I see little tiny tails. HELP...

[tracyalexa]

Ok...so he did a good job and today I see little tiny tails. Some babies floating out of nest and he is on the jobs getting them right back where they need to be!! YAY.

Here are my questions -

1. Do I need to change the water at all or would this bother him? Or will snail clean it up enough?
2. What should the ideal ph be for the tank so the fry can grow?
3. At what point should I be changing the water and will that upset the fry at all?

Any other useful advice would be great...so nervous now!!!

[tpocicat]

Wait until the fry are free swimming, at the same time you remove Dad. You can add a gallon at a time if the level is low. Be careful, the fry are very sensitive, and you don't want to make a sudden change in the chemistry. Hope this helps.

[animallover4lyfe]

Originally Posted by tracyalexa

Ok...so he did a good job and today I see little tiny tails. Some babies floating out of nest and he is on the jobs getting them right back where they need to be!! YAY.

Here are my questions -

1. Do I need to change the water at all or would this bother him? Or will snail clean it up enough?
2. What should the ideal ph be for the tank so the fry can grow?
3. At what point should I be changing the water and will that upset the fry at all?

Any other useful advice would be great...so nervous now!!!

I didnt do any water changes until 2 weeks old. But then again i didnt add a snail until 2 weeks. They produce alot of poop lol but in my opinion id probably not do anything until at least 1 week. They are very sensitive and i was always so careful in the beginning.

I didnt test or worry about the ph at all, but thats just me.

[Oldfishlady]

Congrats.....

When I spawned using the standard method-bare bottom/half full....I didn't start water changes until I started feeding the fry-at about day 5/6 more or less

Then-I would remove debris from the bottom with airline hose-removing about half gallon of water and replace with-1gal like temp water daily

Once the tank was full-I would make 50% daily

Although snails do poop a lot...the bacteria from snail poop is much less harmful than rotting food/fry and/or fungus eggs and its easier to see to target remove.

Snails-common type-pond, ranshorn, trumpet-can help the spawning tank-when the snail is fed the proper diet-they can produce infusoria/microorganism for the fry to eat free range for the first week or so, removal of plant debris to help prevent chemistry changes and eating uneaten food, dead/dying fry and/or unhatched eggs that can create bad bacteria

Snails are a love hate kinda critters in spawning tanks-as long as you make the needed water changes...IMO/E common snails are helpful...

Its best to allow the fry to adapt to your source water pH to avoid swings.

Water quality and good nutrition will encourage proper growth and development.

Sometimes you have to experiment to find what works best for you...trial and error in some cases...lots of ways to rear fry successfully....

Good luck and keep us posted....

[tracyalexa]

They are all over the place. Little tiny black headed fry. Cutest things I've ever seen. I am in love. That's what scares me....what if they all die?

So far, I see about 30 - 40? Not sure. They going up and down in the tank. Dad is doing a wonderful job picking them up and bringing them back to the top.

She laid the eggs on Sat. I noticed the tails yesterday (Monday). They are trying to "swim" around now...again, they are all over the place.

Is it too soon to try to feed them? I hardboiled an egg, got a tiny piece and squashed it up, mixed it with water from the tank in a little vile and poured it into the tank. Not sure if they are even capable of eating at this point...but just in case, I didn't want to starve them.

I have the BBS hatcherys going but I've tried it twice already and NOTHING. I have no clue what I am doing wrong. I've read about them and watched 5 diff youtube vids...doing it just like them. Still nothing. Trying 2 right now, we will see tomorrow.

I lowered the water by about 4 inches just to give them a better chance of swimming up and down.

[purplemuffin]

They won't eat for a few days longer, they are absorbing the egg yolk and are quite full! :) I'm pretty sure people start feeding as soon as they are swimming horizontally?

Are the brine shrimp warm enough? Look closely, they will be ridiculously small. They look like the little dots of debris you see in pond water, but they wiggle.

[floridiansx]

if you have live plants in your fry tank, you'll be fine. plants provide micro organism for the fry to eat. i check for micro orgs by shining a light sideways not straight ahead to the tank in a dark room, you will see small white dots swirling around where the beam of light hits. the longer the tank has been set up, the more micro orgs there will be. don't worry about water changes unless the water is cloudy. start changing water after 2 weeks.