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My 110 L Community Tank


Crabby

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Ooh BBS is that 100% necessary? If I can get through without it I'd like to. Feeding frozen BBS, frozen cyclops, algae wafers (they crumble fantastically under water) and hikari first bites at the moment. They're also probably eating loads of micro life and stuff in the mulm. I can probably hatch baby brine for a little bit though.

Also jayc what do you think, seperate or let the parents raise? 

 

Cheers fellas. 

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I have a friend that hatches BBS so it must be fairly easy (I have not tried it), so maybe give it a go for the start to give the baby fish the best start then move on to other food? I guess there is no difference than frozen brine shrimp though!

I have never had baby fish, but feed all my fish baby fish food anyway as they are small fish. I think it is the same as normal fish food just powder! I dip a pln into the tank to wet it, then into the powder food quickly, then swirl the pin in the tank to feed the fish!

Simon

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In the first few weeks BBS is essential. It's not the same as Frozen BBS. The wriggling movements of newly hatched BBS attracts them to eat. You can try frozen, but you'll find them ignoring it, and the leftovers will just rot.

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Okay. Do I just buy some sort of kit or something, is it easy? I’ll get something set up over the weekend hopefully. Thanks for the heads up jayc!

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8 hours ago, Crabby said:

Do I just buy some sort of kit or something, is it easy?

Don't buy one!

If you already have an air pump, then you are 90% there equipment wise. Save that money for the BBS eggs.

Google "DIY brine shrimp hatchery" and follow creation of one using a 2L soft drink bottle.

It should include instructions on how to hatch the eggs too. 

 

The first 2 weeks are critical. If they survive and eat BBS, then you can start introducing other foods. 

 

Edited by jayc
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My betta won't touch frozen or dried daphnia, but gets so excited with live daphnia! As JayC says it must be the natural hunting instinct in them?

Ebay and amazon usually sell the brine shrimp eggs, usually with the salt as well.

Simon 

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Yeah grabbed some soft drink this arvo, gonna head down to lfs tomorrow and grab some bbs for the time being, will order amazon after for a longer term supply. @jayc should I only need one bottle? And how long should I plan to run it? I only have one air pump and it's on my 5 gal right now. I'll purchase one if need be though, spares are always great to have around. (Post note: Could I just split it from the output of the air pump? I might do that actually.)

Cheers

Edited by Crabby
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Splitting it makes more sense as long as you can disconnect or switch off the line that you aren't using when you aren't keeping the BBS!

Having said that though, if it is easy enough to do you can probably do it permanently as even adult fish will enjoy chasing any live food?

Simon

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4 hours ago, Crabby said:

should I only need one bottle? And how long should I plan to run it? I only have one air pump and it's on my 5 gal right now. I'll purchase one if need be though, spares are always great to have around. (Post note: Could I just split it from the output of the air pump? I might do that actually.)

One bottle should be enough for now, it just means you start one up immediately after harvesting the BBS.

Run it for as long as you need to, usually till the fry accept powdered foods.

 

Splitting the air hose is the way to go. You just need one of these T pieces.

Useful Fish 10 PCS 4mm White Plastic Tee Bubble stone Air ...

or

Aliexpress.com : Buy Outside Dia. 3/4"(25mm) ~ 38mm(1 1/2 ...

 

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  • 5 months later...

Soooooooo it's been a while since I last updated on this tank. About 5 months actually! I was typing this message up just a moment ago and the site crashed, so I'll cut it a bit shorter this time.

First off, I finally got around to getting a wide range pH test (fluval). Turns out I have a pH of 5-5.5! Explains why I lost 2 of my 3 SAE (R.I.P. Watson and Holmes). I think I'll put a bit of crushed coral in the filter to bring this up a bit, but keep it below 6. I like it below 6 because my apistos like it! They've been breeding since the first batch, over 5 months ago, and I'm so stoked about it! I reckon I have maybe 100 fry and juvies in the tank now. The oldest (5 month olds) are colouring up, and I can sex them easily. One of my males looks incredible! I'll get a shot of him when I can. Actually, I was in the middle of writing this the first time when I realised more eggs hatched today!!! I had noticed the female let go her youngest fry a week ago, and started guarding her cave again. They're now breeding in a cave a friend from my lfs made for me, and I'm pretty happy about that. Gonna have to let him know next time I'm there. He's the one who sold me on these guys to begin with! Anyways, newborn fry always put a smile on my face. Likely the youngest I've ever seen them, really! All huddled together while mum chases away everything she sees :smileys-fish-721285:

Besides the loss of 2 SAE, all my other fish are doing fantastic! Female endlers finally stopped dropping fry, after being isolated from males for 6 months ? and my largest calico BN, Jimmy Recard (named after a song I love by Drapht - can't give a fish a name like boring old Paul ?) is colouring up really well! Maybe if they and my longfin are opposing sexes, I can breed the two! 

And just seeing the last discussion on this topic, just wanting to say @jayc unfortunately I've never had the chance to set up live BBS for my fry, but they seem to have done well without. I just can't source cheap eggs!

My BBA problem is nearly gone, thanks to less light, Flourish Excel and my Algae Eaters. So happy to see it gone. 

Lastly my male pseudomugil has been flaring and dancing at my endler females... confused little guy! :shrug:Hopefully it means when I move him and his girl to their own tank, I can get some breeding action! Two lovely fish, absolutely can't wait to see how they act and colour for breeding!

 

Thanks for reading this little essay ?

-Crabby

 

 

edit: will add pics...

Edited by Crabby
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That all sounds great and we love to hear about such success. Its interesting that the BBA has gone now the tank is more established!

I had a look on ebay and amazon, it is a bit bizarre that brine shrimp eggs are so difficult to get in Australia? Maybe someone on here may have a contact source etc?

Go careful increasing the PH you don't want to start a new ammonia cycle?????

Looking forward to some photos.

Simon

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