Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 10, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 I'm not getting overly excited just yet, you'll see why as you read this story. A few weeks ago I found eggs on a plant in my big tank. I got all excited and didn't know what to do. Then after talking to Erika, I learned the eggs were not fertile. So a few days ago, I notice once again that there are eggs on the same plant. I figure, ah, what the heck, I'll take the plant out. So I take the plant out, carry it allll the way thru the living room and into the dining room, and put the plant in my 5 gallon baby snail nursery. There was a lot of algae on the plant and the plant takes up about 75% of the tank. Right away the snails are all over the plant. Then I'm thinking to myself, "well, duh, the snails are going to eat the eggs!" So I gave up on the whole thing. Today I recieved some more baby snails that I had ordered in the mail. I decided to do a water change before adding the new baby snails. I took out 50% of the water using an airline hose (so I didn't suck up any baby snails). Then I fill up a pitcher of water and just DUMPED the water back into the tank. I only matched the temp. to what felt the same to me (it's not as important with snails). I added a few drops of dechlor and sat down to watch my baby snails. I noticed that the planaria (parasites that I have in the 5 gallon) where getting bigger. It even looked kinda like they had eyes. Then tonight I was watching the baby snails again and it dawned on me. What I thought were big parasites are GOLDIE FRY! I thought the snails ate the eggs. I'm in shock. Erika told me that I probably broke their little backs by dumping the water in the tank like I did. They are also in a tiny tank with about 40+ pea sized and smaller snails....who may think of them as lunch. I'm usually the optimist, but after that water change I did today, who knows. I counted 9 fry, but they're starting to swim already, so there may be more. It's so hard to tell! I'm so unprepared for this. I don't know what move to make next... Well, I just wanted to share that. Of course I'll keep you updated on what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 10, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 Well, either way I'm excited to see how they turn out. Hopefully theyre ok, cuz they're a lot of fun to watch grow!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 10, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hey, what kind of filter you got on that tank? You know you can't ahve a normal HOB on there right? And don't worry about food yet, if they DO start free swimming, it sounds like you have plenty of algae, but you might want to get some fry food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 10, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 There's a sponge filter in there...I couldn't have a regular filter because of the baby snails...It's funny I just bought it a few nights ago because I was worried the hatchling snails would get sucked up in the filter. Some of them are swimming a bit. Just from one wall to another or one leaf to another. There is lots of algae for them to eat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Lozbug Posted December 10, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 Hope the fry do well *fingers crossed* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member selena685 Posted December 10, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2004 I hope your little baby fishy's pull through. They sound like tough little buggers Good Luck!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 11, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 Thanx for the good wishes! I got home from work today and they're all free-swimming. I have nothing to feed them really. I crushed flakes into a powder, I figured that'd be better than nothing. I'm gonna try the egg thing in a minute. First thing tomorrow I'm gonna go out and get them some grub. There's a lot more fry than I thought too. I only counted 9 yesterday, but now that they're free swimming, there's probably 2x that amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 11, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 I got Hikari First Bites when my fry started swimming. It's really fine particled stuff, and they seem to like it. (22, they're goldfish, they'd probably eat pencil shavings!) It's really easy to overfeed that stuff though, but wiht the snails in there, I wouldn't worry about that too much! Just keep an eye on water parameters, and do regular water changes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 11, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 As soon as the sun rises, I'm off to buy some First Bites. I read that apple snails produce some kind of food that is good for fry, so hopefully there's some of that going on...I also scraped some lovely, thick, green algae from my turtle tank and stuck that in there too. The snails liked it at least. (Don't worry, my turtle tank is pristine.) I saw the babies trying to eat the flake powder I made, so hopefully that will get them thru the next few hours. I would be happy if just one of them made it! I know the odds are against me because I have so few to begin with and b/c I didn't even know they were there...I'm still upset about that water change. I forgot to tell my boyfriend about the babies so I text messaged him while I was at work. He didn't even know which tank they were in, but he found them (and he's a big time novice). Even he was excited about them. I caught him watching them a few times, saying, "wonder who the parents are," and "look, this one is bigger than the others." Maybe I've finally got him hooked. Oh, I haven't mentioned who the parents probably are have I? Well, of course there's no real way of knowing, but I'm gonna say that the mom is a shubunkin and the dad is either a fantail or maybe an oranda. I'd bet any money though that mom is my shub and dad is my orange fantail. (of all my fish, this is the combo that decide to make babies...couldn't be my ryukin or orandas... ..j/k) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blinky000 Posted December 11, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 hi hun!!! great to hear about your fry you might find it helpful to read the topic i made about everything you need to know about breeding. that should get you started with rearing the fry. have fun! guess you wont want my fry then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 11, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 I've read it twice! Once when you first posted it and once after I found fry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 11, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 11, 2004 and Heather, make sure you feed them SMALL meals, about 3 or 4 times a day......maybe just 3 times since you have the algae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 12, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 12, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member toothless Posted December 13, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 13, 2004 Good luck with your babies, Heather! I'm sure youll wind up with quite a few when its all said and done. Now you just gotta figure out where your going to put them as they grow. How about some pics when you can get the camera to focus on them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Ranchugirl Posted December 14, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 14, 2004 Hey, talking about surprise here!!! Big planaria, hmmmm? Thats exactly how they look when they are so small, except one end is thicker than the other.... I take it its hard to take pictures at this stage.... Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 14, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 14, 2004 So it's like day 4 or 5 now and boy are they growing fast. I bought and set up yet another tank (10 gallon) that I'm slowly moving the larger snails to. I figured I should take that huge fake plant out of the tank so I could see what was really going on in there. Now that I can see what's in there, I think there's about 25+ fry. Holy cow. They're already picking on the snails! The fry follow the snails around and pick at their antanae. Little piggies. I did a small water change today. I stopped when I noticed a fry got sucked up into the air line hose. It made it all the way to the rubbermaid container and was swimming around in there like nothing happened. I hope it didn't get hurt too bad. My mom syphoned up some baby corys once and they made it, so I hope this little guy is okay. I can't wait till they start to look like goldfish. I'm so curious to see what they will look like. I'll get pictures posted later in the week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 15, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 Yeah, I'd suck em up accidentally all the time when they were really young.... seems that the older they got the smarter and now they pretty much stay away when I'm in there cleaning. I noticed that if I jiggle the end of the tube around they'll swim away. You sound like me, setting up another tank! How many do you have up and running now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 15, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 Not so many many tanks now actually. I just gave a 10 and a 1.5 to my mom and then I went out and bought another 10. I have a 75 (goldies) a 5 (bay-bay snails and goldies) a 20 (my turtle) and now a 10 (with some snails and soon to be one of dev's betta babies). So I have 4 tanks, I've had more. I was up to 5 and even 5 with a rubbermaid, so 6 really. Oh wait, back then I still had 2 bettas in jars...well, the rubbermaid and 10 gallon were hospital tanks...ughhh...I can't keep up. 4. I have 4 tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 15, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 I have the 75, the 55, the 5 gal frog tank, the 2.5 minibow wiht guppies, and the 20 with fry... so I have 5.... argh. :crp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 15, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 that's just your tanks...what about rabbits and cats and lizard and dog...oh my! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erika Posted December 15, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 hahaha, yeah, and 3 cats, 2 rabbits, one dog, and Gandalf the Green.... and a partrige in a pear tree......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Devs Posted December 15, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 15, 2004 Congrats on the babies!!! I can't believe that you haven't grabbed my digicam to get that Breeder's award!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member eather.hey Posted December 16, 2004 Author Regular Member Share Posted December 16, 2004 Speaking of awards, how do you have the "met Koko" award? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Devs Posted December 16, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 16, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Devs Posted December 16, 2004 Regular Member Share Posted December 16, 2004 So ,how are the babies doing tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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