Pegasus Posted October 26, 2002 Report Share Posted October 26, 2002 Hi All, Having lost two good clutches of Angel eggs over the past month I was unsure as to the fertility of the eggs due to the parents being so young and seemingly inexperienced. Many of the first batch fungused, and the second was heading the same way, then vanished overnight. The pair in question are under six months old (approx 90mm tip to tip) and seem to spawn at ten day intervals in a community tank along with other Angels, Plecos, Neons, Mollies, Corys and various others. Twice they have spawned on the 15mm uplift of a homemade filter, so this time I quickly removed the uplift and placed it in a container which I floated in one of the tanks and added 25 drops of Methelene Blue. The majority of the eggs have now hatched and are at the wriggling stage. It seems these young pair are productive after all, and perhaps when space permits I will give them a tank of their own in which to spawn. I have spawned the Angels so many times in the past I have lost count, but each new hatch is just as exciting as the first. Even watching the fry drop from the Livebearers is a sight I will never tire of. I mentioned a "Fry Saver" that I made in the Technical Section and was explaining how good it was. I was quite wrong, as it is absolutely brilliant, and to date has allowed me to raise several batches of fry (around 250) with no apparent losses. The fry are transferred at around 12 to 15mm to normal tanks. My good wife recently purchasrd some "Un-named" Brine Shrimp Eggs for me. ($16:65 a vail) I was quite skepical about these, but it did say they were from San Francisco Bay, which I have always found to be better than the Utha area ones. I had read somewhere that adding a teaspoon full of Baking Soda would help the hatch, so again being skeptical I added some to the two litre container I had set up. The 2ltr is adequate for my needs at the moment, but I will make one of my big hatchers when the need arises. The hatch rate of these eggs is astounding, and they hatched in approx 18hrs. Half a capful gives me enough shrimp for around three days, feeding twice and more a day, so perhaps the Baking Soda does help in the hatch rate, it certainly softens the peas when you're making mushy peas. The fry grow at a rapid rate, and it is a pleasure to see their pink bellies bulging after they have been feeding on the shrimp. As normal for these situations, I am rapidly running out of room, and my my next project is outside tanks, my fish room, more tanks, more fish, my multi tank heater,... more.... more... ARGGGG... Here we go again. I seem to have been down this road before. Happy Days, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted October 26, 2002 Report Share Posted October 26, 2002 good luck with them about how many u got? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted October 26, 2002 Report Share Posted October 26, 2002 Hi Pegasus Read you article about brineshrimp eggs. Found a shop which charges $7.50 a vial. Hatch rate almost 100% at 27 deg. Supply for 3 days, 5 to 6 times a day. The amount which is produced has to be harvested or they will suffocate. I use the little hatchery with a net-bottomed funnel. It can be viewed on http://home.iprimus.com.au/john1 in "Workshop". John PS. Hatching time is also around 16 to 18 hrs at 27 deg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 26, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2002 Hi Dennis, looks to be about 70 or so, but I'll know better when they come out of the Methelene, which I'll reduce gradually over the next few days. My Sailfin Mollies started dropping tonight, so I may have to drop everything and start making tanks :) Hi John, Saw your hatcher (1960s model ) but still very effective. Don't know if it's good practice to feed shrimp five or six times a day, but your fry look ok in the pics No prizes for the cheapest shrimp, or the best hatch, but it's nice to pass the info along. Regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted October 31, 2002 Report Share Posted October 31, 2002 Pegasus said... > Half a capful gives me enough shrimp for around three days... There is a school of thought that says BBS lose most of their nutrional value soon after hatching so fresher is better. http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month ... 00033.html I feed mine out as soon as they've hatched. Big fish will eat the spares. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted November 1, 2002 Report Share Posted November 1, 2002 If you feed the brine shrimp they should keep most of their nutrition, shouldn't they? I don't remember exactly how you feed them, I think it was just put a tiny bit of brewers yeast in the water was one method. Definitely better off feeding them instead of wasting a lot of them if you can't use all the BBS in one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 1, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2002 There are a number of formula's to feed brine shrimp, like the one in my article on the subject, but for small batches I use liquid fry food which seems to work. With the right setup you can grow them to over a half inch long, and they even start producing their own eggs. Regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 1, 2002 Report Share Posted November 1, 2002 As an aside, we actually kept brineshrimp for over 12 months - just out of curiosity. We had a square plastic container and added a layer of sand (to make the shrimp feel at home). We filled it with salt water and added some shrimp from the Grassmere salt ponds. The container sat on the floor in front of the lounge window. These shrimp happily swam around and reproduced regularly. We never fed them, just kept topping them up with more fresh sea water when the level dropped due to evaporation. We assumed they lived on microscopic greeblies in the water as they always appeared active and kept reproducing. As I said, we kept these successfully for over 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 2, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2002 Really interesting that Caryl, just kept topping them up with more fresh sea water Obviously there was enough life in the sea water to support them. I am at the moment about to try a batch on the same principal, (on a much larger scale but didn't give a thought to the sand.... Perhaps I should add some We trialed sea water out in England with good results, but as our "local" beach was eighty miles away replacement water was a prob. The beach here is only minutes away by car, and at the rate I am going through Brine Shrimp at the moment it is becoming quite costly. Due to the storm last night the sea will be pretty stirred up I would think, so I will collect some water and sand in a few days and start my tests which I intend to monitor in great detail. When you look at this hobby of ours it has many doors that can be opened, from just keeping a few fish to botany, biology, chemistry, science with formula's and equations, trials and experiments, DIY, even food concoctions that some of us tend to create, not to mention the host of other things we tend to dabble in to keep our fish alive One thing is certain, there's always another challenge if you open another door. Thanks for the inspiration Happy Days, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted November 2, 2002 Report Share Posted November 2, 2002 the guy i kown in tauranga who breed seahorses has a pound outside with a hot house over the top for brine shrimp and he feed them yeast it been going for about 5 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 2, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2002 Hey, way to go Dennis... Good tip. How about getting the guy to join the forum, we could do with some info on Sea Horses. It's one of my long time hopes that I'll breed them one day, but other things are getting in the way at the moment. How's those fish of your's doing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 5, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2002 Some months ago I bought Two adult Angels and eight juveniles of which one adult and three juvies died in transit. I replaced the adult and the juvies have now grown and produced a pair that have spawned several times. Looking in the tank tonight I see that another couple have paired off and laid a clutch of eggs. My original spawning pair have laid a batch on the end glass and the new pair on the filter upright, so there are two spawnings in the tank. Just a rough guess but there would be possibly 400plus eggs that have little hope of surviving because... I HAVE NO DAMN ROOM LEFT :) I have fry EVERYWHERE, in tanks, in containers, and tomorrow they will be in a bath in the empty bach we have. My latest spawning of Angels are all growing rapidly. so these will be the first to try the bath out. I've been watching it (the bath) for a day or so checking the temp and such as the biggest heater I could get was a 300watt, but it seems to do the job. Looks like a few of the old baths (water troughs) around the farm will be getting a second lease on life Happy Days, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted November 5, 2002 Report Share Posted November 5, 2002 the bath will use a bit of power with no top on it i uses baths outside for goldfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 6, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2002 Hi Dennis, The bath has a top made of double skin Agrathane, so I'm hoping it wil work out economically. I also packed inside the surround of the bath with styrene sheets which will conserve the heat. Seems like this might become my fishroom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted November 6, 2002 Report Share Posted November 6, 2002 Do you have any other fish in with your angel Pegasus or is it just a species tank???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 6, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2002 Hey there Goldie My 9 year old grandson comendered three of my tanks for his guppies, so they now occupy the bath along with the Angels. Seems to be more angels than I first thought, but a couple of weeks should show a dramatic increase in size and most of the guppies will be moved out as they are sold already. Suppose I'm lucky really as the whole family are involved (even moreso now they can see some results) With the double skin cover and surrounding insulation the bath holds the heat really good, so another three or four will join it very shortly. I now have three free tanks, one of which I want to devote to the Corys which I hope to breed. Regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted November 8, 2002 Report Share Posted November 8, 2002 WOW sounds great. I must get another angel ------ or two ------ or three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 8, 2002 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2002 Hi Goldie, See you are looking for a Gold in the Trade Section. My Gold ones are around eight inch, I have two, but as of yet have not bred.... perhaps two of the same sex. Of the five juvies I got, there turned out to be two pairs that have spawned already, so perhaps the odd one out might take up with one of the larger adults. I'm gonna give it another week or so, then if nothing happens I too might be on the lookout for an adult gold he he. Although it's pretty common for angels to spawn, (and for me it's happened lots of times over the past years), I'm logging the day to day progress and mght put together an article for beginners that are having probs, which there seems to be many of from my readings on various sites. I feel that no matter how mundane or easy to breed a fish might be, we should all share our knowledge with others. Lotsa luck in finding a suitable fish. Regards, BIll (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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