cgmac

Yeah that'd do it !! Quite funny and weird.....but I feel bad for the fish. Today the leaf coming from it's mouth is getting shorter so this will have to just run it's course. The "strings" coming out the back end are getting longer. Hey, maybe this is just a "fish cleanse" program !! I tried to get a picture of it last night but my camera is not that great, or maybe it's me that can't operate the darn thing!

Update: STill not sure how many fry I have, some may have died off. I have an AC mini for a filter and even when I have it on low it seems to create too much movement down on the gravel. I have placed a foam filter insert under the outflow area to buffer the turbulence. Since I did that I saw quite a few more fry swimming above the gravel. I fed BBS this morning for the first time and they seemed to be going after it, although it is tough to see since they are so tiny. They look like little helicopters without the blades on top. Or as my daughter put it ....little mosquitos without the legs and wings !

If I could catch this fish in a net I would try to help it out at this point. The tank is heavily planted and bleeding heart tetras can dart around very fast. The leaf does look to be getting weaker and may break off on it's own.

Tough to explain so you can get a picture in your mind. The leaves themselves are very stringy, and part of the leaf is hanging out of the mouth, and the other part, probably somewhat digested is hanging out and looking stringy! My guess is it still hangs there because it has gone through the fish's digestive system but is not completely broken down into waste.

LOL guys thanks for the laughs ! Fishy seems to be showing some stress now as his fins are starting to look tattered. I know that I should go in there and try to net him and put him in quarantine, but my q tank has Blue Ram fry in it right now. Not to mention catching a fish in a planted tank is next to impossible. I think that I will just let nature take it's course here and see what happens.

Hi Vic, There would be no benefit to turning off your co2 during the day, because that is when your lights are on and the co2 is used up by the plants, during photosynthesis. Definately get a check valve on your co2 rig, so like Golfnut says, you won't have your tank water drain out onto the floor. Post all perameters of your set up, so the gurus on this board can chime in and really help you out. Tank size, plant mass, amt of lighting, etc. :beer:

Thanks everyone. I love looking at pics of everyone's tanks, and from what I have seen you all have invested alot of time and have some great looking tanks. Would like to show my work as well. Hopefully as the fry in my q tank grow I will be able to post pictures of them as well....but first things first...I have to keep them alive!

Yeah, you will have to watch closely if the parents start to snack. The first time this pair spawned the male ate the eggs that he so carefully guarded for two days, they didn't even get a chance to start to hatch. So when I saw these eggs in my tank on a plant leaf I got things ready and moved them the same day. This is only the first opportunity that I have had to try this, but my feeling is that fry would never last in a community tank. This is so cool to watch. I have spent way too much time watching this tank to see how the fry are doing. They are really getting around now, swimming all over the place but still going down to the gravel to rest and probably eat. I added a stem of pennywort from my main tank and have some anubias in there as well, they will be able to pick at the plants for food. I would estimate their size at about half a centimeter in length. I will keep you posted with results and hopefully a pic when they get big enough! Hi Degrassi ! Yes these eggs did hatch in Calgary tap water. My main tank is supplemented with co2, and when the eggs were laid the ph was about 6.8 but I didn't have a reading on the gh, my guess is that the kh was around 5. I very slowly acclimated the leaf with the eggs on it to the q tank, carefully making sure that the eggs were always covered with water. My challenge now is to actually raise the fry in Calgary tap water.

Thanks everyone! I just fed them some ground up flake food. I got a plastic kitchen scoop/spoon and put the food in that and then used a wide handle of a pizza cutter to do the grinding! My version of a mortar and pestal. I mixed it with a small amt of tank water and then used a pipette to take it down to the bottom of the tank. The fish seem to be all over the substrate so I added a little every so often. I can see that it would be very easy to overfeed them, so next feeding will be less. I did a water change last night and plan to do one tomorrow night also.... I'm thinking every second day. I am going to try the spice grinder idea as that seems alot more convenient than getting out the spoons etc! I put a sponge over the filter intake on Saturday and I have the filter flow rate turned down as low as I can get it. (AC mini) Should I still put a nylon over the sponge?

In the filter of my fry tank I have only sponges for media, should I put some carbon in there? Anything else?

Has anyone ever seen this happen? One of my bleeding heart tetras has eaten a leaf of an Echinodorus Angustifolius plant , a long, thin leaf ground cover. Part of the leaf is hanging out of the fish's mouth, and part is hanging out of, well how else could I put it.....it's bottom ! The fish doesn't seem to be struggling, so I am not trying to help it out at all. I am hoping that the leaf lets go from the mouth area so the fish can digest the rest of it. I am keeping a close eye on the fish to make sure it doesn't start to show stress, but so far, so good. Anyone have any thoughts??

Will do Neely! I do hope that I can get them to the stage that they can be passed on to other hobbyists! That would make me very happy! I am going to continue with the best in care that I can give. Today's mission is finding the appropriate food for them. I have seen them again just this morning and they are wigglin' around down near the gravel. I removed the java fern leaf last night that the eggs hatched on, as there were a few eggs that were unfertilized and unhatched. I have no idea how many are living, but a rough count on the eggs that were laid is around 90 - 100. Blue Ram: thanks for the tip on where to get the baby brine shrimp, I'll whip down there later today. Thanks all ! Corinne

Well they did it again! The first time these fish spawned was in my Q tank three weeks ago. They spawned early last week in my main tank (33 gal planted) on a java fern leaf. I cut the leaf off at the base and slowly acclimated it, to my Q tank. It was set up and had some plants in it which I removed from the main tank. I do every other day water changes, just using Calgary tap water and Seachem Prime for conditioning. The tank is 5 gallons and has a gravel bottom, which seems to be giving the little fry a place to hide and maybe (I am hoping) a microscopic food source. I saw one just 5 minutes ago swimming freely about 4 inches above the bottom of the tank. I bought some Wardley food for fry, but am wondering if anyone can please tell me if I can buy vinegar worms or small enough food for these little guys? The liquid fry food seems to be too big yet for them. I have New Life Spectrum flake food for my other fish. Can I grind this up and put some in there for them? Any advice or thoughts about these questions, or any other ideas that some of you may have would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I have a Sony cyber shot 3.2 mega pixel camera. Doesn't seem to take as nice a pic as what I am seeing of other photos online. Maybe I should learn how to use it better! Just wondering what kind of camera people are using to take such nice pics of their tanks?

I have four blue rams. A pair formed when I put them in my Q tank and the female laid some eggs, which were very small and became snacks! Hopefully they do this again so I can try to get the eggs to hatch. These fish are my first ever cichlids, and seem to be very much at peace in my community tank with cardinals and bleeding heart tetras.

Okay I just got back in and see that my Rams have some eggs in a corner of my Q tank. (4 fish altogether 2male, 2 female). The pair are guarding these egss ferociously against the other two fish in the tank. I am wondering if I should just put all the fish in my main tank and try to let the eggs hatch? Should I leave things as they are now? (I am afraid some one is gonna get hurt or harrassed to death) Should I take out the fish except for the parents of the eggs? This wouldn't be such a problem if they hadn't done this in my Q tank. Maybe a tank divider? darn Petland is closed now!! This is a great surprise and my kids have been fascinated by it......now I have more babies to take care of !! I know that these fish are typically hard to raise from eggs, so my expectations are not high, but any help that I can get would be great!

I am noticing improvement in the growth of my plants now that I put new Flourish tabs in substrate. Algae growth does not seem to be so prolific ! Now working on getting a good batch of diy CO2 going. Yesterday I whipped up a batch with red wine yeast....does not produce enough pressure to get things going consistently. I am going out now to get what I should have yesterday....some brewers yeast. Kudos to Garhan, Milan, Christian and jvision for all your help !

I've been using Flourish root tabs. If you are only paying $7 and a bit more, that is a great deal. Cheapest that I have found them is $15.99 for ten tabs. I know you can order them online from Pets and Ponds for about $8, so next time I need some that is what I am going to do. I too am wondering if there is a cheaper way to fert the substrate.

I have the Jobes for ferns and palms, which is the one that everyone seems to be recommending. Do you use them for all your plants or just certain ones? I still haven't added them but would like to try.

I have completed the water change and have my magnum running with the micron filter in it. I trimmed some of the plants, but there is still so much algae "waving" at me and I am just not likin' it !! What can I expect to see happen with the algae if the co2 level is at 14 ppm and I start dosing ferts? The ferts that I have available to me are: Flourish for traces Flourish Nitrogen generic enema for Phosphate no salt for potassium Flourish Excel and Flourish Iron Any dosage recommendations would be appreciated !

Good day ! I just tested ...... ph was 7, and KH was 85 ppm so that came out to about 14 ppm CO2. It took about 8 1/2 drops of regent to get the color to change, with regard to the KH. So things have improved over two days ago. But from what I am told, 14 ppm co2 will not be quite good enough. I am going to have to improve diffusion of the co2 that I am providing. Off to do the water change....didn't have time last night.

Thanks for the info Jason....that would explain why the vals don't look so good. I thought it was because of the algae problem. Thanks for the fert info as well. It helps to have a guideline to follow.

To clarify Flourish, that is for traces. When this bottle is finished I am thinking of a switch to Tropica Mastergrow (just to see if there is any difference) I have hooked up another diy reactor and brought the bubble ladder out of semi retirement! I have mostly fast growers , with one anubias (want to add more but will wait until things stabilize) , a java fern and a couple of crypts and banana plants. I am going to do another water change tonight and try to remove some of the algae, not easy stuff to get hold of. I use a magnum 250 to polish the water after changes. Pressurized CO2 would be awesome but I am on a budget, maybe in a few months. I really appreciate all the feedback. :beer:

Does anyone know where you can get a brass check valve in Calgary?

That makes alot of sense and I did mix up another batch last night and hooked it up to a T connector, simply because I didn't have a spare check valve. Will be going out today to get one.