Eggs, again :)

[Emilyadams 212]

Its been a month since I lost my first batch of fry, so I beefed up my breeding "skills" and made spawning mops, bought tubs for the mops to go in once they had eggs, etc. And my fish have spawned about 7 or 8 times since then, the mops worked great for catching eggs but no fertilization ever occured. Two days ago I had no spawning mops in the tank as they were in tubs with unfertilized eggs and I was too lazy to clean them and my fish spawned again! So I removed all the decorations they spawned on (like the first time) and put them in a tub, not really hoping for anything and I even stated to my boyfriend that the next time they spawned I was just going to let them eat the eggs. Today, I see eyes and spines!

I'm not going to get too excited as I lost my first batch the day after they hatched, but I feel like I've learned a lot from that experience and from reading lots of breeding books and the threads on here. Can't wait to see what happens!

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Good luck!!!!

[BronwynH 1,109]

Congrats and Good Luck!

[jenzaar 11,605]

Good luck!

[Tuba Toothpaste 197]

Congratulations! I was in a similar situation recently. A couple of months ago I lost my very first batch of fry. I believe it was due to poor nutrition; none of the pet stores near me sold brine shrimp eggs so all I ever fed my fry was cooked egg yolks. Apparently my fry didn't take to it very well. Then about a month later my goldies spawned again, and since then I ordered the brine shrimp eggs and stuff online so I was totally prepared! Now my second batch of fry are doing great.

Good luck with this new batch!

[Emilyadams 212]

Congratulations! I was in a similar situation recently. A couple of months ago I lost my very first batch of fry. I believe it was due to poor nutrition; none of the pet stores near me sold brine shrimp eggs so all I ever fed my fry was cooked egg yolks. Apparently my fry didn't take to it very well. Then about a month later my goldies spawned again, and since then I ordered the brine shrimp eggs and stuff online so I was totally prepared! Now my second batch of fry are doing great.

Good luck with this new batch!

Mine didn't even make it to the stage where I had to feed them, but I think temperature was my issue for losing them. I also didn't receive the bbs eggs I ordered for them until about 2 weeks after they hatched so I would have had a similar situation to you no matter what I think. I should have everything I need now fingers crossed.

[LabRat99 322]

Awesome - good luck with them!

[fantailfan1 26,742]

Good luck!!

[Emilyadams 212]

Eggs started hatching last night, so far I see 24

[Tuba Toothpaste 197]

Yaaaay, so exciting!

[Emilyadams 212]

Temperature is staying stable so far and everyone looks to be alive still. Hard to tell when all they do is lay there lol.

There is so much scum on the surface of the water. I've been siphoning it off with a turkey baster but I feel like it would just be easier to move the fry to cleaner water. Thoughts?

[amoonklein 1,212]

Very exciting! Congrats on the second batch and I hope these guys stick around for you I can't offer any advice on the water surface as I don't have experience with fry, but I'm sure someone will be along soon with a suggestion.

[Emilyadams 212]

I decided to move then because I can't keep up with the scum that's forming. 55 is the final count

[Emilyadams 212]

Started my brine shrimp hatchery this morning. Going to get anther one going tonight as soon as my fiancé gets home with more tubing and we can find another safe place where the cat won't try to knock it down ugh.

[fantailfan1 26,742]

Pics of the fry.

Then you get a medal.

[Emilyadams 212]

I will do that as soon as my phone charges Lisa, thank you .

The first batch of BBS did not go 100% well, not sure if I did something wrong or what but only a few hatched. It was enough that everyone has orange bellies but now my timing is off on my two hatcheries because I didn't think any had hatched and I was giving them a little more time so they are now 4 hours apart instead of 12. Ugh.

[Rhea 21]

I will do that as soon as my phone charges Lisa, thank you .

The first batch of BBS did not go 100% well, not sure if I did something wrong or what but only a few hatched. It was enough that everyone has orange bellies but now my timing is off on my two hatcheries because I didn't think any had hatched and I was giving them a little more time so they are now 4 hours apart instead of 12. Ugh.

That happened because you've covered the bottle and the brine shrimp doesn't get enough air. Remove the film you've put on and you'll see the difference. It takes a bit more than 24H to hatch out, but it need lots lots lots of air.

[Emilyadams 212]

I will do that as soon as my phone charges Lisa, thank you .

The first batch of BBS did not go 100% well, not sure if I did something wrong or what but only a few hatched. It was enough that everyone has orange bellies but now my timing is off on my two hatcheries because I didn't think any had hatched and I was giving them a little more time so they are now 4 hours apart instead of 12. Ugh.

That happened because you've covered the bottle and the brine shrimp doesn't get enough air. Remove the film you've put on and you'll see the difference. It takes a bit more than 24H to hatch out, but it need lots lots lots of air.

Oh no! I took it off the old hatchery and threw it out and didnt put any on the new so hopefully I will have better results. Thank you!!

Here is one of the 55 in a teaspoon

[Emilyadams 212]

Brine shrimp hatchery seems to be finished in less than 24 hours this time, thank you Rhea for your advice! Does anyone know how long I can leave the brine shrimp in the water with the fry before I should be suctioning it out? I have just been moving the fry from tub to tub everyday so they always have clean water but I don't want to move them if I haven't left the shrimp in there long enough.

Fry are 4 days old today and I'm considering adding an air stone. Have to go buy another air pump and tubing/control valve before I can do that so I have time to think it over. There seem to be a few with curved backs but they have orange bellies and are able to swim so I will give them a little more time before I decide to cull.

[LabRat99 322]

Brine shrimp hatchery seems to be finished in less than 24 hours this time, thank you Rhea for your advice! Does anyone know how long I can leave the brine shrimp in the water with the fry before I should be suctioning it out? I have just been moving the fry from tub to tub everyday so they always have clean water but I don't want to move them if I haven't left the shrimp in there long enough.

Fry are 4 days old today and I'm considering adding an air stone. Have to go buy another air pump and tubing/control valve before I can do that so I have time to think it over. There seem to be a few with curved backs but they have orange bellies and are able to swim so I will give them a little more time before I decide to cull.

I switched mine between tubs every 24 hours. I actually used Sterilite dishpans from Wal-Mart for tubs; they have smooth sides and bottom so it made the fry easier to catch. I fed them twice a day and I would use a turkey baster to suck out as many uneaten brine shrimp from the previous feeding as I could before I fed them each time. Does that make sense?

[Emilyadams 212]

Makes perfect sense, I am actually doing that right now. I read your thread about the tubs when I had my first batch of eggs last month and went straight to Walmart to get a few. Glad to know I'm doing it right Thanks LabRat . I just didn't know if I could leave the shrimp in there for 6-8ish hours without spoiling the water.

[LabRat99 322]

Oh, I just remembered one other thing. After I switched them between tubs, I rinsed and refilled the one that I had just taken them out of. That way when I was ready to move them again the next day the water temp on the new tub would be the same as the old one. I also added dechlor to the tubs every time I filled one even though they were gonna sit at least 24 hours because I'm paranoid about chloramine. I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might just save the little guys. I hope this helps and good luck!

[fantailfan1 26,742]

I didn't use an airstone until Waldo was 1 week old. Not saying that's the way to go, just saying that's what I did.

And I never removed leftover brine shrimp. I figured as long as they were swimming around they were available for eating. BUT I only had one fry and he was in 2-3 gallons of water so I wasn't too worried about the water quality. I did 100% daily WCs like LabRat did (sorry I don't know your name ), moving him over then emptying and refilling the tank I just took him out of immediately so temp and pH were perfectly matched.

Good luck! Sounds like things are going well this time around!

[Emilyadams 212]

Oh, I just remembered one other thing. After I switched them between tubs, I rinsed and refilled the one that I had just taken them out of. That way when I was ready to move them again the next day the water temp on the new tub would be the same as the old one. I also added dechlor to the tubs every time I filled one even though they were gonna sit at least 24 hours because I'm paranoid about chloramine. I figured it couldn't hurt anything and might just save the little guys. I hope this helps and good luck!

Thank you! I fill mine with tank water from my 80 gallon as last time I used fresh water from the tap (dechlorinated of course) they all died so now I'm paranoid haha but I do fill it right away and then let it set so the temp is okay

[Emilyadams 212]

I didn't use an airstone until Waldo was 1 week old. Not saying that's the way to go, just saying that's what I did.

And I never removed leftover brine shrimp. I figured as long as they were swimming around they were available for eating. BUT I only had one fry and he was in 2-3 gallons of water so I wasn't too worried about the water quality. I did 100% daily WCs like LabRat did (sorry I don't know your name ), moving him over then emptying and refilling the tank I just took him out of immediately so temp and pH were perfectly matched.

Good luck! Sounds like things are going well this time around!

I've been reading a lot of threads and it seems like 4-8 days works for most people. I think I will wait until Thursday (6 days old) when I can be home all day and keep an eye on how things are going.

I think I won't worry about removing them then, there's too many other things to worry about with these babies!