Conditioning assistance please : )

Hi all
I posted here about 6 weeks ago when I had just had my first batch of common BN babies. Well I lost them all except about 2 that I see occasionally in the tank. I can only put it down to water quality and I'm gutted cos its completely my fault. I figured weekly water changes would be ok but I'm doing daily changes now of 10% rather than just one weekly big one.

Regarding my adults - they haven't spawned since. I've had them since last June and they were about an inch or so when I got them so they are 10 months +. I've read that they can be conditioned using bloodworm but as they're the only fish in the tank and there's only 3 of them, I'm a bit concerned about OVERfeeding bloodworm - how much bloodworm can 3 plecs eat? And how often is recommended? They also have an almost constant supply of courgette which I put in raw as I find it goes bad really quick if I blanche it first. I also feed them occasional Hikari wafers.

When they were babies they used to eat sweet potato but they won't touch the stuff now. They love blanched cabbage leaves though

Any tips to getting my guys in good condition - am I doing this right now?
All replies appreciated : )

Sorry to hear you lost a lot of the fry

I use the frozen Bloodworm and feed it once a week some times twice, i would recommend feeding half a cube.

im surprised they haven't spawned again for you mine where like clock work lol are you doing water changes with cold water? or are you using same temp water as the tank?

dont do a water change for a week then do a 30-50% water change with cold water so the temp drops in the tank

High Cherrypie, yes that dead set sucks when you loose a whole batch of babies + the way it happened is kind of weird
because that's how I was treating my tanks -- 1 big clean at a time and hardly lost 1.
If it was the big water change that done in the littlies - maybe the parents are suffering a bit of shock aswell,
when this settles the parents will be back at it before you know it .
As for the blood worms-- I have 6 pepps in a 3ftr which receive 2 blocks cut into 1/4's twice a week ( hasn't helped
the cause with spawning though) and that doesn't cause them any trouble.

I'm sure they'll get back to it soon enough and if you think you know why you had the dilemas , then you can compensate for it next time.
J

Thanks both

John - When you say cold water - do you mean cold straight from the tap? And that won't be too cold for them?
My water changes have been with warm water - "finger tested" to be approx the same as the tank water so perhaps this is why they haven't spawned again.

J - I can't see that it could have been anything BUT water quality. Food is fine, no other fish in there to damage/attack them, flow is good (and my filter floss gets a clean every day or so cos it cloggs up with rubbish from the tank). I'm going to see about putting one of my spare air pumps in there too for extra surface agitation, perhaps the extra O2 will help

Yes i use cold tap water with water conditioner

when you say you have been using warm water tested with finger you don't mean you have been using water from the hot tap do you? if so don't do this i know people that have lost fish using water from the hot tap

Why is that? I figured its exactly the same as the cold but its been through my combi boiler first, and thats quite a quick process - not like the old tank-in-the-attic system where water could sit for days

Quote :

Cherrypie
(and my filter floss gets a clean every day or so cos it cloggs up with rubbish from the tank)

A quick question Cherrypie , are you washing the "filter floss" in a bucket of tank water or straight under the tap?
J

Why use cold water to do a water change does this promote breeding? I would love to do one but my issue is I am keeping female bettas and clown loaches in the same tank and am worried about thermal shock to my other fish? My male keeps blocking the enterance to his cave and moves to eat but quickly goes back to guarding it is this normal behavour? What is the quickest way to condition the females to spawn as I understand it is the females that start the breeding process? Thanks daniel

Kurosaki J wrote:

Quote :

Cherrypie
(and my filter floss gets a clean every day or so cos it cloggs up with rubbish from the tank)

A quick question Cherrypie , are you washing the "filter floss" in a bucket of tank water or straight under the tap?
J

In tap water........

The rest of the filter pads have never seen a tap and only ever get washed in tank water, but the floss gets tossed under the tap every few days. I've never had a problem before but then I've never had baby fish before. Are they so sensitive that this may effect them? I use water conditioner of course on all water changes and never thought a rinsed and wrung out tiny piece of floss would be an issue. Also, the only test I have is a nitrate one - from when I was cycling last Summer. I still use it randonly now just to be sure and it always comes up negative

d_flitton wrote:

Why use cold water to do a water change does this promote breeding? I would love to do one but my issue is I am keeping female bettas and clown loaches in the same tank and am worried about thermal shock to my other fish? My male keeps blocking the enterance to his cave and moves to eat but quickly goes back to guarding it is this normal behavour? What is the quickest way to condition the females to spawn as I understand it is the females that start the breeding process? Thanks daniel

If you do small water changes like 15% of your water it will only drop the temperature a few degree's so it wont do your other any harm.....
And yes the female takes the biggest role in spawning ate the early stages so the only thing you can do is get her fat....
thats were a good diet comes in from you...plenty of wafers and courgette/cucumber which ever she prefers and then there's always bloodworm but ive never used it before and never needed it....Hikari wafers and Courgette do the trick for me....it takes my females 3 weeks to be gravid...because they are so so greedy after a spawn.......

hope this helps...and good luck..

so just keep feeding them all you can till they can't eat any more?
i am feeding a slice of zucchini 3 times a week and algae wafers with 35% protien and 3% fat daily.
can you have too many bn in a tank for them to spawn? i have 10 i think maybe 11.
thanks
daniel

d_flitton wrote:

so just keep feeding them all you can till they can't eat any more?
i am feeding a slice of zucchini 3 times a week and algae wafers with 35% protien and 3% fat daily.
can you have too many bn in a tank for them to spawn? i have 10 i think maybe 11.
thanks
daniel

yes but be carefull you dont over feed...give them a day off food.....

And it depends on what mixture of BN's you have in there...ie...how many males and how many females...and how big is your tank??

it is a 3 foot by 1 foot and 1.5 foot tank, i have 2-3 males and 5-6 females in there, i have 4 caves in there and will be putting 2 more in over the next couple of days.
i give all my fish a day off food once a week and water tests every second day.
should i drop the water temp from 27 to 23 for 3 or 4 days and then put it back up to simulate a falling water temperature?
thanks
daniel

High d_flitton, you've got the right idea about dropping the temp to about 22-23but it helps when you do this
in conjunction with a water change of cooler water @ this temp.
You sure do seem to have a lot of fish in a 3ftr, if you have the space I'd try to make up 2 groups:
1 male + 4 females and then another group with what you have left-- almost like doubling your chances.
J

I think the logistics with dropping the water temperature quickly, is to mimic springs arrival with snow melts leading to a large influx of cold water from the mountainous regions. If you can get this to coincide with the arrival of low pressure, this can often lead to "the breeding instinct" kicking in.

This what I'm trying to do at the moment , it's just started to rain in OZ so the pepps are getting the cold water change treatment, here's hoping.
J