Shubunkin Eggs Developing! + Now With Pics!

[emo]

Hi,

We’ve recently had to put a couple of our Shubunkins into a hospital tank after being nearly eaten to death by Piscicola Geometra (..leeches) in our pond. Male and Female, about 3-4” long. I managed to get all of the little buggers off with a 20% salt bath for 15-20 minutes, then picked off the remaining few with foreceps. It was pretty shaky going for them for a while, really really lethargic, almost no colour, but with twice weekly water changes, lots of love and some anti-bacterial+fungal medicine, thankfully we’ve nursed them back to nearly full health.

About a week ago I noticed the female was constantly harrasing the male, prodding at his belly, wouldn’t leave him alone. Then a couple of days after there were eggs covering nearly the entire bottom of the tank (as it’s a hospital tank we’ve not got any substrate). For two days after the eggs appeared she was still harassing and prodding him.

The male of course has been trying to eat the eggs, he’s nipped off quite a few but they are stuck on there pretty well. I wasn’t convinced they were actually fertilised until this morning when I looked closely and around about 10% have remained yellow/clear and have begun to develop eyes and spines. So here’s where I need the help...

Do I put the male and female into another tank until the babies hatch, catch the babies, put them into another smaller tank then put the parents back into this big tank? If so, what sort of filtration do I keep in the hatching tank? A regular filter’s not going to suck them up if I put it as low as it goes surely?

I’ll get some pictures as they develop as soon as I can and post them up here!


Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[chesterscot]

you can remove the parents they will play no part in rearing fry and may eat them once they hatch
also you could add a few drops of methylene blue to the water to prevent fungus growing on the eggs
i think a small sponge filter would be the best option but someone else on the forum will be able to give you a better answer good luck with the eggs
regards scot

 

[Goodygumdrops]

I wouldn't bother with the meth blue now as it sounds as if they are about to hatch.Get the parents out asap.If you haven't got another tank,even one of those big plastic storage boxes will do,this'll also be great for raising the fry,the bigger the better.(Also,it's the male that chases the female).
And yep,a sponge filter will be best (won't suck up the babies).You'll also need food for the babies (not until after their yolk sacks have gone though).At this stage in the day,I'd go online and buy a liquid fry food,or you can use the yolk of a boiled egg pushed through a piece of cloth.
Water changes are very important,maybe 25% or more at least twice a week (trying not to scoop out fry of course).Best of luck.

 

[emo]

(Also,it's the male that chases the female).

Well that's what I read... but honestly, it was the other way round. He wanted nothing to do with her, it was her chasing and prodding him, they are pretty easy to sex at this size.

Thanks for the responses both of you though.

So just an update, I managed stop at home from work at lunch after my original post, unfortunately I couldn't see any of the fertilised with eyes and spines, still I put the parents into another tank for the time being and rigged up a simple DIY sponge filter. (Air pump + stone with filter floss wrapped tightly around it. Looks like it's working so far, got some brown discoloration over small parts of it.)

The next morning I found more fertilised eggs, so there were some left thankfully.

Last night things started happening, had several of them hatch and completely uncurl, not moving a lot at the bottom... still feeding from their egg sacks I presume. They do wriggle a little occasionally.

I've put liquifry in for now, which I didn't really want to do but i'm actually having a nightmare finding fresh microworm or brine shrimp eggs for hatching... According to both of my LFS "There's no demand for that sort of thing"... I'll go further afield on Saturday.

See how things go when I get home tonight. Maybe try and get some pics soon.

 

[emo]

Just a wee update,

All fertilised eggs hatched okay, started swimming late last night. More are swimming now. Got some BBS hatching currently.

Here's some pics of a couple!

Thanks for everyone's help!