Ishar's 20 Gallon Long Planted Tank

[ishar]

haha yeah you *would* watch that movie lol.

I have been busy setting up my new nano tank "The Meadow" today, but I noticed in my 20G that my kribs are rearranging it! haha I added some driftwood to make a much better cave, and the kribs seem to be ready to breed. The other fish are cowering in the opposite corner away from the kribs, and the kribs rarely leave the cave very far. Meanwhile they are busy digging, making the cave deeper I suppose. Pretty exciting

 

[ishar]

I took my POTM pics today, and thought I would snap a few of the Kribs while I was at it- here there are . Please click on the thumbnail- I did some editing but the thumbnail is, for some unknown reason, not showing the edited version.

Female ...................... Male
<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/?action=view&current=DSC00232.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/th_DSC00232.jpg" border="0" alt="Female Krib" ></a> <a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/?action=view&current=DSC00231.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/th_DSC00231.jpg" border="0" alt="Male Krib" ></a>

 

[unwritten law]

on photobucket you need to make sure the name of the edited version is different that the original....or it wont recognize the new file. They are pretty nice looking fish though... camera shy?

 

[ishar]

oooh ok- I will change the title then. Thanks.

Yeah, they are everything-shy haha. They hang out in their cave nearly 100% of the time, redecorating and expanding their cave so to speak. I am hoping they are preparing to breed...

 

[ishar]

MY KRIBS SPAWNED!!!

BIG PROBLEM!!! hahaha

I felt they were going to spawn soon since I noticed they nipped the fins right off of a guppy last night (poor guy was beyond the point of recovery), and then I just noticed the female swimming against some driftwood kind of funnily, and then saw the eggs :S I am SO excited... but at the same time I am moving tomorrow morning! I need some advice on what to do to try to keep the eggs and yet drain a tank and get it ready to move.

I have plants in the tank, so I will have some water in there- hopefully enough to cover the eggs and keep them wet. I severely hesitate in moving the driftwood or anything of the sort. And I do want these eggs to hatch- at least a couple. Any ideas??

I will be posting this in a separate thread as well to get more traffic- really need advice here.

 

[ishar]

Well I moved home from school, and the tank came with me. Here are the results:

-The substrate shifted a bit and many plants were uprooted, but overall not much movement in the tank
- I couldn't catch any fish but the guppies... the kribs just hid in their cave and the cories were too low and hid in the plants... I did not want to but I ended up draining the tank to a few inches and just leaving the fish in it.
- With all of the moving around the Kribs freaked I think and ate the eggs- oh well
- All fish lived except one guppy. I can't find the fourth cory but I am sure it is fine.
- I noticed a bit of aggression between the kribs after flooding the tank but they seem to have calmed down and are chillin' together again.

 

[mistercoffee]

Good to hear it worked Ishar!

 

[ishar]

Thanks man

Good news again! The kribs have spawned their second batch already! Pretty exciting . Looks like a large batch too . Hopefully I'll snap some pics tonight.

 

[unwritten law]

thats bull!!! mine take so much longer in between spawns!!! Im jealous. haha

 

[ishar]

lol Well they spawned again too- any less jealous??? lol No fry yet though, just eggs.

In other news, I added 9 of the classic fish- the Harlequin Raspbora. I finally have a group of fish that school!! It is great .

 

[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]

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.