My early Christmas Present???

[Aquarius]

The inevitable finnaly happened. I have a pair that has layed eggs.
I had a feeling this was going to happen, but now I need to decide if I want to try and raise some babies.

The big problem is my water, as the PH is 8 I don't think the eggs will make it, of course, it seems strange that they would even lay eggs in my hard water with such a high PH, but they did :)

I don't think I'm going to move them, but just some ?

They are in a 125G with 18 discus. I had just moved two of my tanks and "Loaded" the 125 till the other tanks are up and running, so of course this would happen now. The piece of driftwood is in the middle of the tank and was wondering if I should move it to the side.

The pair is defending their eggs fine now, though it is a very same batch, and want to see how they do. So would i just be better off to see how things go? If by chance some hatch, is it pretty simple to move the parents and babies together into another tank?

-steve

[Aquarius]

closer look...

[paulmat]

Steve

Your best bet would be to get a new home for the happy couple. The eggs you have now have a chance, but not much of one. But they are a very cool Christmas suprise :santa: :santa: :santa: :santa: :santa:

Do you have a R/O unit? Mixing it with your tap and airating it will lower your Ph , and hardness enough for them eggs to do O.K.

Paul :guitarist:

Yes indeed a very nice Christmas present.

Miles :)

[Aquarius]

Yep, Thats the problem, I have to go and find me a good R/O unit :)

I had really hoped that one day I'd be at this step, yet I know the water I have is not good for hatching. So now its time to set up shop I guess, and get the 29g going for next time. Basicly, what will happen with the higher PH? Will the eggs just not hatch?

Thanks for the comments too guys. That first pic came out nice for a fast snap..
and so far the eggs still there trough the night.

-steve

[arpanlib]

hi,
congrats for the eggs and i think thats the best christmas present you can get from santa ;)

merry christmas.

arpanlib

[Willie]

Steve;

Take a deep breath -- and enjoy the experience. Don't move the eggs or the parents, just watch and learn.

Your fish have spawned so you know water conditions are just fine. You also know you have a female. If the tube on the other fish is much smaller, then you also have a male. If the eggs develop into wrigglers, about 50 hours after the spawn, then you have a viable pair.

Its unlikely that any fry would survive in a community tank. Its also unlikely that any fry would survive from the first spawn. If you get wrigglers, then its time to plan for the NEXT spawn. You need to get a separate tank ready and cycled. Then you can move the parents to their own tank and hope for the best.

As for the high pH, I wouldn't be too pessimistic. I've seen discus carrying babies in water that I'd thought be far too hard for egg development. I think that part of it is greatly exaggerated. Again, just sit back, watch, learn and enjoy.

Willie

[Denny]

steve,

i am not sure how the grand view water differs from the ashland or mason water, but from the scouting i have done, i have found p.h of 8 like yours, but the hardness was not near as hard as where i live. in fact when i was there for thanksgiving i did a bit of testing to see if i should buy my mother in laws house and move up there. it seems in that area it is common to have the water held in pockets of granite, whereas here the water is held in limestone, which raises the carbonate hardness. have you tested the hardnes of the water there? and if so can you let me know what it was?

btw, randalb is going to be offering 5 stage ro units with a free tds meter for $125 after the holidays and has great deals on pumps too.



denny

[Aquarius]

Hi Denny,
The General Hardness is 80G?H and the Carbonate Hardess runs 90KH
The Chelated Iron ran 40mg/L ppm and the PH is around 8.6 Next time you are up north here you should give me a call. I know you talked before about stopping in..

-steve

[Denny]

i'll do that steve

if you can make it, try to get down for the quarterly discus meeting at st. croix discus.
here is a link and there is one in the events section here. there will be some prixes worth the drive.

you must be using a different scale for measuring hardness than i am as that is way up there.

denny

[Denny]

btw steve

i had a container of water i brought back from ino and i just tested it and got the following

p.h of 7.2

kh 4
gh 3
tds 54

this is water that has been in a sealed container for 3 weeks and i don't know what impact 3 weeks has on it, but the ph is definitely lower now that it aged. fwiw


denny

[jim_shedden]

congrats and great pictures

Jim