Posts Tagged ‘breeding’

More Fish Tanks!

Monday, July 16th, 2007

You can never have enough fish tanks…

I’ve finally added a rack of three 30x15x12 additional fish tanks to the fish house. These will help with the fish breeding program. These should have been added months ago, but I’ve been trying to paint them outside, and the weather has been foul – it’s not been easy touching up the paint job, when it’s been raining, and also busy with new Kittens, DIY etc etc

I’ve filled them with water, and added Algarde Bio Foam 200 twin foam filters.

I’ve not added any heating or lighting at present. I’m checking to see if there’s enough heat present in the fish house, to heat them spatially.

I’d add a picture if my computer hadn’t overheated and died!

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Rescued Firework/Galaxy Rasbora or Celestichthys Margaritatus

Monday, June 4th, 2007

Sorry, I’ve been pre-occupied with DIY on the house, but I’ve also spent some time on water experiments for the fish house. I need to store more water for water changes, and the RO unit, which will go live in several months time, so I’ve been plumbing two water containers together.

Whilst on my travels locally, I found a local tropical fish shop, which had a approx 20 Galaxy Rasbora in pretty poor shape, colourless, very thin – considering the current status of this fish, believed to be endangered in the wild, I would not normally have purchased them, but due to recent success of breeding Microrasbora erythromicron and the terrible state these fish were in, I thought they stood a better chance in my fish house, than left in this tropical fish shop. I would have purchased all 20, but parted with only five, if all five survive, I’ll return for more.

They’ve currently gone into a planted quarantine tank, and have started to colour-up instantly, and are feeding well. I’m going to start feeding them newly hatched brine-shrimp from tomorrow.

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Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food Update

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

If I could associate the breeding success of the Emerald Drawf Rasboras on Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food, I would, but I’ve only been feeding my fish it for the last 24 hours! BUT…

I’m really surprised how readily some of my more fussy fish, take to eating the flaked food, and the Corydoras and Hoplos, L’s love the Shrimp pellets. Report more later.

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Microrasbora erythromicron spawn, fry hatch.

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

At the end of March, a label on a tank in a local pet shop caught my attention to some fish called Galaxy Rasbora, which later turned-out to be Microrasbora erythromicron., common names could be Crossbanded or Emerald Dwarf Rasbora.

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Male Microrasbora erythromicron
Photograph courtesy of Mike Noren

I purchased these little fish (25mm), knowing they were Microrasbora erythromicron in a hope to breed them, I don’t think these are rare, but at present probably less common than the famous Galaxy Rasbora.

I checked the tank this evening, and I have a few fry from the trio.

I’m ecstatic, I haven’t felt like this since, breeding my first guppies, and that’s a long time ago!

Maybe I’ll now find that elusive Galaxy Rasbora, and give them the same “luving”, in a hope to breed them.

It’s taken over 400 shots to get the following pictures, glad I’ve got a digital camera. These were taken on the digital SLR, I’m running back in with the other camera, it has a better macro function (and it’s cheaper if it falls in the tank!)

Microrasbora erythromicron1
fry at approx 5mm (click thumbnail for larger image)

Microrasbora erythromicron2
single Microrasbora erythromicron fry (click thumbnail for larger image)

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Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food by Ed!

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

I received my package of Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food today from Ed in Pennsylvania, USA.

I’ve been looking for an alternative product for the fish house to bring fish into condition for breeding for a long time. I’ve received

  • Super colour flake.
  • Freshwater flake.
  • Shrimp pellets.

Excerpt from Ed’s website

“Almost Natural Tropical Fish Foods” are offered by a true-blue tropical fish hobbyist for the other tropical fish hobbyists out there in the world who would rather go the extra mile and feed their fish a top quality tropical fish flake. This tropical fish food is hobbyist to hobbyists driven. One hobbyist helping other hobbyists. After looking at the ingredients and then the prices, you will see that it is being sold at extremely reasonable prices to you, the hobbyist.”

Almostnaturaltropicalfishfood Sample
The contents of the package Super colour flake, Freshwater flake, Shrimp pellets.

Let me know if you are interested in placing an order from the UK, we can combine the order!

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Ammonia Alert by Seachem

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

This is an interesting “Ammonia Testing Kit”, it’s called the Ammonia Alert by Seachem. Designed to stay permanently in the water, and the centre indicator changes colour when ammonia levels rise. This is a similiar concept to the Carbon Monoxide detectors which change colour. Changes from yellow (safe) to blue (toxic). It’s designed to last at least 12 months. I purchased this device just under 10 GBP UK Pounds, which is about double what an ammonia testing kit will cost you. Expensive to add one of these to all my tanks! But handy in critical tanks, holding expensive breeding pairs!

Ammonia Alert
I purchase this fish gadget on my travels, I have seen these advertised, as I was contacted by someone trying to sell me this device and I also believe there is a similiar device called the ph Alert.

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Another stealth mission…

Friday, April 13th, 2007

I picked up six new tanks for the fish house this evening, six 30x12x15inch tanks, these will be used for breeding only. Pictures to follow. It’s going to take me a few weeks, to install them in the fish house.

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A very special fish – Nannacara adoketa

Friday, March 30th, 2007

I saw these fanastic, stunning, excellent South American Dwarf Cichlids two weeks ago in a local tropical fish shop in York. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the quarantine space to purchase these fish at the time, and was tempted to purchase them, and ask the shop to keep them a few weeks for me. (All fish into the fish house is quarantined, before moving to different holding/breeding/display tanks)

I didn’t purchase them two weeks ago, and I didn’t post a blog entry either, just in case any other readers snapped them up! (crafty eh!). I’ve only ever seen Nannacara anomala, which I had a pair of many years ago, and successfully bred – another lovely South American Dwarf Cichlid, until 12 months ago, when a local fishkeeper, which specialises in Rare South American Cichlids, show me he/she had managed to breed successfully Nannacara adoketa – but he/she wasn’t selling any young, despite how much money I offered! It is possible that these are the young fish sold to a local shop, because I know he/she visits the same shop.

But I did purchase them today. Five Nannacara adoketa in total, three large fish, and two smaller fish. (Well it was payday!)

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Four Nannacara adoketa photographed from above, in Fintro.

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Single Nannacara adoketa, poor picture, try and get some better pictures.

I’ll quarantine the fish, feed them up for a few months, and later get a breeding tank ready.

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Cold Weather…

Saturday, December 16th, 2006

I’ve been lucky that we’ve been having some really mild weather for this time of year, although wet and high winds.

Not much to report in the fish house, I’m not having as much time as I had hoped with the new house, and DIY repairs to concentrate on breeding the pairs of fish I have.

I had hoped that this garage would have been warmer than the last, I think the problem lies, in the last garage, the “fish house” was built inside a wall of jablite, but it had a draughty asbestos corrugated roof, and garage door.

This garage is integrated into the house, so it only has two external walls, and the bedroom is above the ceiling, I had hoped that it was warmer, but my problem lies with the two very draughty barn doors!

One door now resembles something from the NASA Space shuttle, as I covered it in aluminium covered bubble-wrap, I’ve also insulated the flat garage roof at the rear with jablite, and the same aluminium covered bubble-wrap insulation, but despite what I try, I’m still losing heat. I may yet need to build a jablite igloo again.

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Standard Angelfish Adopt Fry

Monday, June 5th, 2006

I’ve been trying without success for over twelve months to spawn and rear Silver Pearscale Angelfish fry. The parents are the results of selected breeding. Unfortunately, the parents get “spooked” and eat the fry, at various stages, fertile egg stage, wrigglers, and free swimming. I’ve tried on several occasions to introduce the fry with other spawning Angelfish, only to find that the fry have been eaten by the parents I’ve introduced them to.

A few days ago a pair of Standard Silver Angelfish spawned, at the exact time, (these are excellent parents) the pair of Silver Pearscale Angelfish spawned, I waited for the fry to hatch, and at the wriggler stage, when I noticed the Standard Silver Angelfish were moving their fry to a new nest, introduced the Pearscale fry.

Success The fry (both standard and pearscale) are all now free swimming, and the new parents are looking after the whole brood. All the fry from the pearscale parents appear white/golden in colour, compared to the Silver’s fry, which appear grey/black.

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