Update: Sunday 26 April 2009, 1:13 AM
Things have been happening with the aquaria, now numbering 3. The fry tank/nursery tank now has about 100 or so fry from two hatchings. The first eggs were laid on Monday 31 March and the second batch on Good Friday, 10 April 2009. The pair of Angelfish have not laid any more eggs since then, or at least I know nothing of spawnings that might have been eaten. The two different batches of fry are cohabitating in the fry nursery. I hope to move the largest fry to the newly set up 50 gallon aquarium.
10 gallon Angelfish Fry nursery tank
The Fry Nursery has two airstones and I siphon the water from the bottom of the tank every day or two at most. I have been gradually raising the level of the water as I add new water. New water is a combination of tap water with Stress Coat added, bottled spring water, and water from the parent’s tank. The temperature fluctuates between 82 and 84 degrees F. I feed the fry at least twice a day on live baby brine shrimp or frozen baby brine shrimp. I feed them until their pink bellies are bulging. The largest fry are beginning to look like Angelfish. I now feed them live brine shrimp and about two cubes of frozen baby brine shrimp a day. I am also trying to get them acclimated to eating crumbled flake food.
two generations of Angelfish Fry
I hope to move some of the largest fry on Monday.
26 day old Angelfish
The 50 gallon aquarium is awaiting the fry. I set it up last Saturday and on Sunday I introduced 4 platies to help cycle the tank. On Friday, 24 April, Dean gave me a new product to try to instant cycle the aquarium. It is called Start Smart and I added all four ounces to the 50 gallon aquarium. I then added 10 Rummy Nosed Tetras that are the most awesome schooling fish. Unlike any other tetras I have ever kept, the Rummy Nosed Tetras stay in a school. I contemplated getting a few more, but this aquarium is specifically for the growing Angelfish, and the school of Rummy Nosed Tetras is strictly set dressing. I also hope to bring my two boarded Angelfish home to this tank. They are growing back their pectoral fins.
Also, yesterday, I caught three of the Platy Fish to return to Tropical Imports. I could not catch the pretty reddish one that was my first pick. It was just too fast and I did not feel like ripping up my plants.
50 Gallon Aquarium
Those are brine shrimp hatcheries on top of the aquarium. My house is cold and keeping the brine shrimp hatching tanks on top of a heated aquarium helps with the temperature. Also, the brine shrimp gather near the light and are easy to eyedrop out.
Update: 27 April 2009
I checked the water today and that product, Start Smart, and alas, the ammonia is up to .25 ppm, which is not bad, but the Nitrites are up to 2.0 to 5.0. That is high. The Nitrites were at .25 the day I got the Rummy Nose Tetras. While at Tropical Imports today, I got 2 more Panda Cory Cats (since 1 died in the 40 gallon community tank) and one Corydoras aeneas. When I realized the Nitrites were high, I only added the C. aneas to the 50 gallon tank, and added the two Panda Cory Cats to the community aquarium instead.
Update: We moved some Fry
4 May 2009
Two relatively significant event have occurred this weekend. Yesterday we moved 12 of the biggest fry to the 50 gallon aquarium. As expected, the Rummy Nose Tetras chased them around, but this morning, there were still 12 dime sized (including fins) fry doing well. We moved an additional fry today bringing the total in the 50 gallon aquarium to 13. This final individual eluded us yesterday when trying to capture the largest fry. They are feeding on live baby brine shrimp, frozen baby brine shrimp, crumbled dry food, chopped frozen blood worms, and pieces of adult frozen brine shrimp. As the fry in the 10 gallon nursery begin to resemble the scalare form, they will be moved.
The second significant event is a bit of an embarrassment. On Saturday, while making a trip to Tropical Imports to buy more brine shrimp eggs, we noticed our Angelfish that have been boarding there laid eggs. Many were white and fungus-riddled, but there seemed to be a significant number of viable eggs. We price a 29 gallon aquarium with stand and got a good deal on an XP2 filter. Sunday morning, we bought the tank after thinking about if overnight. The next morning, the eggs were gone, either eaten or hatched and moved. We couldn’t see the fry anywhere, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still alive. Today, we set up the tank in the corner of the room by the fireplace. We didn’t get a hood, and there are no plants yet. We wish we could buy another large Amazon sword, but we don’t know if there are any left in the store. We may move some of our smaller plants, including propagated baby sword plants. Hopefully next weekend, we can bring the boarded Angelfish home. If they lay viable eggs, they can stay in the aquarium alone. If they don’t lay viable eggs, we will probably move our established pair to the solitary tank and move the boarders to the community aquarium. Interestingly, the fins grew back fully on the second fish we boarded, and only the left pectoral fin grew back on the first Angelfish we boarded out. That prompted Dean to name that fish “Lefty”. There are no new photos since we are having difficulties with the camera.
Update: We moved 8 more Fry
8 May 2009
The first 13 fry we moved to the 50 gallon tank have grown so much, we moved 8 more tonight. They are considerably smaller than the first 13, but we tried to pick out the largest individuals in the fry nursery. There are now 21 fry in the 50 gallon tank that they share with 9 Rummy Nose Tetras, a single Platy and a Cory Cat. The tetras love the baby brine shrimp we are still feeding to the fry, but the fry are beginning to take larger brine shrimp as well.
We had a few more fish losses in the 40 gallon tank. We lost a Glowlight Tetra yesterday, and a Panda Cat the day before. It has been very hot outside and our water temperature is 90º. The 40 gallon tank now contains a pair of Angelfish, 6 Blue Rams, 6 Blue Emperor Tetras (one of which has a popeye), 8 Cardinal Tetras, 5 Glowlight Tetras (though one looks a fit funny), 4 Black Phantom Tetras and 5 Panda Cats (though we have only counted 4 for the past two days).
Perhaps tomorrow we will bring home our other 2 Angelfish, a possible mated pair, that have been at Tropical Imports for about 6 weeks.
I like This
