shocker

UPDATE: Still have 200 fry now in a 20 gallon. Put the male back in with the female 2 days ago, this afternoon, another billion eggs laid. I'm going to have to find out who wants some Firemouth fry...must be some kind of deal to be made.

I hear ya...what to do with the fry? I have over 300 Firemouth fry from one batch swimming in my 10 gallon. I have to get them and the mom out of there into the 20 gallon. The mom looks like she has 300 mosquitos buzzing around her. She manages to keep them all in one corner. If ONE fry goes too far, she darts over and sucks it up and spits it back into the "swarm". At night, she spits/moves/herds all of them UNDER the flower pot and then lays on the bottom listing over to one side to block them in. Its fricken amazing watching her.

They are up and around swimming...but I have another issue now I have over 200 firemouth fry in a 10 gallon. Anyone have a complete 20 gallon with stand they want to sell?

Right now they are "Wrigglers". When they actually start moving around, venturing out of the pot, they will be considered "Free swimming" - that's when you'll want to start feeding them. YOU Da Man Jason...thanks! OKAY...I have 10 billion fry. They are all at the back of the flower pot. How do I get the food in there without just dumping it in at the surface and polluting my water trying to get the food in there? Mom wont let them leave...they try..but she spends all day circling the pot collecting kids and spitting them back into the back of the pot.

Right now they are "Wrigglers". When they actually start moving around, venturing out of the pot, they will be considered "Free swimming" - that's when you'll want to start feeding them. YOU Da Man Jason...thanks!

UPDATE: Eggs laid sometime Monday morning, hatched Wed night, Thurs morning. They are a million quivering fry at the back of the flower pot that the mom is guarding. Male removed a couple of days ago. How many days does it take for the firemouth fry to begin free swimming? They "appear" to still have a yolk sac but they are mobile quivering along the bottom. I want to start feeding them but can't figure out when to do it. Any help would be appreciated. Cant seem to find any info on the net that gives me a definitive time

My kid and wife would kill me! Male has been moved. Female is calmed down. Lots of eggs and ready to hatch. If that b*tch eats them I'm going to raise them next time on my own!

Thanks again! I think you and I are the only ones on this website sometimes. IF I did get lots of survivors, whats the best way to cull a few...meaning is there a market for them? Will pet stores take them in trade for a store credit? Charles

I was just going to keep the young in the 10 gallon...and if there were enough...get a 20 gallon for them and use the 10 gallon for breeding, 46 gallon will remain as a community tank. I think thats a good idea...i'll move the male tonight. Hopefully the female doesnt get stressed...he is a b*tch to catch

UPDATE....a week or so ago...the fry disappeared. Both parents were at the top of the 46 gal community tank seeming like they were gasping for air. I had an airstone in the ship where they laid eggs for effect. I turned it off because I thought the turbulence would make it hard for them to keep them together. As soon as I started the airstone...they snapped out of it and returned to the ship and seemed to be looking for fry. Started up a 10 gallon with same water out of the tank. Waited for amonia and nitrites to settle and put the parents in there. They seemed stressed. 3 days later, they laid another large batch in a flowerpot. They look really good (eggs), mother is tending to them. Since there are no other fish, father is not doing much, no digging, no spitting out gravel into a pile. Guess he feels no threats don't need any other places to move eggs. When he ventures into the flower pot, mother sometimes flares at him and pushes him out. Here are my thoughts: Did I cause them stress in the large comunity tank by lowering the oxygen in the water (eheim filter outlet under water so no aeration-stupid me). They then either ate the fry (tons of them) OR they had to surface and in came a catfish or barb and had a lunch? I have towels blocking the sides of the new tank set-up to keep them from getting startled. I have an established foam filter and an HOB fliter that I plan on turning off when they hatch to keep them from being sucked up. Do I leave the parents in and hopefully they are calm enough to raise the fry? Do I yank the parents now and use an airstone to hatch? Do I wait until they are hatched and when they start to free swim, yank the parents? Well? What do I do? Someone...please respond! One more day and they will start hatching (wed night, Thursday morn)

Awesome thanks! My Eihiem Pro is running in the tank but I cut back the intake so its near the surface? Any issues with Firemouth fry?

I assume you took the end off? Straight open hose? How long did you wait until you sucked them out?

Hate to bring up an old post...Pisces carries it in Calgary as of Feb 1, 2009

Thanks for the response. Thats what I'm going to do. The parents are awesome so maybe they will be okay. Have you ever siphoned the fry out?

22 views and no replies? oh well. I'm leaving the eggs and parents in the community tank. Move the pleco and all 11 tiger barbs out to a 10 gallon. 3 cories, 3 glass cats, 1 upside down cat and 5 gouramis are staying in the main tank as they seem not very interested in the eggs. Male is digging to china, female beats the hell out of anything that comes by and the eggs look super healty. I'm treating the entire tank for 3 days on methylene blue to clear up the strange bumps on the male and to keep the fungus off the eggs. Hopefully, the fry survive. If they are in any danger, when they get big enough I'll put them in the 10 gallon and put the barbs and pleco back in the community. I cut the suction tube on the filter off at the surface. I think the fry should stay near the bottom with the parents. I hate catching tiger barbs

Funny...I just bought MB too! I'm treating two tanks...one has a male cichlid with some strange "nodules" near the base of his pectoral fins and that same male is the Dad of some healthy looking eggs. 2 weeks ago I had ICH so today I said enough is enough...I'm going to go on full attack and clear this up. I assume you bought the same bottle I did at Picses? I'm doing exactly what it says on the bottle which is exactly what you stated above. Once every 24 hrs, do a 20% water change then at the end of the 3 or 5 days do a 25%. I'm leaving my canister filter going...little worried my bugs and plants are going to take a poop kicking. Thats why I'm only doing 3 days. What REALLY worked for the ICH is Malachite Green but that poop is quite toxic so you have to be careful. Let me know how your eggs turn out!

Pair of Firemouths laid eggs. I knew it was imminent as they were digging and breeding tubes had dropped. Now what do I do. They are in a 46 gallon tank and they laid inside a large ship ornament. Mom and Dad are guarding and beating the heal out of anything that comes near except they can't seem to move a pleco and an upside down catfish from coming dangerously close. Other fish are 11 tiger barbs (they don't care about them), 3 corys, 4 gouramis, 3 glass cats, 5 octo cats. None are large and don't seem to care but they are punished for getting too close Here are my options...which one do I select? I have a 10 gallon being set-up with 100% water from the community tank and the filter media from the Eiheim Pro removed and placed in the tank for bacteria (I'll remove it a couple of days Options: 1. Remove LARGE ship from tank somehow and place ship in 10 gallon and use airstone to fan eggs 2. Remove all scavengers like pleco and cats and place in 10 gallon 3. Wait till eggs hatch and siphon fry into 10 gallon (gently) 4. Leave it all alone and keep my fingers crossed. Outside the ship about 8 inches away is the intake for the Eihiem Pro filter Never had Firemouths before. Will the fry stay in the ship or venture out? Anyone else raise these? NOTE: that wierd "nodules" on the male are back again. They are at the base of the pectorals on the male. I need to use the parasite medicine again as it seems to work. I assume the medicine will harm the eggs Charles

I have 5 of them in a 46 gallon community tank. I have brown and green algae growing and feed algae tablets. They need to go on a diet and never stop eating

My Firemouth has the same problem. Drop pellets and its like he is too lazy to pick them up. Put in enough flakes that will get past the feeding frenzy of my Tiger Barbs and he eats...problem is he has to eat a lot more to equal a pellet. Let me know if you find food that perks your guy up.

I don't have another tank...maybe I should get one. Water chemistry is perfect (and in the range they like), and no other fish bully them. I call them "Dumb and Dumber". They just swim around with a dozy look on their face but have lots of energy when they want to exert themselves. Last night I got them to eat more by basically dropping depth charges of food on top of them. I'm going to have to do a water change. My clean-up crew is getting fat and growing like crazy. First time I've had Oto Catfish...those guys go none stop along with the cory's. Pleco...who knows what its doing. I need night vision goggles to spy on him. Charles

Both of the firemouths are thin. They are a pain in the @$$ to feed. You almost have to drop it on their heads.

Not the best photo but if you zoom in you can see the biege growth at the base of the pectoral fin. Its on both fins. it was discussed already on this forum. Was wondering if there was any other intel. Should I treat for parasite? I have the medicine for Ich which has malachite (sp?) green in it which is supposed to be hard on cat fish? Any help would be appreciated

Answered one question myself...guess you can calibrate them. I'm going to try that

Sorry if I sound ignorant but where is Aquagiant? I'm also looking to replace my top and Picses recommended buying a glass top and then setting a new light on top. Do the glass tops have a hinged lid? Place for heaters, pipes, airline etc? Can you replace the opaque chunk of plastic on the existing canopy with a nice piece of glass and then set the light on top of that? Charles

I recently got back into fish after 20 years. Not used to the new fangled heaters. I bought a used 46 gal and it came with an Ebo Jagger 150 W heater. The blue setting ring on top is really hard to turn and it seems that I have to set the temperature about 3 C lower than I want. It seems to cycle on and off fine. I run it vertically and don't completely immerse it as some people do. Can you take these things apart and clean, lube, inspect? Is this normal? Is it normal to to be accurate to what you set it to? Thanks for any help. Picses says they don't like Ebo J heaters...too many fail. Any thoughts?