Aquaria Update: 10 Angelfish Sold, 20 Fry Moved, Hatchlings Removed

bugman

June 23rd, 2009 at 5:56 pm

Categories

aquarium

The Aquaria Saga Continues
23 June 2009. 3:49 PM
I just returned from Tropical Imports. I sold 10 3 month old Angelfish for $10 store credit. I used the money to buy a larger net (for catching fry from the 29 gallon aquarium) and more brine shrimp eggs. I took a photo of the 10 fledglings before leaving the house. There are now 120 fry in the 50 gallon aquarium.

10 three month old fledgling Angelfish bagged to go to Tropical Imports

I want to try to move all the fry from the 29 gallon tank into the 50 gallon tank. Lefty’s mate, who I’m thinking of calling Digitalis, seems to be filling with eggs.

Digitalis (left) and Lefty with Fry

The fry seem to be picking at the parents. Lefty has a slime coating that I’ve never noticed before.I captured 20 fry and there only seems to be 4 left in the aquarium with the parents. When I captured 30 fry last week, it seemed there were many more than 24 siblings still with parents. could there be hydra or other predators feeding on the fry? I took some photos to show the relative size before the move.

Lefty with some Fry

The latest spawn from Boris and Media Luna in the 40 gallon community aquarium hatched and were moved to another leaf. They hatched sometime yesterday. I will try removing some with a turkey baster today. The nursery aquarium is prepared.

Update:
25 June 2009, 11:34 AM
I removed fry to a smaller floating plastic container in the nursery aquarium two days ago. Today I removed another turkey baster full, leaving just a few fry with the very protective parents. I also managed to remove three additional youngsters from Lefty’s aquarium. I know there were at least four left two days ago, and yesterday there were still four, but today I could only account for three. Either there is one small fry still hiding, or there may be one or more predators lurking in the plants. Perhaps a dragonfly larva or more was introduced with mosquito larvae. Perhaps something came in on the plants. There is evidence that something has been eating the fry in that aquarium, but no concrete proof. It is odd that I only removed 53 fry to the 50 gallon aquarium, which now contains 143 fry from three spawings from 2 sets of parents.

Update:
29 June 2009, 5:43 PM
The fry that were moved into the nursery aquarium are now free swimming and eating newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii. Meanwhile, Lefty and Digitalis laid eggs and they hatched while I was in Mendocino. The wrigglers were moved from a leaf on the left to the spotted sword plant, and then back. I need to buy a new air pump so I can shut off the filter when the fry begin to swim.