Thanks Patty!
It's been awesome watching the parents with the babies. I think I'm still a little bit in shock at how well it's going. They started with 20 babies, and have only lost 2.
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Well
I have been away from my pc for a while , even after returning from NADA. Excellent pair, Congratulations!
I just realized that I left out one very important piece of information concerning this pair FINALLY getting it right. For the last couple spawns before they were successful, I had added rooibos tea to the tank, thanks to some discussion on this forum. I don't know if that actually made a difference, but circumstantial evidence would indicate that it had some effect. :)
Here are a couple pictures I took yesterday of the babies. I started with 20, and currently have 18. There are a couple that are still tiny - guess I'll probably need to cull them? The others are doing great, though! They are currently in a 55g grow-out tank. I removed them from their parents a few weeks ago before I went on vacation - the parents were getting aggravated with the babies still picking at them and I didn't want anyone to get hurt! I'm still surprised that my first foray into breeding has gone so well. :D
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One last trip for the summer coming up. I'll be gone 8 days. I'm nervous about how these little ones will do, but since I don't have anyone to do water changes, I'll just turn off their light and fast them while I'm gone. Fingers crossed.
At least I know that I have future spawns to count on - I have this pair plus 2 more pairs of heckle crosses that each have wigglers in my display tank. I may pull one of those pairs to put in a breeding tank after vacation. :)
And after vacation, all these little guys look pretty good! :D
Hi Linda,
Good to hear from you again. We need pictures!
That is great to hear Linda. Some pics would be great. I bet they have grown!!
Pat
New pictures of the babies! It's hard to get good ones - they are FAST! :)
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Well, yesterday was a bit bittersweet. 8 of the babies went to their new home. I always worry about my fish when I sell them, and these little guys are extra special to me! I'm confident they'll have great care, though. :)
Hi Linda,
I know the feeling you’re describing, been there myself and I’m sure many others have. But good to see you are confident in the person they went to, always helps
I’m really looking forward to seeing the remaining babies develop, hoping you keep this thread up after the contest ends.
If they look anything like the parents near the end of their main growth phase, they should be gorgeous.
I really like the shape of the parents, not your classic sought after “rounder is better type”.
Done really well so far.
Tobi
I now have just 6 of the babies in the 55g to grow them out a bit. I'm assuming they will look like their parents, but I'm still anxious to see them bigger! I have grown out babies before, but never "from scratch." It was fascinating to see them through the whole process and I have to admit that I'm a bit attached to these little guys!
The parents have gone back to eating eggs. I guess one batch of kids was enough for them. Lol. The last spawn, they laid on the front glass of the tank, so I got some plastic cross stitch cloth and suction cupped it around that section of the glass. The parents still managed to force their way in to eat the eggs.
I'm thinking that I may shift this pair into my 125g display and pull another pair from that tank to breed. The other pair has had swimmers a couple times in the display tank, so I think they are a little more dedicated to family life. :D
Good luck with the breeding. It's a Heckle pair from Mr. Bugg you'll be working with, right?
Yep. I bought 6 fish from him, and ended up with 3 confirmed pairs!
The parents of these babies paired off in the QT tank about a month after I bought them, so they went straight to a breeding tank.
The other two pairs just recently paired off in my 125 display tank, and both have had a few babies make it to swimmer stage there.