Omg Eggs!

[glitterfish 0]

I found eggs in my 55 gallon this morning!! I took out all the plants that had eggs clinging to them and the piece of fake driftwood. I have them in a rubbermaid in about 1 1/2 gallons of water. What do I do now!? I think Radish is the mommy too! I thought she was a boy this whole time.

[vmlola 0]

Congrats! With luck you will be a goldfish Grandma! Yeah, I think Radish is the Mommy too! She has the look with those big eyes, "OMG, what am I going to do with all these kids"!

[glitterfish 0]

I dont know what to do at this point Lola! Im lost!

[small_ranchu 0]

congrat Erin. Now I have to get some fry from you. lol

[glitterfish 0]

Most definitely Fred! LOL

[vmlola 0]

I'm sorry that I am of no help, I have not gone through this! My fish have been getting "Jiggy with It", but I have not tried to hatch any out as I have no room for them at the moment!

[x-Lucy-Fish-x 1]

I've no idea, but I'd start preparing food for them when they hatch, like infusoria and baby brine shrimp!

[glitterfish 0]

I dont even know if theyre fertilized.. shouldnt the water be milky or cloudy? I noticed my pom pom has breeding stars!

[x-Lucy-Fish-x 1]

If the eggs go white then they are not fertile, if they are clear then they are fertile

I don't know about the water.. maybe in such a big tank it didn't.

[glitterfish 0]

Thanks Lucy! How long does it take them to turn white as theyre all clear right now.

[x-Lucy-Fish-x 1]

With my corys, unfertilised eggs would show in about a day I think..

Sounds good so far

[glitterfish 0]

Ok, I thought I should maybe move them to my 2 1/2 gallon aquarium but its probably best to leave them alone right now? I mean, they are still stuck to the plants and driftwood. I also dont have any air or filtration in the container right now. Should I be getting a sponge filter of some kind?

[JenW 1]

Well congratulations Erin - looks like you're going to have some babies on your hands

The good thing about eggs when they hatch is the ammonia produced by fry is almost non existent but they do need air. So I would rig up your 2.5 to allow for them to hatch and thrive so getting a very gentle airpump (or a low powered one) will be a good place to start - just so there's not much water movement but enough for good air exchange. I had great success with setting up the 20gal rubbermaid so there was a decent amount of water and would change about 30% of the water daily. Then I rigged up 2 sponge filters (that Andrea mentioned) and they worked well.

As they get a bit bigger, you can add a HOB filter and just cut a piece of sponge to cover the intake stem so they don't get sucked up... I ended up purchasing an aquaclear 30 for them and ran the filter on one of my tanks (where there was no disease or parasites) so it would cycle first and this seemed to work well.

There's a real difference between this batch of fry and my first - this batch grew much quicker because I added a heater and kept the water at a constant 24 degrees and fed them about 6 times a day and they grew quickly

When you look at the eggs, do they appear clear with a black centre? If you grab a magnifying glass, you can see the little eyes in the centre of the egg (pretty cool) but if they're not fertilised, they'll start to mould quickly - within a couple of days. Otherwise, you can expect to see some of those little fellas hatch within 4-5 days

[glitterfish 0]

Thank you so much Jen! Should I take them off the plants and driftwood or just throw everything into the tank? I dont want to hurt them.

[shawneesgoldie 0]

Wow Erin How exciting. And your fish are Beautiful the Babies are going to be so cute

Im not a breader but i would think so .I would not take them off of what they are on .I would think that You could risk injuring the eggs Putting it all in the tank shouldnt hurt. Then later you could take it out after they have hatched. Hey congrats

[JenW 1]

Yeah, I'd throw all into the tank and wait. I had to remove eggs from my larger log but getting those suckers off without squashing them is real tricky.. They will still hatch if you can get them off, especially if you're careful

You should see how many plants I destroyed because in the end I'd cut the leaves off with scissors and place that leaf in the hatching tank... my plants all looked like stubbs after that breeding activity

[rwersted 0]

What an exciting surprise. Best of luck to you.

[glitterfish 0]

Ok, sounds great! I will just throw it all in the tank. Im debating on stealing the airstone from my 10 gallon QT. Thats the only pump I have extra right now since I am dealing with sick fish.

Thanks for the congrats everyone!

[Blue 8]

Yay congrats on the babies to be Erin : Cant wait to follow their progress

[JenW 1]

Same here Frazer - I'll be watching with bated breath

I'd grab the spare Erin and if you find the bubbles are too strong for them when they hatch, just grab an elastic band and tighten it around the airline tubing - unless they have still areas they can hang out in. I ended up using a small pump in my tank and they hung out over the other side until they were big enough to deal with the water movement

[glitterfish 0]

Thanks guys.

So my other fish will be fine without bubbles for awhile?

[glitterfish 0]

This is for sure the daddy... He has breeding stars all over his gill plates and is chasing everyone around! Im not certain if Radish is the mom. Could be my black moor.

[JenW 1]

Thanks guys.

So my other fish will be fine without bubbles for awhile?

Darn it, I though your 10 was empty until I realised this is where your 2 little sick one are... No, they'll need it for sure so keep it on the 10

So your new boy may be the dad? How cool is that? How many fish in the tank the eggs came from? What kind of fish do you have in there? The interesting thing I've found is one female sprays her eggs while 3 different males can fertilize them - makes for an interesting batch of fry

[Bzoink 0]

That mother looks beautiful! Good luck with the eggs

[glitterfish 0]

Jen, I found a splitter so both tanks have air! I knew that would come in handy at some point.

In the tank I have an orange butterfly telescope, a black moor, orange/white telescope and an orange oranda besides the pom. I wish I would have seen it happening! The pom is the only one with breeding stars and is very interested in the others. Im not even sure who the mom is right now. I always thought Radish and Gobbles(moor) were males but now today they have "outies".