Foxpuppet's Celestial Gathering

[Foxpuppet]

AS per the request of the CPD guru, I've started a thread to keep you posted and myself to keep track of my Breeding efforts.

i have kept CPD for a long time after getting one for free from my LFS (last one they had about 4 years ago)

Over that time I've bought more than i thought i ever would, but never got a successful breeding program happening. At one point i had 40 and never saw results (although they were in a display tank and i wasn't giving breeding a real concerted effort)

Now I'm back to 6 adults I've had going for a while and recently they started spawning. i only knew after spotting some fry in the tank (200L planted community tank) a frantic search for info led me to S1l3nt's thread - Here 

i'll update this with some more backstory and history later

for now i'll add that so far i had collected 2-3 fry every few days over the course of a month until i had 18, keeping them in a cup in the water attached to the main tank as described in the thread above. then i lost few but not sure why. then a few days ago i collected 9 in one hit. so i must be at around 24/25 now.

 

ill add some pics soon.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Foxpuppet

[Disciple]

Looking forward to this

 

[s1l3nt]

Good to see you start a thread finally! As for being the CPD guru that may be a little generous hehe. I just enjoy the hobby and breeding is something I love in this hobby so I put a lot of effort in, and share my experiences :) I'm not the only one doing it, you are too ! :D

Don't keep them in the cup too long else they will start to die IMO, I would normally keep them in a cup for about 2 weeks or so. Since I have breeder boxes now, I just put them straight in there once free swimming as it provides constant water flow. Once they are able to eat baby brine shrimp, they are ready to move on from the cup to a bigger tank (even a 5-10L is better than the cup). Get your sponge filters ready to go :) 

Shoot me a pm or tag me with any questions mate, feel free! 

[Foxpuppet]

Bad news - seems all my fry except the biggest one have disappeared from the breeder box. Not sure if they have escaped back to the big tank or somehow been wiped out. I've been sitting at the tank and not seen a single one. Hope the big guy didn't eat the little ones.

[s1l3nt]

How much bigger was this surviving fry? Unfortunately fry will harass smaller fry to the point of death in my experience :( With all fish, not just CPDs.

I also had higher success rate with an empty breeder box (no moss) as long as i fed them at least twice a day with a good amount of food. This is a little uglier if its a display tank breeder box, but it was worth it for me.

[Foxpuppet]

How much bigger was this surviving fry? Unfortunately fry will harass smaller fry to the point of death in my experience :( With all fish, not just CPDs.

I also had higher success rate with an empty breeder box (no moss) as long as i fed them at least twice a day with a good amount of food. This is a little uglier if its a display tank breeder box, but it was worth it for me.

Alright I might have to pull the moss and stuff out, the larger fry was about 1.5 times the size. Can't believe over lost them all... That's about 25 small fry gone :(

[Foxpuppet]

4 collected today, back into the cups!

[Foxpuppet]

Another 3 today

Make that 4 :)

But on a sad note, I lost one of my male adults. That leaves me with 1 male to 4 females.... It's a tough gig but someone's got to do it

Unsure as to the cause of the death.

[Foxpuppet]

4 today

I'll condense these posts weekly with a tally of each day

Helps me remember.

[s1l3nt]

That male looks like he has pop eye? Was he quite skinny? Is the tail patch from other fish eating him or just a loss of colour? Hard to tell for sure via the pic. 

Good to see you collecting again, mine have gone on a pause due to lack of tank maintenance (increase in nitrates will stop them spawning all together). Try not to keep fry that are more then 1-2 weeks apart together. They grow a bit slower in the first 2 weeks os the other fry can harass them if too much larger.

Also yep, i suggest removing the moss from your breeder box. Through in some floating plants if you want, but thats as far as i'd go (mine are completely bare). Text me tomorrow and I'll send you a pic of my box, you'll be shocked :D

P.s. - I got a couple of males for you if you want them? I would take a female if you want to spare one and give you say 3 of mine? I'd like use the female for breeding to mix up my lines further :)

Edited March 9, 2016 by s1l3nt

[Foxpuppet]

That male looks like he has pop eye? Was he quite skinny? Is the tail patch from other fish eating him or just a loss of colour? Hard to tell for sure via the pic. 

Good to see you collecting again, mine have gone on a pause due to lack of tank maintenance (increase in nitrates will stop them spawning all together). Try not to keep fry that are more then 1-2 weeks apart together. They grow a bit slower in the first 2 weeks os the other fry can harass them if too much larger.

Also yep, i suggest removing the moss from your breeder box. Through in some floating plants if you want, but thats as far as i'd go (mine are completely bare). Text me tomorrow and I'll send you a pic of my box, you'll be shocked :D

P.s. - I got a couple of males for you if you want them? I would take a female if you want to spare one and give you say 3 of mine? I'd like use the female for breeding to mix up my lines further :)

Bummer I didn't see this reply. Just picked up another trio this morning with a nice male.

But in response, I'd be happy to trade a female for one of your males once I see some of this fry through to adulthood.

In regards to the popeye, I'm not sure how long it had been dead, plenty of shrimp, cories & an Otto were grazing on his body but his color was still very bright.

I've collected no new fry since last week.

[Foxpuppet]

I thought I'd take stock this afternoon and make sure all my remaining adults..... Are remaining. All 5 accounted for :)

They are so elusive in heavily planted tank, but damn do I love these little fish!

[Foxpuppet]

Checking on new trio, looking happy but a bit under colored after acclimatizing

Happily collected 2 new fry in tank which is welcome after not seeing any for 5 days.

I've got a old 35L being prepped to move the fry into. And a 60L next to it to hopefully shift the adults into soon.

Planning to get 4-5 nano tanks to use as spawning tanks shifting adults in & out every 4-5 days.

[Foxpuppet]

1 more fry collected yesterday. New/old tank is almost ready for fry transfer.

The biggest fry (only one that's older than the rest) is in a External breeder box along with the new trio, they seem to be mingling happily, so I'm wondering if it's ready to go back in the big tank with all the other adults, thoughts?

[s1l3nt]

If he is too big to fit in their mouth, he will be fine. They will school together fine in my experience, and do not bully the smaller "odd one out". Personally I think that anything over 10mm (~4 weeks old?) could happily stay with parents, at this point they are starting to "round" the body and get colour too so they will quickly start to blend in with the rest anyway :)

Let me know when you would like to a trade :) I'm always looking to add new blood to my lines. Happy to trade a few fry for a few fry to mix up lines for us both. Or an adult or two :)

[Foxpuppet]

Here fishy fishy fishy

[Foxpuppet]

Trying out a new home

[Foxpuppet]

Have not seen any new fry since 14/3 but today I spotted one, looks to be about 2-3 weeks old judging by its size.

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[Fishandme3]

Hi guys, I also breed CPDs. I run 3 dedicated breeding tanks of 30L with egg collectors. 3 X 10L fry tanks and 4 40L growout tanks. I have approx 300 in grow out atm. I usually stock approx 100 eggs /week when wanting to start a new batch. Feel free to ask questions

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[Foxpuppet]

Hi guys, I also breed CPDs. I run 3 dedicated breeding tanks of 30L with egg collectors. 3 X 10L fry tanks and 4 40L growout tanks. I have approx 300 in grow out atm. I usually stock approx 100 eggs /week when wanting to start a new batch. Feel free to ask questions

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Would love to see a pic of your setup/egg collectors! Are you breeding commercially?

[Fishandme3]

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Sorry old photos, I don't use spawning mops, only miss!

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Moss

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No, not commercially but aim to make cpd available in shops Perth

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[Foxpuppet]

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Sorry old photos, I don't use spawning mops, only miss!

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Moss

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No, not commercially but aim to make cpd available in shops Perth

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Lovely looking setup.

What's your fry feeding regime?

Care to explain your egg catching methods and filtration etc?

[Fishandme3]

Filtration: sponge filters

Broodstock food: Artemia, grindal worms and flake.

Fry feed: paramecium, vinegar eels, dry feed (sera micron) Artemia

Egg collection: Pyrex dish with plastic lid from Coles, cut top of lid out and put in 2 mm plastic mesh. Xmas moss sits on top. Fish spawn in moss every few days and eggs sink into Pyrex dish where adults can't get to them. Check with a torch daily to see eggs. Pull out whole dish count eggs out using pipette and transfer directly to 10L tank. Eggs hatch in 3 days, fry feed in another 3. Too easy

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Try to keep temp of broodstock around 23-24. Stop spawning at 25!

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[Foxpuppet]

https://vimeo.com/163535550

Growing up fast.... Need more fry though!

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[Foxpuppet]

Help my fish is sick! My nicest and oldest male has started looking very lethargic, then I spotted him upside down tonight at the bottom of the tank.

Here's some video and pics, anyone know what might be wrong?

Looks like bleeding on his belly.

Also quite fat too. Bloat maybe?

https://vimeo.com/166619465

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