Got fry 3....

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

And they are off.............

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Sometime around this comming Saturday I should have fry from this pair. I'm ready. Kreisel tanks are setup and running with a HOB filter that I had on the parents tank for about 2 months just for the this purpose. (good bacteria in the fry tanks) I'm using the plastic drum style fish bowls as kreisels in a 10g tank. I have hatching decap. BS and green water cultures to grow out the BS as needed ready to go.

AS IF that wasn't fun enough, I have another pair that did an egg transfer on Sunday (10/21/07) so I should have another batch of fry due about 1 week after this batch. If they follow true to timing I could quite easily have fry every week since each pair can breed every 14 days. I only have 4 kreisel bowls so I need to order more. I have 4- 10g tanks. (2 kreisels fit in each one) I will try to post some pics of the preggo daddy's.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

mommy and daddy of fry due 10-27

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

mommy and daddy of fry due 11-4

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Daddy 1 is due tomorrow. Yeah!! He may or may not have them on time though. Since I keep the tank temps cooler with the chiller he may hold them a little longer. That's good, they will be bigger and stronger then. On the other hand it would be nice if he had them on the weekend so I had a day or two to take care of the fry before having to go to work.


I started the first BS hatcher today. I will start another tomorrow morning and every
12 hrs. after that to keep them "newly hatched" for the first week or two. Then I will start to grow them out to 2-3 day old bbs enriched with algaemac and super selco. I have a green water culture bubbleing away to grow the BS to adults in for when the fry get older. I have a 32g brute container full of aged and airrated SW and a 32g brute container of fresh RODI water. That should take of the water changes and top offs for a week or more. I wasn't comfortable shutting off the pumps, so I covered the overflows with a fine screen mesh. Just in case daddy decides to have the fry when I'm not looking. I do NOT want to be digging fry out of the sump or having them get sucked up into the return or chiller pumps. The sump is a scary place for fry.

I also bought 2 - 16 oz.flat packs of the hikari mysis. I will be sure to get these fry onto frozen asap. I usually buy the cubes but the cubes only come in 3.5 oz. pkgs. @5.99 each. The 16oz. flat pack is only 13.99. I will be buying it in the flat packs from now on.

I will post baby pics as soon as I get them

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Ok my male held the fry longer then expected (this happens when the tank temps are lower) After an extra week of waiting an watching.......they are here!!! Ok the first 5 are here, lol. He's still in labor and having a not so easy time of it. They are comming 1 at a time and he is a little stressed out. This is his first batch, so I'm not sure how long it will take to deliver the entire batch. I do have video and pics that I will post later. My other males that gave birth were much quicker then this. They were all born within a few twitches from the male. Hmmmm maybe it's just because it's his first batch. Poor guy is a big a house. I wish I could help him

I'll keep ya posted.

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

He had them all......I lost count :banghead::bricked: so I can't tell you how many there are. Daddy and his mate are courting as I type. Go figure. I'm redoing the fish room to make more space for the kreisels that I will be needing in the next couple of weeks. I'm also making a trip to La Crosse in the morning to get more tanks. I will need them. I'm ok with the 10g's for the kreisels, but I need a few more grow out tanks. I'm looking at the 20gXH tanks. Not sure if I'll beable to find them though. I forgot how to post videos on this site. Anyone know?

Thanks,
Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Well, the first batch of fry are 1 month old today. Their first feeding in the morning will have a suprise in it. Cyclopeeze freezer bar!!! I figure 1 week of the cyclopeeze and then I will feed live adult enriched brine shrimp w/ cyclopeeze for a week. Next will come the frozen adult brine shrimp, then I switch to frozen mysis. The last case of Hikari mysis I got has very tiny mysis in it, so that's a good thing this time, lol.

That's how I got my last batch to take frozen mysis. I tricked them into it.

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Little brats will not take anything but bbs. They are still small so I will keep trying.

I got a new batch of fry today. I give up trying to count them all. This fry every 3 weeks or less is a pain in the butt! I swear I'm never going to stop hatching brine shrimp. I have to figure out a better way to raise them. The death rate is much too high. I'm getting about 10 out of every 100 past the 1 month point. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm getting frustrated that's for sure. I would expect that by now I would be getting higher survival rates. I've been reading and rereading the prop. and rearing threads on the org and I can't see where I'm doing anything different.


Oh well.... at least I'm getting some to live. I'll post pics of the new ones when I get time. It's 2 am and I'm off to bed.

Angie