Ira Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 I was chatting to Caryl on IRC tonight about it being hard to sex jewels(Hemichromis Bimaculatus, I believe) and the jewels have decided to make it easy for me. Sorry for just disapearing, btw, Caryl. There are somewhere in the range of 500 little eggs on two rocks in the breeding tank. Two of the jewels had penned up the other two in the upper right corner of the tank. Makes it pretty certain who the parents are. So, they've now got the tank to themselves and their eggs. Wifey thinks they might both be female and both guarding their own clutches, but I doubt it. We'll know if any hatch, I think. Jewels are supposed to good parents, aren't they? So I've left them in the tank for now. Any suggestions on what to do? I'll open my can of Brineshrimp and start hatching some when(Being optimistic) I see some wrigglers. But, judging from the size of the eggs they might be a bit small for baby brine shrimp at first. I do have a tube of fry food though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 gl Ira ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 :lol: awesome my book says they are "conscientious parents" and that the fry are small when they hatch - not much more info though sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 Ira, don't do your bbs until the babies have been wrigglers for about 4 days. They will stay on the bottom for that time at least. Only feed them when they are free swimming. If thet are in a x community tank, they will prolly get by with out being fed bbs at any rate. Goodluck Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 19, 2003 Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 Congratulations Ira!! No wonder you disappeared. Sue got dropped off the server and never came back then you stopped talking to me so I went to bed. Keep us updated on prgress. Did you note which fishes are the pair??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2003 I've got the pair by itself now, one has a trident on its left cheek and the other has a stripe and a dot. Hmmm, I've busted my avatar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 20, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 Noticed today there's a scattering of fungused eggs in among the rest. Hopefully it won't be all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted October 20, 2003 Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 I will keep my fingers crossed for you! Good luck Robbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 20, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2003 Looks like they've been eating the eggs. I'd say about 3/4ths of them are gone. Not totally unexpected, I know many fish eat their eggs the first few times. But, I'm going to start feeding them twice a day just to see if that makes a difference and saves the rest of the eggs. Still can't tell if any are definitely fertile, just look like little brown dots. A few look like they might possibly have something in them, but that's probably just my imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 22, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Looks like they're all gone. There are a few transparent eggs that I don't know if they're ones that hatched and were eaten or I can't find them or what. Guess now I've just gotta wait for another batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 Got another batch I'd guesstimate at being approximately 3 million eggs...Ok, probably more like 200-300. This time I'm going to feed the parents twice a day, maybe that will discourage them from eating the eggs. If they DO start eating the eggs I might see if I can rig something up to at least save a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted October 26, 2003 Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 coool - that didn't take long - good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 Yeah, I was suprised, I thought it'd be another week at least. It's been only 10 days since the last batch. What're you doing up so late, Sue? You like me and don't have a life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suemack Posted October 26, 2003 Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 who me :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 26, 2003 Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 Another night hawk he he Give them a few goes Ira... they'll get it right eventually with any luck, and they are choice to watch with all the fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2003 Yeah, I intend to give them a couple tries, except I'm kinda worried I've actually got two females together. Though, I don't think it's likely that two females would both protect the eggs, I just keep thinking that the females are supposed to be the more brilliantly colored sex and yet, it's the two most colorful that were the ones guarding the eggs so I picked them as a pair. That's why I'd like to make sure at least a couple hatch to be SURE I've got a male and female. I just had a thought, something I'm not sure whether it's a coincidence or not...Before the first time they laid eggs the filter had slowed down to not much more than a trickle for a few days because of something I'd stuffed up in the filter and they laid eggs sometime that day after I fixed it. T Today the filter had slowed down to about a trickle because I've got a clump of filter wool around the intake to keep any possible fry from getting sucked up, it was clogged and I'd just cleaned it earlier today. Then this evening I find they've laid eggs. So, in both cases the water would have been pretty poorly airated because of the slow filter and then the same day after getting a good flow and good airation I get eggs. Now, whether they just happened to lay after I fixed the filter both times or if the sudden jump in oxygen and current is a trigger, I don't know. Seems plausible though because something similar might happen in the wild after a heavy rain and might be a good time to lay eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Got another batch now after swapping one of the fish. We'll see what happens this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 16, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2003 Batch of eggs #4, only 2 days after they finished eating the previous batch. Still no fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 16, 2003 Report Share Posted November 16, 2003 Ira, is it possible to get the eggs away from the parents, say, give them something removable, and remove their fav spawning possi if they have one. Set the eggs up in similar water parameters, with meth. blue and see if the eggs show signs that they are fertile. This is one way to prove if one of them is a male. Don't need to save any babies unless you want to though. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 16, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2003 That's what I'm planning on doing with the next batch. This is only the second time these two have spawned, so I'm giving them two tries to get it right on their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 Batch #5 is now in a plastic bin with a small heater and filter blowing on the eggs. I thought I had some methylene blue, but apparently not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 27, 2003 Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 akraflavine will do for anti fungus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 Ok, I've got some Spot Off with acriflavine in it, malachite green and formeldahyde. Added a half dose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2003 Yes! I've confirmed that one of them, has a fork shape on the side of her face, is definitely a female. I caught her with her pants down just now! Unfortunately she was doing it all on her own(fin job?) because the other one is obviously a female too being 3-4 days earlier in her cycle. Judging from the size of the clutches these two are laying, I'd say it's pretty good chance the previous one I had with this female(Named Fork by Bridget) was also female but laying at the same time because there were about twice as many eggs each time. I only have one more jewel! He better be a male or I'm going to be very disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 16, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Oh no...I've got a new batch of eggs...And It looked like the new fish I tried is ALSO a female. At least it looked like it was laying eggs, but could have(HOPEFULLY!) just been fertilizing them. Statistically got about a 1/16 chance of getting all females and just my luck...I'll give it a few days to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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