Jaw Fish help

[twentyleagues]

Here is a link Baby JF

Do you know how Copepods and Rots interact? I can add juvenile pods, but not sure if they compete or what happens. Someone mentioned they had more success with pods than rots.

so small. You sure they can eat pods?

 

[jepuskar]

I'm thinking yes, but not any that I can visually see. So newly hatched pods maybe? Not sure. Not going to try this time, but just curious.

 

[jepuskar]

So the fry have dwindled down to about 20 now. Rotifer density is crazy, but I think im just not feeding enough microalgae. The water is too clear, so they may not be getting the nutrition they need. I'm going to step that up. Lesson learned.

So the daddy of this batch is holding babies...again. This is the 3rd time in one month. And the other male's babies are showing eyes now, but the timing isn't right, so I won't be able to get them. But this new litter I'll be around for.

I'm not counting on the remaining 20 to make it, but I'll try to see if I can pinpoint the nutrition as the reason for the die off. Noticeable increase in size and I did see one eating last night. Even though the mortality rate is high, I've come away with some knowledge for next time, which appears to be very soon.

 

[twentyleagues]

So the fry have dwindled down to about 20 now. Rotifer density is crazy, but I think im just not feeding enough microalgae. The water is too clear, so they may not be getting the nutrition they need. I'm going to step that up. Lesson learned.

So the daddy of this batch is holding babies...again. This is the 3rd time in one month. And the other male's babies are showing eyes now, but the timing isn't right, so I won't be able to get them. But this new litter I'll be around for.

I'm not counting on the remaining 20 to make it, but I'll try to see if I can pinpoint the nutrition as the reason for the die off. Noticeable increase in size and I did see one eating last night. Even though the mortality rate is high, I've come away with some knowledge for next time, which appears to be very soon.

That happens. My first batch of cyprichromis I had only 2 survived and I had 2 albino in the batch I lost. No albinos after that. Took me about 3 tries with clownfish before I got more then 20% to survive also.

 

[SaltBabies]

Here is a link Baby JF

Do you know how Copepods and Rots interact? I can add juvenile pods, but not sure if they compete or what happens. Someone mentioned they had more success with pods than rots.

Depends on the pods and the rots. The will compete for the phyto but that isn't really a problem. Some pods will eat the rots. Like tisbes will eat baby brine. But others like parvocalanus the rots are too big so they don't really interact.

 

[SaltBabies]

So the fry have dwindled down to about 20 now. Rotifer density is crazy, but I think im just not feeding enough microalgae. The water is too clear, so they may not be getting the nutrition they need. I'm going to step that up. Lesson learned.

So the daddy of this batch is holding babies...again. This is the 3rd time in one month. And the other male's babies are showing eyes now, but the timing isn't right, so I won't be able to get them. But this new litter I'll be around for.

I'm not counting on the remaining 20 to make it, but I'll try to see if I can pinpoint the nutrition as the reason for the die off. Noticeable increase in size and I did see one eating last night. Even though the mortality rate is high, I've come away with some knowledge for next time, which appears to be very soon.

The water clearing so fast is a sign of too many rots. They will breed in the rearing tank. They also create lots of ammonia so you have to be careful with the rots.

 

[jepuskar]

Down to 2..I think, haven't checked this morning yet. They look to be doing good, very active and I see them pecking at rots. Have live nano brine shrimp arriving early next week. Day 15, getting close to metamorphosis.
Have an ammonia indicator on the tank and it's reading acceptable levels. May do a water change later.

 

[SaltBabies]

Sounds like you are doing great. If you keep up the breeding you'll want to hatch your own brine. I get my brine from brine shrimp direct they have a strain that has smaller brine. Hatching your own is not hard and certainly cheaper than shipping. IN addition you can feed them and keep them nutritious easier than shipped brine.

 

[jepuskar]

And we are down to 1. I sieved some juvenile copepods in there the last couple days and keep adding macroalgae to keep the water green. Ammonia still ok, the dude is looking good to me...very active, but the other one was too.

The horny couple now has eggs again..they are non-stop. So, will have 1 larger baby or a couple hundred in this tank in about 8 days or so...not going to setup two tanks for this...not yet anyway. Really want this guy to atleast get to metamorphisis.

 

[jepuskar]

And now we are at zero. So now I have a 40 breeder filled with rotifers, copepods, and atm nano brine shrimp and about 7 days away from more babies. I think I will start sieving out and dump them in my DT, that way they arent wasted. If I had to take a semi-educated guess the pecking order goes rotifers/copepods/brine shrimp when bigger.

 

[jepuskar]

The other pair's male is also carrying eggs again...these things are a trip. Started cultivating my own phyto now to help with the cost of this 2nd try. Starting to prep the rearing tank again, will need a WC as ammonia starting to creep up, but all the water i take out im going to sieve through a 50 micron to put whatever is caught back in.

I can tell now when the first male is going to release on the day of by the looks of the eyes, but the other male releases his a day or two earlier, again just going off of the look of the babies.

This 2nd try is gonna have a mixture of rotifers, copepods and then im going to keep the brine shrimp at bay with that sieve..not sure of this approach, but F it..worth a shot.

 

[jepuskar]

Ok, take 2 has started. Dude spat out his babies at 12:20am last night, right on time. I called it earlier in the day when I saw the shine of the babies eyes. A few hours before I sieved out probably hundreds or thousands of juvenile copepods from my copepod sex container and put them into the rearing tank with the existing population.

I had no help this time grabbing babies, but my process was pretty good I think. I have a 50 micron sieve I was running through the water column and then holding a larger vessel, put them straight into that and kept doing it. Before I moved the vessel to the rearing tank I would dump as much water as possible back into the tank without babies of course. Did that about 2-3 times and have about as many babies as last time.

Just now I took that sieve and got out most of the adult brine shrimp from the rearing tank so they werent eating the food and they provided a nice snack for the DT. The rearing tank is has a green tint/hazy and I'm going to keep it that way this time. We'll see. Day 1.

 

[jepuskar]

Day 17 on this batch and have at least 20 left, just got back from vacation for a week and wow what a difference..at least doubled in size. Going to get nano brine shrimp again, but right now they are on rotifers/copepods.

Big improvement from the first try as far as numbers at this stage. Just cleaned the detritus from the bottom as part of a water change to keep ammonia in check. Going to try and keep it going.

 

[jepuskar]

Just put some live nano brine in and more pods. I counted 25 left yesterday. Definitely in new territory now, I'm amazed at how big they are. The tank clarity sucks otherwise I would post some pics...maybe I'll try from the top down as they like to hang around the surface a lot.

Hoping this works, but I know it's gonna get harder soon. Like keeping my teenager fed.

 

[jepuskar]

So these babies are eating juvenile/adult copepods now and I'm afraid I can't keep up. I have a brine shrimp hatchery setup coming and I've been trying to coerce them into taking frozen baby brine shrimp and frozen copepods...but I have not seen a confirmed bite yet. Definitely interested in it, just no bites. Trying to make this easier on me, worth a shot.

I harvested about 80% of my copepods and dumped them in there today which hopefully holds them off for a few days. Had some live baby brine shrimp arrive today and dumped most of them in as well and kept 20% to grow out for later. They are all looking healthy, but I can sense they need more than what I'm offering, so I'm trying to stay ahead of it.

 

[jepuskar]

Down to about 19 babies now..a few of them have decided to go down lower in the tank and look for cover, so I just put some PVC couplings in there for now. Exhibiting JW behavior and not unhealthy from what it looks like.

Also added more Copepods. We are at 30 days now. I could of swore I saw a few eat some frozen baby brine shrimp I put in yesterday...they move soo fast, but not 100%. I'm still trying...I really don't know W T F I'm doing. I think the Rotifer population is crazy...the tank clears itself rather quickly from the RG Complete I put in...not even sure the JF are eating the rotifers at this point..but Ammonia remains ok.

I don't think they are at the point to move them to a grow out tank yet..not sure metamorphisis is done or has happened yet. I would really like to see them start to take really small bits of frozen food, but they are soo small...doesn't seem right to move them yet.

 

[twentyleagues]

Down to about 19 babies now..a few of them have decided to go down lower in the tank and look for cover, so I just put some PVC couplings in there for now. Exhibiting JW behavior and not unhealthy from what it looks like.

Also added more Copepods. We are at 30 days now. I could of swore I saw a few eat some frozen baby brine shrimp I put in yesterday...they move soo fast, but not 100%. I'm still trying...I really don't know W T F I'm doing. I think the Rotifer population is crazy...the tank clears itself rather quickly from the RG Complete I put in...not even sure the JF are eating the rotifers at this point..but Ammonia remains ok.

I don't think they are at the point to move them to a grow out tank yet..not sure metamorphisis is done or has happened yet. I would really like to see them start to take really small bits of frozen food, but they are soo small...doesn't seem right to move them yet.

Thats good news! I really enjoy reading your updates. I know I should reply more often and it'd be nice if others did too. I dont have anything to add as I have never done this either but I am excited for you. Keep up the good work! Keep pushing forward. Thats how it was when I started raising clowns. It kept getting better as I tried to improve what I did last time. As long as they keep breeding you can keep trying. Sooner or later it will just happen. And you can look back and see what was the best course of action and repeat it.

 

[jepuskar]

Lost 2-3 smaller babies.

Added some dry rock rubble on the bottom and they took to it right away...now there is about one baby per rock doing JF things. I need to siphon the bottom of the tank as it has poop everywhere, but this is gonna make it more challenging as I dont want to suck up a baby...that would suck..lol I see copepods everywhere and am still dosing RG Complete to keep the populations going and im still trying to feed the tinest bits of frozen food.

I may add some sand in a corner, not sure yet. Since they dropped to the bottom I'm guessing they could benefit.

More copepods and baby brine shrimp on the way....this is not very cost effective, but at this point I just want to get them to a point I can see them eat frozen anything. Still dont have any pics..tank is always looking like crap and they are really small. I'll see if I can take one or two, before I add more algae.

 

[twentyleagues]

Lost 2-3 smaller babies.

Added some dry rock rubble on the bottom and they took to it right away...now there is about one baby per rock doing JF things. I need to siphon the bottom of the tank as it has poop everywhere, but this is gonna make it more challenging as I dont want to suck up a baby...that would suck..lol I see copepods everywhere and am still dosing RG Complete to keep the populations going and im still trying to feed the tinest bits of frozen food.

I may add some sand in a corner, not sure yet. Since they dropped to the bottom I'm guessing they could benefit.

More copepods and baby brine shrimp on the way....this is not very cost effective, but at this point I just want to get them to a point I can see them eat frozen anything. Still dont have any pics..tank is always looking like crap and they are really small. I'll see if I can take one or two, before I add more algae.

Sounds good! Doing baby jf stuff!

 

[jepuskar]

Here is one baby...that rubble rock is maybe 2" long.