Hi From A.C.T AUSTRALIA! Just signed up here and expecting first fry!

Hi  

I'm new to the whole 'forum' thing (or what ever this is called) But My fb friends have started to call me the 'crazy fish lady' because that is pretty much all I post about  SO I decided to sign up to some of these specific websites to fill my need to blah blah blah all day about my fish! first off I just want to say that I have read Doug's Bristle nose book twice since I downloaded it and before that did hours of research online so not a lot was 'new' info to me but it confirmed a lot/helped filter out the myths etc and there were also some very important little facts in the ebook that I had not came across (possibly kept secrete by most ) in fact, I believe one specific little note alone was worth every penny for me personally so I recommend everyone new to bn read it

Ok so here is my story about Bn catfish.. I have kept fish on and off pretty much all my life and I have had success breeding other species of fish, late 2012/early 2013 I decided I wanted to start collecting bn catfish. The Catfish have always been my favorites and I have kept a fair few types, I don't know why but they have been and I decided that bn were perfect to start collecting and breeding (need I explain my reasons for this here :P ) So early this year I started collecting young bn (3-4cms) I now have

4 albino sf
2 albino lf
4 peppermint
3 Calico/marble lf
and 3 orange spot

My 3 Os bn were in the African Cichlid tank (short term) and I guessed that they were coming up to 12-14months (I got them all in march this year at 4ish cms) and they were about 10-11cms last time I measured, the male had very recently sprouted a good head of bristles like I swear it seems like it happened over night and I always suspected one of the others was defiantly female but the other must be a sub dom male...well I was wrong! .. So this week (three days ago to be exact, or technically 4 now that it is 12am ) I got a massive surprise! My Os male and female were spawning right in the middle of the community tank with 30 odd Cichlids sifting the sand and swimming around them! 1: I was NOT expecting them to be ready just yet and 2: are Os not supposed to be picky and more difficult to breed than the commons??? omg I couldn't believe it! So I'm watching them pretty much all day (I'm a total pervert  ) and then the next day went back to check but both were out of the cave, he was at the entrance and she was on top (which disappointed me for a second i;m not gonna lie) BUT then, a little nose came out from the log... it was the other OS  BOTH were heavily gravid and literally fighting over getting in to lay, the male was chasing one off and then coming back and 'trapping' the other in side! I was actually thinking 'oh...no... what have I gotten myself into there is going to be hundreds...' this day a small cluster of eggs got knocked out in all the commotion and I scooped them up to save them from the other fish and moved them into the other tank (which only has bn in it, they are in a net with the current moving over them and are still orange now so hopefully all is well...) Today they had finally finished their thing and he was in the cave fanning away as expected what a good daddy he is  But I was stressing a lot about them in this tank (Ph is higher than id like, big fish WILL eat them as soon as they got the chance etc) So I decided to take the risk of moving him/log/eggs into the other tank where they might have a chance... I did this as per usual procedure with any fish and also being careful not to take eggs out of water.. Dad was not a fan of being disturbed and I spend the next 4-5 hours stressing till I felt sick that he was going to freak out and kick-eat them but so far he is still in there fanning so I THINK it went ok, but I can not see the eggs in the log so I am not sure what is going on in there. I have ph 7.0 in this tank and a decent amount of wood and plants as well as over filtration via 2 filters and an air pump that is over sized running a bubble curtain. I was expecting my Albino sf's and/or lf calico to breed first and have been watching the females become fat and I know that they are of age so This could also happen any day now (I have been waiting all year for this moment ^.^ lol) I am now very much nervous about the fry, will they survive? will I manage looking after them all omg there will be HEAPS and It is my first time with the bn! I am expecting the eggs to hatch by Friday if they make it so I will update :-) Hope to receive replies, make new fishie friends and talk lots about beautiful bn fish! Be back soon

Welcome to the world!
 

Sounds like you have it all under control! congrads on the spawn and good move shifting them into another tank. will be better for all involved and less stress for you!

Thank you for the reply  I am glad that all sounds good because I am a major stress head and have hardly slept since this has happened! I just did vacuum/water change/rinsed out the filter sponges in one of the filters and added zero carb to it to prepare for them hatching (I don't usually bother running carbon, but with the expected fry I thought it would be a good Idea to help control any possible spikes? Not that I have water problems, I just in case the bio takes a hit from the extra load..)

I have Lost about half of the eggs in the net :-( most that have changed are clear and a few are white which is BAD I know they need to be taken out but I can't seem to remove them (I have tried sucking them out with an air line tube but they won't detach from the others, all of them want to come up the tube together!?) I don't think that these eggs are going to make it, there were at least 20 in the cluster. I believe it is my fault for accidentally exposing some of them to the air   for a second I can't believe I managed to mess this up! On the bright side though, Jaffa (the dad) Is doing a great job and is still fanning in there, he does come half out of the cave every now and then (usually when I am feeding/doing maintenance, I think he is pretty annoyed with me at the moment but seems determined to raise his young which is wonderful because I obviously can't manage to do it for him  )

My question is, How do I safely remove dead eggs when they are all stuck together? I have researched different methods but I really am stumped putting it into practice :-/ I know by the time I get a reply it will probably be too late, but for future reference I really need to figure this one out  

 

I'm also a newbie and soooo glad to see someone has claimed the title of CrazyFishLady - now I can tell my hubby to  and stop calling me someone else's name!

I agree with you, it's pretty stressful when your 'family members' are at the mercy of other fish and you don't want to lose any. I have just had my first batch hatch a week ago so it's all very exciting round here but I have stressed a bit too.

Keep us informed on your progress - love to see photos.

 

Julie D.

Sounds like the eggs are well and truly suck together which means that it will be near on impossible to separate them. I used to run a bit of bromothymal blue through the water to help control any stray fungus that might want to prey on the eggs.

All my tricks for keeping them happy and healthy are in the book (see my signature) and remember that practice makes perfect, both for you and the dad