ABN's A new direction for me...

[jeep]

So I've had these long fin ABN's for a couple of years now. They've been in a basic gravel bottom tank with a few Cory's, a Featherfin Squeeker and a chunk of driftwood that they've hollowed out. I never see them much because they're always under the driftwood except for when they munch on some zucchini or wafers. I've always suspected that they had to have been spawning due to their close quarters and age but I've never seen any fry. A few days ago I found an old cave I had forgotten about, so i just tossed it in the tank and to my surprise a male and female moved in withing minutes. Unfortunately, when I dropped the cave in, it rested in a position that makes it hard to see inside.

As I've been told, the male kicked out the female and he stays in the cave 24/7, although from time to time it looks like she tries to go back inside. Every once in awhile I saw him fanning junk out of the cave opening, then I guess he got a little carried away and knocked some eggs out. I used a turkey baster and squirted the eggs back into the the cave. The eggs looked pinkish, not white. It's now day 5 since they moved into the cave, and day 2 since I squirted the eggs back into the cave. I read that it usually takes about 4 days to hatch and another 4 days to go free swimming.

This is all new to me, so any input and advise will be appreciated. I'm not sure how to care for them if they do survive, so at this point I plan to place a piece of zucchini at the mouth of the cave in a few days. Other than that, I'll keep things updated as time goes on.

Wish us luck!!!

cave 1.jpg

[danotaylor]

Cool mate, you ALFBN daddy! Nice pic, peek-a-boo ;D

[Sturiosoma]

heres what I feed brian

jeanneDSCN0241.jpgDSCN0240.jpg

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Brian. I've got my BN in with my shrimp. Taking advice from Adam, I feed canned French cut green beans to them. They love them, and cheap. I throw in some pellets about once week, too.

[jeep]

Thanks for all the info on foods.

Steve, do the beans sink or do you weigh them down?

[RogueDiscus]

They sink. I open a can a grab a bunch and spread them around.

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[jeep]

Cool! My mom always wonders why my tank has forks in it, lol...

[danotaylor]

Steve your shrimp have darkened up nicely...nice deep red now...
Brian just tell your mom it's because your fish don't have a fork of their own ;D

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks for all the info on foods.

Steve, do the beans sink or do you weigh them down?

Wow, that tank is too cool. I don't know why I didn't follow through with Adam's suggestion. I've been feeding nothing but Algae pellets to all my shimp, plecos, and Mystery snails.

[RogueDiscus]

Thanks Liz, I'm just about to do a cleaning and harvest of shrimp, BN, and maybe even assassin snails, but I'll try to post some more pics in my homestead thread. I've got so many shrimp and BN that I posted them on CL, 10 shrimp/$1 and BN for $1 each. I've got a list of folks now I have to catch them for.

[jeep]

Steve your shrimp have darkened up nicely...nice deep red now...
Brian just tell your mom it's because your fish don't have a fork of their own ;D

If you knew my mother, you would know she would believe me

[Sturiosoma]

Hi Brian. I've got my BN in with my shrimp. Taking advice from Adam, I feed canned French cut green beans to them. They love them, and cheap. I throw in some pellets about once week, too.

Green beans are fine but if you use canned make sure you rinse them good they have a lot of salt, and who the heck is Adam

Jeanne

[danotaylor]

Adam is a member with a lot of knowledge, experience and success with pleco's & shrimp amongst other things. He hasn't been around much lately though...

[RogueDiscus]

I think they like the salt

[Sturiosoma]

If you knew my mother, you would know she would believe me

I fully understand Mom as she discovered a Tupper ware container of blackworms in the fridge thinking we had leftovers thank goodness she didn't use them in a recipe, they have since been labeled

Jeanne