Ishar's 20 Gallon Long Planted Tank

[unwritten law]

Yeah I'm jealous...are the fry making it? my male keyhole wants to spawn for the past week or so but since I moved my tank and stressed them out again with a bit of CO2 incident.

[ishar]

Here are some pics from May 8th of my Krib's then recent spawn (none hatched) and some of the algae in my tank that drives me nuts haha.







The algae is found right where the HOB filter outflow and the CO2 diffuser (elite mini filter) flow meets, so this is very likely BBA of some form , or perhaps staghorn, but it stays totally localized to the leaves in this area. And the clumpy stuff clinging to it is soil particles by the way, not algae.

[ishar]

The female krib laid another batch of eggs, but again, I do not think they are fertilized. Can anyone think of any reason wy they still are not getting fertilize?

[Lotus]

Awesome pics!

No, those eggs don't look fertilized. Blame the male, I always do It could just be that they're not getting it right yet. Feeding some frozen bloodworms can help condition them for breeding, but sometimes they just need practice.

The algae looks like staghorn. It's a pain, but it usually goes away on its own after a while. Dosing potassium can help with it, sometimes.

[unwritten law]

Hey Lotus,

Will frozen blood worms help most cichlids spawn? My Keyholes have three time before, once was pretty successful but the past two were eaten quickly by the more dominant pleco. Now that the pleco is gone I really want to see them spawn again but they haven't since I rearranged and moved the tank to a different location.

What I am afraid of is that the female has just given up on the male since the past three haven't really produced. The male is definitely still interested in her though.

I also have a fry tank set up if they do spawn so I kind of want them to or that tank will be a waste or made into something else.

[Lotus]

Giving them high-protein foods may help induce them into a spawn. It works for some fish, but not all. It also helps give them some added nutrients that they may need to make them healthy enough to breed. I'm not sure if studies have been done on exactly how it all affects different fish, but it's always worth a try. Conditioning the fish you're breeding can also help give you more eggs/healthier fry, etc. Think of it like taking folic acid for humans wanting to conceive.

[ishar]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Awesome pics!

No, those eggs don't look fertilized. Blame the male, I always do It could just be that they're not getting it right yet. Feeding some frozen bloodworms can help condition them for breeding, but sometimes they just need practice.

The algae looks like staghorn. It's a pain, but it usually goes away on its own after a while. Dosing potassium can help with it, sometimes.

The staghorn is pretty much gone. I switched my CO2 diffusion method from the elite mini filter to a ceramic plate diffuser releasing into my elite mini filter so the bubbles are smaller and better diffused into the aquarium.

For my kribs, I definitely blame the male too hahaha. But I don't know what to do. They are always hiding in their back corner cave- I never see them leave it. And bloodworms don't seem to interest them actually, as odd as that sounds. They ignored a bunch I suck to their cave this morning- may have been too early though so I will try it again.

[unwritten law]

dual diffusion! haha, I was thinking about that but my filter has a seal on it that somehow doesn't allow air into it. Sucks that they never come out though, at least you know that they are happy anyways.