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funkyj · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject: Trying it again

My BNs spawned again. My wife noticed 8 eggs outside the cave on the gravel. Is there anything I can do to put them back in the cave?

Also, I believe I lost all of my previous batch of fry from this pair. What should I do to ensure the survival of them this time?

mpp · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject:

Hi Funky,
That happened to me once and there was nothing I could do about the eggs on the outside. I tried to stick them back into the cave but when I returned a short time later, they had already been removed. I'm not sure if they were viable or if perhaps the dad somehow sensed they posed a threat to the other eggs inside the cave. There's nothing really special about getting them to hatch I don't think. I just keep the tank clean and when I feed them zuchini, I usually place it pretty close to the cave so dad doesn't have to go far to feed. Good clean circulating water and good food = spawns and babies.
mike

funkyj · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks Mike. What about the second question?

mpp · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:12 am Post subject:

Funky,
In certain tanks, the only fish I have in there are my breeders so survival rates are very good. Mom and dad don't canibalize their young. I'm sure any other fish would find a nice 1/2 long itty bitty a nice fishy snack. I think predation might have been one of the reasons you lost the others. They're also a bit contrary and will find their way into darn near any filtration system you have on a tank that is unprotected by a sponge or other similarly small diameter blocking medium. That may have occurred too. Kind of hard to say. My original losses were either to predation or to them finding their way into the filtration. I also keep the temps on breeder tanks a little lower--roughly 74-75 as IMHO it helps keep O2 levels higher for when there's a whole bunch of fry in a 20H.
mike

funkyj · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:46 pm Post subject:

Thanks Mike.

funkyj · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:21 pm Post subject:

Most of the eggs were kicked out of the cave. I put the ones I found in a net and put them in the current from the filter and the powerhead. Saturday morning they hatched and were wriggling around the net. I went out and watched some tv and went to take another look and the wrigglers were gone. Huh? I searched the tank and found 3 near the cave and more eggs. I looked into the cave and saw 2 wrigglers in it. I couldn't do anything to help the fry that were out of the cave.
I wanted to check in on the 2 remaining fry last night. The dad came out to eat and I had a peek and there wasn't anything in the cave except baby snails. Maybe this is the reason that the eggs were kicked out of the cave in the first place?