Tank Journal Archive

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
13 Days Post Spawn - Major Disaster Averted
Almost had a major disaster last night - woke up this morning to find the bottom 'plug' of foam had shifted overnight - it had turned 90 degrees and the eggs were hanging out the bottom of the tumbler :banghead. Luckily they are still sticky and held together on the filter material I had used. I have no idea how they were not eaten, especially given that my Coral Banded Shrimp is active of a night time.

So, I managed to find some of my wifes stockings and put everything back together. I was still not happy with the level of movement so I have just read @Dr. Schell post again - I used a 2l bottle - he used a 600ml bottle o_0

Off to the shed to start again - :brb

Edit - I have added the following photo to generate a thumbnail image for the thread - the software needs a photo in the first post :)
 
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MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
you may also find that if there is too much draw on the foam (ie. it restricts the flow of water too much), it will cause the foam to 'offset' its position and may result in a shift. Do you think this may have been the cause of what you have observed?
Absolutely - the filter material created too much resistance and the foam was sucked up the bottle.

I have started again this morning with a 600ml Coke bottle - much happier with the way it is now working.


And, thankfully, the eggs look to be fine :)

I am, once again, amazed at the development in the last 12 hours - they have gone from eggs with eyes to developing a head and mouth.

 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
Here is my egg tumbler in action

@Dr. Schell does this look like enough movement?

I'm not sure, but I suspect that I didn't get all the eggs off my male - he hasn't been interested in food today and he seems to still be moving eggs around in his mouth. I thought they would have all been stuck together in his mouth and all come out in one go, but maybe not ....
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
I made some more minor adjustments to the egg tumbler this afternoon - the main one being the addition of an air stone to the end of the air hose. Made everything a lot quieter and improved the performance of the tumbler.
 

leodb89

Member
Mar 6, 2012
3,751
876
Sydney
Exciting times! Can't wait to see when they hatch..is it always necessary to take the eggs from the male, I seen @Sam Parker and some other threads where they find the spawn swimming around especially in larger set ups. Just curious :)

BTW awesome shots
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
Exciting times! Can't wait to see when they hatch..is it always necessary to take the eggs from the male, I seen @Sam Parker and some other threads where they find the spawn swimming around especially in larger set ups. Just curious :)

BTW awesome shots
Not necessary all the time but I did it for 2 reasons - the first so that I can take lots of photo's of the developing fry. The second because my male ate the eggs at 16 days last time and I didn't want to take that risk this time. You will finds lots of references to the male eating the eggs all over the net, often in the first few days.
 

leodb89

Member
Mar 6, 2012
3,751
876
Sydney
Not necessary all the time but I did it for 2 reasons - the first so that I can take lots of photo's of the developing fry. The second because my male ate the eggs at 16 days last time and I didn't want to take that risk this time. You will finds lots of references to the male eating the eggs all over the net, often in the first few days.
Yeah I had seen my bangaii look to he holding and acting the same way all describe but never knew what to do from there, did you just catch him and try open his mouth or?
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
... did you just catch him and try open his mouth or?
From the previous Journal Entry

Now, to get the eggs. From my reading, it seems that on most occasions the male will spit the eggs as soon as it is in the net - mine did not. One suggestion is to pick the male up gently by the tail and dip it in and out of the water and he will release the eggs - mine did not. Another suggestion is to gently pry open the mouth with something like a paper clip and dip the fish in the water - the backwash is meant to dislodge the eggs - that didn't work. After about 10 minutes I still hadn't managed to dislodge the eggs :banghead I continued these various methods and eventually a few eggs come to the front of his mouth and then he spat them all out - success :)
 

Dr. Schell

The Fuckin' Doc
Jul 12, 2011
1,972
1,228
Brisbane
Here is my egg tumbler in action

@Dr. Schell does this look like enough movement?

I'm not sure, but I suspect that I didn't get all the eggs off my male - he hasn't been interested in food today and he seems to still be moving eggs around in his mouth. I thought they would have all been stuck together in his mouth and all come out in one go, but maybe not ....
working perfectly!
 
E

ezza

Guest
I am constantly astonished by the knowledge of reefers on this forum. What an astonishing thing to do. Your skills are very valuable and it's awesome to be able to learn from your experiences.
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
@ezza - to be honest, I am just following in the footsteps of those that have gone before me. The internet is a wonderful thing when you are trying to research something like this :)

However, doing is definitely different to reading about it :rolleyes

I had never read that it could be so difficult to get the male to release the eggs - I though the hard part would be catching him but the reality was somewhat different.

And, I have never used an egg tumbler before - my failure to read @Dr. Schell's post correctly meant that I was running around at 7.30 yesterday morning trying to find the bits to make a new one, albeit a bit smaller than my original one.

These are things that you only learn by experience - hopefully by documenting my experiences someone else may learn from my mistakes.