Great News Bill.
al
So they are! Well, guess it's feeding time over here as well!
Got home and found everyone looking better, albeit a little skittish when this new person showed up in front of their tank. Crumbled some of Al's pellets and have been watching them peck. Happy to say that all of them seem to be settling in!
This is right after I showed up, scared them, and fed them:
They were less hesitant ten minutes later, but seems to me even here they're showing good signs. Glad to be able to share something positive today!
Great News Bill.
al
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Al Sabetta
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You seem to be off to a good start here Bill .
With your diligence and Als guidance along the way I hope they will be happy campers in your tank .
Good luck Bill .
Glad I can provide some, Al. You deserve it after raising these guys through the summer and putting in the work that you have to get them to us.
Thanks, Filip. So far, so good! I hope they will be, too. And honestly, I'm feeling pretty motivated and empowered to raise these guys to their potential to the best of my ability. When I imagined myself as maybe the least experienced person out of 11 doing this, I figured I'd be lucky not to have problems. Now that there's a chance (hopefully a slim one) that only a handful of us might even have the opportunity to work with these guys, I'm ready. And you know, I've also gotten to a place in life where I'm not afraid to confess my own ignorance. So with Al and other experienced folks (such as yourself) paying attention, things are looking good.
Can't resist one more video--really settling in now and everyone is relaxed and eating!
Great video of a promising start Bill.
I have a feeling that your begginers luck along with your philosophy of "stealing" good ideas will get you to the top with those little guys .
I can almost feel your excitement right now and i would gladly be in your shoes too at this moment .
sweet Bill. Here we go!
Thanks, Filip! "Getting to the top" might be a little ambitious at the moment (!) but if I take that to mean I'll end up with some nice healthy fish to enjoy and share with folks then I'm with you! And you're right about the excitement... really fun right now. Hobbies can be great for helping us to feel like kids again at least for moments here and there. (It's like "Santa came!!!" over here right now.)
You bet, mate! Appreciate it!
Morning update time:
Did a few things last night before bed: first 75% water change and a feeding afterwards. All in all we're good but I think I'm going to tweak my system a little, for as I expected my return pump in the aging barrel is oversized for a 10 gallon tank! I played with plugging it in and unplugging it a little, trying not to bounce them around too much, and on the whole they didn't seem too upset during the process but afterwards they didn't show the interest in more food that I was anticipating. I have a really tiny pump that came with a breeder box that I'm going to try this morning and we'll see if there's a difference.
My big decision last night was whether to leave some crumbled pellets with them after the WC when they weren't showing interest. Didn't want to foul the water, but decided since I'd done a WC to give them a chance to graze overnight if they wanted to. (Woke up this morning and was happy to see that they had eaten.)
Also set this up last night--anyone else have one of these? I have BN fry, plus angels on eggs in my office tank (!) and endlers, so it seemed like I might as well make up a batch. (Maybe I'm stealing from Adam, too. )
2018-09-28 01.00.53.jpg
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Pardon my ignorance, but what's the thing pictured?
Also, if you have a plastic water bottle, you can drill some holes in it and stick the return hose in the top to diffuse the flow from your pump.
So, this morning I decided it was time to steal from Pat. We all know she's awesome and knows what she's doing.
Thing is, I don't have a fish-food coffee grinder, so I tried something else:
2018-09-28 08.16.08.jpg
Worked pretty well, though it's questionable whether my "fines" are going to be small enough.
2018-09-28 08.19.09.jpg
I sucked up the ones that sank to the bottom with a syringe and added them to the tank. Doesn't seem as though directing them to a particular area is especially important given the small footprint, and the fact that the fish are moving around pretty freely.
So far, looking pretty good! Some of the worms are too big, but the fry seem to be enjoy working them over!
And if some turn out to be too much for them, we'll siphon 'em out with the next WC.
Last edited by Tshethar; 09-28-2018 at 10:38 AM.
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>Want a great forum? Participate in it and make one.. it doesnt happen on its own.
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Al's got the call right on this one... won't produce large quantities and I've only just tried it once a couple of weeks ago, but it definitely works...
That's a good idea... I was thinking about stuffing some sponge in my hose or the like... I may try to see what I can rig up as the teeny pump I have will take forever. Thanks!
I looked around and didn't have a bottle I could easily use, but I did realize I had a plastic colender that had been relegated to fish-only use after my wife got a stainless steel one. It fit perfectly on top of the 10 gallon tank, and it did a very good job of diffusing water. I felt pretty ingenious and was thinking to made a video, as it's pretty amazing to watch, but then in watching the fish over the next half hour or so I was back to thinking that it was too much of a stress on them. (Paying attention to what Pat is doing here, which is using a pitcher and not her 950gph return pump here...) So, my brilliant colender idea for a 20 second WC refill is probably going to wait until these guys are older...
I'll try the tiny pump later and see whether it is the volume of change or the speed/manner in which I do it that causes some (limited) signs of stress.
Last edited by Tshethar; 09-28-2018 at 06:45 PM.
Meanwhile...
It only took about 15 hours or so for the first BBS to appear from the hatchery...
2018-09-28 15.34.28.jpg
Fish were happy to go after these this afternoon. Since I ordered this from Brine Shrimp Direct, and was paying for shipping anyway, I decided to try some of their flake foods which had been highly recommended by some pros on here. I was feeding some of this one to the big boys...
2018-09-28 16.46.15.jpg
...so thought I'd offer a tiny bit (like one large flake crushed) and see what the fry thought:
2018-09-28 16.45.29.jpg
The consistency is a little stiff when it's dry, but they definitely found it attractive and seemed to be working on it pretty well. Have a feeling there won't be any left over.