. 10 were this morning. Most lie on their stomachs but occassionally one will lie on its side like its going to die Had a thought last night (yes I did honest!) it wouldn't be anything to do with their other fins growing? Last night I noticed minute dorsal and anal fins and traces of blue colouration Ideas anyone? Surely if it was something toxic at least one would have succumed? Cheers, Kriber

Why don't you see if you can get a student to smuggle some of your water into a lab to have a look at. If you were down in CHCH I would give it a go, you could probably come along for the ride. (had my 1st day of demonstrating today!) Later, Kriber

Hi Steve, Good work on the Marliers I've got 2 (as opposed to a couple) myself. What are the conditions in the tank like regarding water parameters other fish etc These fish have to be the most manoeuvrable fish I know, they sometimes just swim above my Kribs where they remain out of harms way Do you know if wiggling ones body like your've got cramp in front of another Marlier is submissive or maybe courtship behaviour? All the best for the fry Kriber

Hi all, After looking at a pregnant swordtail I've got I was wondering as to what time of the day they generally give birth? Are there any hard and fast rules or is it completely random? My last one beat me to it as I hadn't seen one of these females pregnant before but I think it had a dark gravid spot for a few days. The reason I ask is because I would like to minimise any stays out of the comm. tank i.e. if they give birth in the morning there wouldn't be any point relocating them at midday but there would at night just before 'lights out' Cheers, Kriber

Has anyone tried one of those fittings for canister filter intakes, which draws in water from the surface as well? Can't remember what they were called but I've seen them at $28-$35. Do they work well?

Late last night I noticed one of my zebra danio fry (2 wks old) lying on the bottom of the tank. It rapidly swam to the surface then retired to the bottom again. Several times today I've noticed up to 3 zd's just lying on the bottom, just before it was four. Some don't seem to 'rest' for long but I don't know if its the same ones all the time. Is it likely to be a health issue, or have they adapted to the powdered flake that makes its way to the bottm of the tank? (hardly! ). I had 4 adult ramshorn snails in there (1 died a day ago), 10 snailets and now about 15+ lots of snail eggs and as the tank gets a bit of sunlight algae is on the increase. I do about a 10-15% water change daily, removing most accumulated waste. Is the above behaviour common or do I have another problem? Ideas anyone? Kriber