# Fry is still alive :)



## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

I've seen my share of spawning from my 6 RBPs, they've made two couples and they always stay together when it's time to breed again... Like 20 times over the last year









I've tried half-way to make them grow up earlier







, but never really made a 100% efford. But this time of some reason I decided to have 'em grow up.

The main differences from earlier attempts:
- *NO* stash in the breeder tank, only fry, heater and filter.
- Threw the weak sponge filter away and bought a air-driven even weaker sponge filter (no fry ever got stuck in this one).
- Only have enough water for the filter to work in the tank (appx 30 liter).
- Change water *every* day, minimum 10 liter pr time, and minimum once pr day.

And of course, I breed enough artemia for the bunch every day, and suck out the unfortionate litte guys immediately when I see they're dead.
And as before, I suffon them up from their parents after a day or two, that's usually enough.

Now the main bunch is about two weeks old (not sure, still not good at keeping journals) and they're happier than I've seen any fry before









I also have 5 from the litter before them, a week (maybe 10 days) older than the main bunch. They're like 5 times the size, look at the pics









I'm so happy, but it takes a lot of work!

View attachment 45933

Overview of the "bunch"

View attachment 45934

Close-up

View attachment 45935

Close-up-ish of the big ones... Only a week or so older than the small ones


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

wow thats so amzing
and the older ones look way bigger


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Wow, great pictures








Congrats on your spawns man, great job









btw: did you read the articles about breeding redbellies in our Information Center? They contain lots of useful information and tips on raising fry.

Good luck with your efforts!


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

You must have 1000 in there.


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## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

Judazzz: Sure, I've read "all there is" about breeding, but I've always know that if I f..k up this attempt, I will have a new go in two to three weeks... And it's like clockwork, has been for a year









And no, not 1000. I think more like 100-150, haven't counted them (and I have no idea how people claim the do that, I can't get them to lie still while I try...)

btw: The bigger ones are actually an accident, they got suffoned (?) up along with the hatching eggs without me knowing... They must have been spawned while I was away for christmas, so I'm just guessing they're little over a week older then the other guys.


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## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

Heh, just noticed they're in spawning mood again








Not tonight, but in 30 hours or so I'll have a few houndred more eggs...

Unfortionately I don't want to try to save those, I tried last week, and all eggs got eaten by the fry. Sure, that's a good thing, but it made soap of the water!! Like bubbles on the surface, and the filter output made some sort of foam... Got rid of it after serious wanter change. Anyone know what I'm talking about and know why?

If they's at it again tomorrow, it will be their FIFTH







litter in 2005


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## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

does anybody have any experience with selling fry to lf stores? do you think you could raise the fry for a few weeks then sell them 1$ a pop or something?


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## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

Guessing you'd have to raise them for a month or two if you want to sell them, so many things can happen when they're so small... And having 100 tiny fry is one thing, having 100 >inch-long fishies is a completely different matter... I doubt too many of mine will live that long, we'll see.

But I guess it'd be possible to sell them, haven't really concidered that possibility.


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

i told this lfs they could buy fry from me if i ever got them, he said 1.50 to 2.00 for 1 inchers


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## Brendan (Oct 7, 2004)

wow very nice tons of little guys


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## WorldBelow07 (Dec 16, 2004)

ship some fry to me ill take some if you cant keep them all


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## gottagitdemps (Feb 25, 2004)

wow...this is crazy...most people pray for one spawn, and you get multiple spawns per year....that's awesome







What do you do to get them in the mood, play some Barry White and turn the lights down?


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## Davo (Jan 29, 2004)

Good stuff. What are your guys on? Important question is how do you syphon water without pulling the little buggers?

Good luck

keep us posted


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

Nice!

Is your survival rate not too good then? Do you find the those larger guys mean on the smaller fry? Are you using one 10g? They might be getting alittle over crowded

keep us posted, and keep taking pics


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Awesome! Nice pics!


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

sweet!


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## x-J-x (Nov 28, 2002)

what sucks is that the big ones will feed on the little ones...but who could give a sh*t...you have a crap load of them...


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## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

The large ones have never eaten any smaller ones while I've been watching, but then again I'm not watchin all day long, and yes there's a shitload of them









Davo: not sure I got the question, but I don't syphon the main tank while there are eggs I want in there... But I take the eggs out after about two days.

And yes, the parent's have been at it at an average of appx. every 10 days all year so far... I don't even care anymore, it just annoys me cause I'll have to change the water more often









I feed them with artemia (brine shrimps), and they grow and are content, and every time their parents produce another batch of those little orange balls, I wait until they hatch so the... uhm, whattcha call it... egg shell (?) disappears. Then I syphon them up and feed them to the little guys, who get so fat they can't really swim for hours


















And now to the SAD part... Since my last post my little dudes have grown, and been happy... until the disease kicked in








One day I saw the largest one not being as happy as he used to, and also getting those little white dots on his tail and around the gills... I found out it had to be fungus or something and before the weekend was over, they started dying








I got the meds, but by that time they were dying 20 at a time... The largest one was one of the last to go...

I feel so... empty









Guess it was poor water quality or something, even though I changed 20l every day, and used that fresh, healthy Norwegian tap-water...
Anyone got an ideay? Like, 300 little Nattereris in a week *poofh*-ed.

Me sad, didn't even get pix of the infected ones


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

Thats the name of the game man, were you keeping any kind of record of what you were doing, that can help with making any kind of changes to what you were doing, or what went wrong.

I have woke up to a tank of dead fry too, it sucks ''WTF did I do wrong?'' It's hard man, they are SO sensitive. Better luck next time, you have some good info on this thread, and some sweet pics.









Are there any survivors? I would make sure. Once after somthing like what happened to you we shut down the tank, no filtration, or heater, and a week later there was one tiny little guy swimming around.


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## WolfFace (Nov 2, 2004)

Hmmm... I've never written down any kind of log regarding my breeding attempts, just made small variations from time to time and this was the most successfull I've ever been. So next time I'll try changing water more often, be more careful with overfeeding and monitoring water levels more closely.

I can guarantee there are no survivors, unless they have mutated into amphibians...


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

You'll have many more chances to get it right, good luck man


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