They Did It!

[snowflake311]

My little 2.5 almost 3" blue acaras just spawned. I was watching them this morning the females breeding tube was down. They were cleaning a rock and Now their are eggs and they are tending to them right now. OH I am so excited. It happened I did have a pair after all.

This is my first time breeding fish that were not mollies.

What's the best fry food? I have some but don't know what would be best for them.

I am so glad they did it before I had to go to work. I got to watch them. Well off to work.

 

[Joller]

baby brine shrimp are best. i had trouble finding those, so i bought a plastic syringe at a chemist, ground up some flake and squirted it over the fry, that worked pretty well. my blue acaras would chew food up then spit it over the fry so maybe you won't even need to worry about it.

 

[minxfishy]

You can get decapsulated brine shrimp, you just soak it in tank water for a few minutes, they love it, or I also use frozen (obvioulsy defrosted) cyclops and yes crushing up some flakes and soaking them will work too. There is also something called ocean nutrition baby brine shrimp, apparently its suppose to be good, but I havent tried it.

 

[snowflake311]

Ok thanks guys. I'm going to look for some fish food today. I want to feed my fish live stuff as a treat too.

 

[minxfishy]

Be about 3 days before they hatch, so you have plenty of time

 

[snowflake311]

ahhh where did the eggs go?

So its been 3 days they should have hatched. BUT I don't see anything. Yet the parents are still guarding that site. I'm thinking the pleco got the eggs. Or they hatched and I just can't see them. This was their first spawn so I was not expecting many to live. They are stlll such young fish. It was just a trial run. I'm sure they will try again soon.

 

[minxfishy]

Have a look around for a pit in the gravel/sand or in a cave, they may have moved them, if they are still guarding there is a good chance.

 

[snowflake311]

Have a look around for a pit in the gravel/sand or in a cave, they may have moved them, if they are still guarding there is a good chance.

OH YOU ARE RIGHT !!!!! I looked really close and tucked up near some roots in a cave I saw what looked like the sand moving. It's a small batch. My gosh they blend in. I am so excited. Should I feed them today or wait a day because they still have the egg sack to feed off of right?

They are so hard to see. It so cute how good these fish are as parents. I love watching them.

 

[minxfishy]

Thought they might have

Yeah feed them tomorrow, just squirt a little food down near to them, they will find it, you only need little amounts to start with.

 

[snowflake311]

Have a look around for a pit in the gravel/sand or in a cave, they may have moved them, if they are still guarding there is a good chance.

OH YOU ARE RIGHT !!!!! I looked really close and tucked up near some roots in a cave I saw what looked like the sand moving. It's a small batch. My gosh they blend in. I am so excited. Should I feed them today or wait a day because they still have the egg sack to feed off of right?

They are so hard to see. It so cute how good these fish are as parents. I love watching them.

As of now I can grow them out for a bit in my 55 Gal seeing that the parents and a pleco are the only ones in it. But if you can't grow them out in the breeding tank when would you move them? I have a 10 Gal holding tank and a 47 gal empty I'm thinking I will have to set up soom. How do you grow up your fish?

 

[minxfishy]

Right now my fry are with their parents in a 125L tank, they are only a week old, so I shall be waiting for a few more weeks until I move them to a 95L to grow on more before selling.

If you can keep the plec away from them, then you should be fine to keep them in with the parents until they are a good 6/8 weeks old, then move them, before the parents spawn again, once they spawn again, they will see the fry as intruders.

 

[snowflake311]

Very good. Thanks for the help.