# Breeding First Time



## tradervic58 (Jan 31, 2008)

Starting a new post from Hatching Brine Shrimp.

Im going to try to do updates on what i have done. Regardless of whether it is the "right" or "wrong" way of breeding. Any suggestion are welcome. And i have read most if not all of the post in the breeding forum.

Well, the piranhas were doing the dirty last night. Sure enough a couple beers later a bunch of eggs. Let them sit over night for about 12-14 hours. Pulled them out this morning due to the plecostamous's going after them. Dont know why but the males dont really protect the little nest in my friends tank for some reason(i think it might be due to the fact that they have been breeding pretty much weekly for almost 2 years-i think they just dont give a crap) They would kind of push the plecos away but nothing to serious. Anyway syphoned the eggs out into a 5 gallon bucket and transfered them within about a half hour to my breeding tank. (across town go figure) Put the eggs into the tank. My tank probably has an uncylced filter on it from what StryfeMP had to say and he seems pretty knowledgeable about the subject. But we are gona roll with what I got for right now. Another problem I just read about that i might have is i left my gravel in the tank. On this site it seems like you dont want to do that due to the fry swimming down there and hiding. My friends opinion on the subject is that he thinks its good for them do have some "shelter." Im sure there are various opinions on how to do this but for now im leaving the rock in. I posted some pictures(hopefully they show up right) the first one is the eggs in the 5g bucket then the eggs in the tank(obviously). I think im going to do about a 15-20% water change due to the fact of the water that was in the bucket and the tank has been going for a couple days now. Im gona try to keep doing updates although i do have 3 test next week so it might be a little tough for awhile. Any questions about my setup or whatever just ask.

Oh, to throw it out there im gona do everything i suppose to do but not really expecting a high percentage of these guys to make it(just kinda have a feeling) from what ive read. But WHO KNOWS we will see what happens i guess. Theres always next week, right?!?


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Nice pictures. Most people I know prefer bare bottom tanks for eggs and fry as it is easier to keep clean and you can see everything that is going on in the tank. Also, with gravel in the tank, when the fry hatch, they do and will swim under and into the gravel, you won't be able to see anything that's going on down there; so, if there were ones that die, it could easily ruin your water parameters putting the rest of the fry in danger of spikes. Keep in mind that new born fry are susceptible to sudden changes in water params. This is why most, if not all breeders prefer bare bottom tanks for fresh eggs and fry. Hope that made sense, I'm watching a movie as I wrote this.


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## tradervic58 (Jan 31, 2008)

Ya it definitely made sense. I wish i would have read that stuff earlier, before i had my tank set up and filled already. Will see how this batch goes and more than likely i will probably take the rock out if i decide to do another.

Kind of a random thought that just came to my head regarding the fry swimming into the rocks and dying. I have a about a 3 inch very small pleco, would i be able to put him into the tank once all the fry are free swimming and off the bottom(assuming they make it that far) to clean up the dead? Or would that just cause more problems than it would solve?


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## RICARDO (Jul 3, 2006)

hey im just butting in i dont think its a good idea as far as the pleco he might eat the fry ,the fry are tiny and plecos tend to suck or chew anything small enough to fit in their mouth even a 3 inch but good luck with ur batch


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## magnaflow (Feb 19, 2006)

I am sure he would try to eat them plus all pleco do is poop... so the turn the water bad fast.. really there isnt a need for one anways.


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## tradervic58 (Jan 31, 2008)

Ya, i started thinking about that after i wrote it...and its definitely a bad idea/ really stupid idea by me


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

You know, I just took another look at the eggs you have pictured in your first post and I see a lot of clear eggs. You should try taking them out with a turkey baster with a hard air tube like they use for under gravel filtration attached to the tip. The unfertilized eggs are going to start getting fungus and might infect the other eggs and end up killing the fertilized eggs. How you can tell; the unfertilized eggs look, well, clear and the fertilized eggs will look orange, yellow, sometimes grayish, but definitely not clear. Good luck with this one though, but I'm sure that you'll have more goes at it.


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## tradervic58 (Jan 31, 2008)

Ya that probably explains the foggy/cloudy water and awful smell coming from the tank last night when i got home. ?. ? I definitely see a lot of clear eggs and some that are turning white and fuzzy.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

tradervic58 said:


> Ya that probably explains the foggy/cloudy water and awful smell coming from the tank last night when i got home. ?. ? I definitely see a lot of clear eggs and some that are turning white and fuzzy.


Just as I thought, more than likely you're going to lose all of that clutch of eggs. But there might be a chance for them if you were to clean it up as best you could, but then again you'd be doing a lot more work than I would just to save the still viable ones. If it were me, I'd clean it up, cycle the sponge filter properly, clean the tank, take the gravel out and start all over again with a bare bottom tank with a fully seeded sponge filter. I remember when I got my first sponge filters, took me like a month to cycle them things correctly, just stuck them into my 210 with my large reds.


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## oddball_freak (Aug 6, 2007)

I agree


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## tradervic58 (Jan 31, 2008)

Havn't really cleaned anything up, just been doing water changes. Got back from class today and there are about 10 that i can see swimming, i expect more to be in the rocks. Should see a lot more start swimming tonight and tomorrow morning...hopefully. I might try getting some of the crappy eggs out, but don't have a lot of time for that.


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