lmsmith

I did biology for a few years at uni and I know what you're talking about....I'm so tempted to take this lot out, and let them try to raise the rest. Hmmm, well I've got 24hrs-ish to decide what I'm going to do...

Yeah I thought 7 days was way too long, thats why I asked you guys Do you mean that the parents that fanned the eggs were good parents and didn't eat the babies?? How do they learn to be good parents?

Does anyone know how long the eggs take the hatch? Some sources say 60hrs, others say 7 days. Also, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about keeping the eggs with the parents - it would suck to have them hatch only for the parents to eat them a week later. If I take the eggs out, how long do you think it would take for them to spawn again??

Thanks TM and Barrie. How big are they and how long do they live?

So, I just discovered killies today. I've never seen one in real life, and until I say cichlid7's pics, I seem to have been totally oblivious. Is there someone who can give me a basic overview of killies? Where they come from? Where can you buy them from? How many types/species/colours are there? What they eat? Ideal tank size? pH and other water perimeters? Breeding - ease, where they lay their eggs (I guess they lay eggs?) etc Any other information that's pertinent to them? Pics are always good

How are the babies going supasi?

Is just it's tummy big, or is it fat looking all over (broader chest, wide when looking down from the top) If it's fat all over, it's a girl. If it's still doing all the things fishies do, don't worry too much about it. Do a big cold water change and see if they lay eggs!

Awesome, thanks heaps!

They're pretty. Why don't I have any of them? I don't think I've even seen them at pet stores...are they hard to get?

When you say it grew massive, what are we taking about? Is it still the same size as a normal BN? Does it have bristles?

Yeah, it seems funny to me that people would buy it. There are probably more people wanting to give it away!

How big is your tank now?

What are the skinny guys at the top? They're beautiful! Nice rams too

What sort of cory eggs are they? Cory's are really easy once you've done it a couple of times. I've got hundreds of bronze corys because I can't stop them breeding! I have a small tank (20l) with water from the parents tank, a sponge filter and an airstone, at about 28*. I take the eggs out and put them in the small tank. Do it within 24 hrs of the eggs being laid, or they harden and aren't so sticky. Scrape them off with a clean credit card or something like that, and stick them to the sides of the small tank. Don't worry about the ones that don't stick, they hatch too. You can either have the tank in a dark place, or use meth blue. I used to use meth blue, but now just leave them in a dark place which prevents the eggs from fungasing. At 28*, they take about 72hrs (3days) to hatch. The lower the temp, the longer they take to hatch. You can tell they're hatching because some of the eggs start to look like there's just a piece of shell there where the egg used to be. The babies are tiny, and just roll on the bottom for a few days. When their yolk sac has been used up, you can start feeding BBS (newly hatched), decaps BS eggs, microworms etc. Generally you can tell that their yolk sac has been used up when they start swimming around a little bit. I start feeding in about 2 days. Little and often is the key. Some babies will die, but don't be disheartened - this is just what happens. For the first 2 weeks, do a 30% w/c every day (not much in a 20l tank), use airline to syphon the dead babies and eggs that haven't hatched. I use room temp aged water for the first few days, but I've also used straight tap water and they've been fine. You could use water from the parents tank also. After about 1 1/2 weeks, the start looking like mini corys - they have tails and fins and everything. When they start getting the colour of the parents, it's a good idea to move them into a bigger tank or split them so they have more space to grow, this way they'll grow much faster. From about 3 weeks, they can start eating real food - algae flakes, veges, flakes, the odd shrimp pellet. These guys are really really easy to hatch and grow out, so next time you have a spawn, I urge you to give it a go - you'll have hundreds of babies in no time! If you've got any questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

Oh Jaide, that's awesome!

As of this morning the rams were still very attentive to the eggs - they looked like they were tag-teaming. One would go off and eat, the other would hang out by the eggs, then the other one would come back, they touch noses, and swap. It's pretty cool to see. Because they're doing such a good job right now, I'm going to leave this spawn with the parents and see how they go. If I've got good parents, it'll be awesome to see how they look after the babies. Anyone know how long it takes the eggs to hatch? And are they wigglers for 3 days, or more?

White eggs often is a sign that they are not fertilized - did your first batches turned white too?

jolliolli, how'd the breeding go?

There's gotta be something in the weather, I'm noticing that my black widow tetras are looking a bit amorous as well...

That's true - to be honest, rats are more interactive and live longer - I'd choose rats over mice.

This morning I woke up and I had angelfish eggs from the angels I've been trying to breed for about a month now. When I got home tonight, they were all still there, and the parents were very attentive, so hopefully, they'll manage to hatch the young and raise them. I'm going to leave the babies with the parents because this is the first time I've had fertilized angel eggs. None of them have turned white, and the parents are fanning away. About 20 min ago, I looked into my community tank, and saw my rams laying eggs on the driftwood! So far they've laid about 100 eggs, and the mum's still at it. They've herded everyone away from that half of the tank, and I've taken the angels out of the tank to prevent eat-age. They've dug a nice deep hole next to the log in the sand, so I guess that's where the fry will live once they hatch. I'm so excited, even if they don't manage to hatch the eggs, at least I know that they're happy in the tank and are a pair!

You can tame mice quite easily. Females don't smell as much as males. They're pretty cool pets.

I'm just going to get some metal bent into a reflector - I have access to cheap metal so it makes it about 1/2 the price of a shop brought light. Don't have any pics though sorry!

He looks really sad, maybe it would be the humane thing to do. Only if you've given up on him though, you never know...

I'm building one at the moment - not a full lid for the tank, but just a box for the light to live in. What sort of light hood are you talking about?