Diy Urchin Colour

[thefirethief]

One of my male Bangaii cardinals appears to be holding a nice big pile of eggs just now which is a nice surprise. In the odd chance I actually get fry I wouldn't mind trying my best to raise them so I'm going to make a simple 'fake' urchin for them to hang around in. I'm thinking of just using cocktail sticks stuck into aquarium epoxy however i know urchin they use in nature is the long spined urchin which is black. I've heard stories of mixed success at this approach, does anyone know how much the colour comes into play?


Any experiences?
Thanks,
Mark

 

[SkiFletch]

Seems like the color of the urchin will be the least of your problems compared to having enough food for feeding the fry. Phyto and rotifers are not all that easy to grow.

 

[Musho3210]

phyto is meant to be easier, and i found it a huge pain to make, i wouldnt be able to make phyto, and use that phyto to keep the rotifers alive, and keep the rotifers alive to keep the fry alive. Too much for me lol.

 

[SkiFletch]

heh, yup. To do it you really need to make a grow table so that you don't waste your time

 

[Musho3210]

also gonna take some planning and getting everything set up. Chances are the first few batches of fry wont make it, but you would still have lost money for all the growing stuff. Its gonna take a while to pay off all the DIY stuff with fish since very few succeed on their first try.

To tell you the truth, i just wouldn't try. Let nature do its thing.

 

[thefirethief]

Cheers for the help guys. I really don't have the time just now to culture my own live foods although it's something I have considered. I'm also not bothered about paying anything off, any FW breeding projects I've undertaken have been out of fascination and the experience. I'll just leave this one alone and see how I get on. I've heard of fry growing out in display tanks without any real intervention so that's the route I'll go down. I've made a cocktail stick urchin and the adults have been hanging around it a lot so we'll see what happens and I'll report any progress here!

Thanks again,
Mark