Lost all my free swimmers

[Miamiheat]

Hi,
I have a recently formed breeding pair. They were put in a tank of their own. The fourth spawn yielded 70-80 free swimming babies (last week). I lost a few who went rogue and attached to dark sponge (i had a massive dark sponge). So what i did was to wrap the sponge in white filter floss, and it seemed ok. But the number of swimmers kept on decreasing. Then i realised the fibres of the floss were becoming a bit lose and some swimmers were trapped in them as if it was a net. I could see some floss on the mother's fins as i guess she was trying to recover them.

Sponge was removed, 50% of water changed, there were 20 left.
Next day about 10-12 left I hooked up an Eheim ecco pro as i was worried about water quality, intake covered with stockings, and very mild flow.
Last night I had 2 left feeding on the mother, and this morning they were still there.

- I havent picked up 75 dead fish so they were eaten: the question is why?
- Parents are fed pellets in the AM before i go to work and 2-3 times in the evening: they eat everything (first fish i have with such appetite).
- Both fish have acted like good parents so far (very caring for eggs, wigglers etc) but could it be that they are hungry?

Any advise, comments or hypothesis welcome here, this is the closest I have been to have babies, I am getting closer each time...

Thank you all.

[John_Nicholson]

It has nothing to do with hunger. Sometimes it take s little bit for their instincts to kick in. Patience is key here. What color are the parents?

-john

[kkdiscus]

I think you are stressing the parents out by changing too much elements in the water. They eat the fries when they are in stress.

[Miamiheat]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E7NPGo63K_o/U2T0AR5Eb7I/AAAAAAAAjxk/RtMUqgHaNOY/h120/20140503_144759_Con%2BColbert%2BRd.mp4

[Miamiheat]

I think you are stressing the parents out by changing too much elements in the water. They eat the fries when they are in stress.

It could be, but at the same time part of the success in getting these guys to this stage after 4 spawns has been to stick my hands in the tank all the time to clean, feed etc...
I can get in there and pet them and they dont even seem bothered. They feed avidly as well.
I have another confirmed pair of reds and so far no success, they are fussy as hell and very easily stressed.

[John_Nicholson]

I doubt it is the stress. I continue my normal feeding and wc routines with my pairs and have done so for the last 20 years or so.

Young pairs often go through this process. Most times the best thing is to just let it be. Is the pair turning dark after spawning?

-john

[Miamiheat]

It has nothing to do with hunger. Sometimes it take s little bit for their instincts to kick in. Patience is key here. What color are the parents?

-john

Blue diamond/cobalt female x turquoise male (i think :) ) I am so bad with the names

[Miamiheat]

I doubt it is the stress. I continue my normal feeding and wc routines with my pairs and have done so for the last 20 years or so.

Young pairs often go through this process. Most times the best thing is to just let it be. Is the pair turning dark after spawning?

-john

The male does not seem to have changed colours, but the female did turn much darker.

[John_Nicholson]

I would give them some time. I bet you have success in short order.

-john

[Allwin]

They will figure it out probably next time,Initially when i started breeding, i normally do 100%WC at the 3rd day before hatching. By taking the cone out in a bucket of water. It helped to avoid water fowling for the next 3 days until attachment and probably u can take the cone out with less feeding to parents. You can try this for now imo.

Later, i tried feeding/wc as the routine schedule and left the cone in the tank for darker strains, works too.Instinct will kick in and patience is the key :)

[Miamiheat]

They will figure it out probably next time,Initially when i started breeding, i normally do 100%WC at the 3rd day before hatching. By taking the cone out in a bucket of water. It helped to avoid water fowling for the next 3 days until attachment and probably u can take the cone out with less feeding to parents. You can try this for now imo.

Later, i tried feeding/wc as the routine schedule and left the cone in the tank for darker strains, works too.Instinct will kick in and patience is the key :)

Thanks for the tips. I know I am getting closer each time :)

[DonMD]

You might try using cheesecloth next time instead of filter floss (not sure what that is, but if it's what I think it is, it's thick with lots of places to get tangled). I don't know if you can find what I know as cheesecloth in Ireland, but I've had great success wrapping my black sponges with it. Free swimmers don't seem to get stuck to it at all. Good luck with your next spawn. -Don

[DonMD]

Another thought just occurred to me: do you have any other type of filtration going on in your tank? If yes, they might get sucked up in that.

[Miamiheat]

Hi Don. A combination of things went wrong I think: the black sponge had ridges. After it was covered they got stuck like in a net. And then I removed the sponge and changed a bit of water. But during all this the water quality wasn't great and the tank got dirty. I added an Eheim external and covered the intake with stockings. Bottom line there are 2 survivors handing on to mom and getting fatter.

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