Popsicool

My poor little babies, I have to watch some of them dying and I don't know what to do. It breaks my heart. They lie on the bottom, kind of on an angle/side with their mouths wide open and look like they are trying to breathe really hard. But they're still swimming around. Does that have anything to do with ventrals? Do some fish just produce fry with bad genes? I.e. since this batch seems to be dying off, I shouldn't mate the two parents again? Down to 13 now and another couple are doing the open mouth thing.

Congratulations! Yeah I read that in quite a few places as well. Apparently they fry gorge themselves on it which causes the problems..

Adrienne would you mind pointing me in the right direction for hatched bbs? Thank you!

A lot of mine spent a lot of time on their bellies but I think it's because they are looking for food? They all swim properly though at times. Are belly sliders ALWAYS on their bellies? They haven't learnt to swim?

Already bought it as soon as you said

Thank you Adrienne - any tips on how to stop losing them? I'm religious with water changes and recently did a 95% change when I noticed they started dying. I don't think ammonia is a problem. I also make sure there's always little wriggling worms on the bottom should they get hungry. What about tips on getting them switched onto frozen food instead of live?

Thanks, I love taking photos of them, they are fascinating. Here is a new one, you can see how the fins have developed, it's amazing. I have a huge problem though... they're dying. They are 4 weeks old tomorrow and I wasn't worried when nature was doing its selection in the beginning but is it normal that they are still dying?? I noticed a week ago, every couple of days there would be a decomposing little body on the bottom, a couple had a red dot on their head. I Googled and apparently it's a bacterial infection so I did a 95% water change, added just a touch of Wunder Tonic and the 15 of them seemed happy for a few days. Now a couple of days ago again. This morning another one! I'm down to 13. I noticed sometimes one of them hangs around on the bottom (well, they mostly all do), looking like he's breathing heavily and sometimes swimming around with its mouth wide open, not closing it. It looks weird, is it a hint that something's not right? I clean their tank every day, sometimes just suck up the stuff from the bottom but most days at least 10-20% water change. They seem really active and happy, love hunting their little microworms - until I find them just lying on the bottom of the tank decomposing!! Help - any idea what's happening and what I can do?? I read that possibly the microworms could be introducing harmful bacteria into the water. So since they're 4 weeks tomorrow, this morning I finely grated some frozen bloodworms to see if they'll have those instead. They don't seem interested, a few have even swum through them and didn't have a chomp. Is it too early to try bloodworms and if not, is there a special way to make them interested? Sorry for another novel of a post, I don't want to lose my babies. Thank you in advance.

Thank you Katrina! Mine will be two weeks tomorrow and they are looking great. I've loved watching them grow. Today I observed them "catching" their nematodes, chewing them (their little mouths moving!), and I even got to see a fish yawn and a poo. It probably all sounds very silly but it's amazing to watch them growing up from nothing to almost fish! What about yours? What fish did you breed and how are the babies doing? Here is a photo update of my two-week-old-tomorrow babies..

Thank you for the tips, I think I'm getting the hang of it now!! Managed to snap this little thing this morning so things are looking good!! I'm now no longer worrying, everything seems to be working as it should.

Oh and P.S. what are liquifry for egg layers or green water?

Thank you Adrienne. I went with my gut feeling and removed the father a couple of hours ago. He didn't seem to be looking after them anymore and there were only about 10 or so left in the bubble nest and their tails weren't hanging down. Also, I think he was starting to eat them.... So now my problem is - I've put the microworms in there but the microworms are at the bottom of the tank and the fry are on the surface of the water. How will they catch on that they need to go to the bottom for food? Or am I doing something wrong here. Maybe my fry are actually dying? But they're swimming! Argh, confused!

What a horrible thing to do to want to flush him because his fins are no longer good looking. That makes me mad. :evil: However, gold star to you for taking him and looking after him. Hope the little guy's doing well. x

Update... It's been 48 hours since the eggs hatched but a whole bunch (around 30 or so) of the little guys have left the bubble nest and are "swimming" around the tank! A lot of them are mostly just floating on top of the water (horizontally) and zipping around on the surface every once in a while, a lot are using the tank walls to help them get around but a few are actually SWIMMING! Does this mean they are "free swimming" or are they just stupid ones that will die because they left the bubble nest too early? And if they are actually free swimming already, should I start feeding them? But how does one do that since they are on the surface and microworms will fall and wriggle on the bottom of the tank! All the ones that are still in the bubble nest are no longer hanging with their tails down but are also horizontal. What's going on? They are not following the plan! What do I do?

Thank you Caryl! Their 30l glass aquarium is covered with two pieces of glass with a small gap for heater cable and to attach the lamp. The main things I'm worried about now are: pump and water. Some say you NEED a pump, some say you mustn't introduce one until two weeks of age. Same with water, some say 50% change every day, some say don't touch it for two weeks!! Also, can someone help me with this please - the water changes should be done with aged water. How does one age water?? Is making sure it's the same temperature and adding Stress Coat and Stress Zyme enough??

Thank you brad3d, glad you enjoyed it. NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH!!! This morning I went to check on my babies and at 7:30 there was still nothing. I checked again just now (10:30) and we have wiggly tails and little black body/heads!!! Only about 10 that I can see but I think they're still hatching. The photos turned out atrocious so I won't bother posting - yet! THe panic is kicking in...