Post by ree123 on May 18, 2011 12:19:23 GMT -6
I will go first with a short story.
All of you could do this.........and what about the DIY section ? I bet we all have tips. I have several I will place later.
_____________________________________________________
We, as aquarists, find ourselves with an initial interest in our glorious hobby for many different reasons, and soon learn that there is more to keeping a fish tank than water and fish. We find ourselves slowly becoming ichthiologists, botinists, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians, but to name a few.
I found myself, like so many others of you, as a child of six or seven with a 5 gallon aquarium and a growing interest that has not ended for some 45 years to date.
Over the years we learn many things from other hobbyists, other breeders, from the publications we subscribe to or browse over @ our local pet stores, and now from the internet and fish forums like ours and so many others.
If you were @ our last swap/meet for the MCAA on 5-8-11 then you have heard this story told by me. If not, then it is worth reading here, so we can reflect and remember that all of us have the most simple of things to learn and prosper by.
Over the years my fish interests have changed from one type of fish to another, but my passion has for years fallen to the freshwater Angel, the BN Pleco's, and the smaller Central and South American and African river basin Cichlids.
As these interests grew for these particular fish I obviously wanted to breed them, raise fry, and sell or swap for more of the same and others too.
Well, As I began my attempts at breeding the Angelfish, I quickly learned that I had great luck maintaining them and even getting them to spawn, but then after the eggs hatched and I had wigglers, before the day arrived for them to be new swimmers, they would die. All of them! Or, they would die during the first day that they swam, which is usually about day 5 after the eggs are laid and fertilized.
I called folks I knew, I researched their deaths on the computer, I joined the Angelfish Society and posted questions on their forum. I received many responses with many suggestions. Suggestions to check all kinds of water parameters, collect water from other sources, try all kinds of medications and water additives, and ALL to no avail. I lost thousands and thousands of fry, over and over and over. I even involved a local Vet.
Then a day some one to two years into this, as I had just about giving up on the idea of any ever surviving, I was on the phone with an old fish buddy in Knoxville, where I am origionaly from, and he had heard of this delima from one of his fish buddies in N. Carolina. My friend got us on a 3 way conversation and I proposed the delima, citing off all the options I had tried, even carrying water from local creeks in buckets. A lot of work I might add.
*********The guy in N. Carolina simply ask the magic question................."What temperature is the hatch jar's water from the time the eggs are stolen until the time the fry come up off the bottom to swim?" ------- (If you were to leave the eggs with the parents the questions would be "what is the temp. of the parents tank.") **********************************
My answer, --------, "about 75 or so, why ?"
It was explained to me that @ 80 to 82 degrees speeds up development and from the time the eggs are laid and hatch out, there is a yolk sac for each fry. Within five days from hatch, the yolk sac is used up. If the fry take another 24 hours to come up and swim, which mine usually did, then the final explanation was the fry are all starving because on day 5 to day 6, their nourishment is gone and they can't eat the first brine ship until swimming.
I was and had been starving millions of Angelfish fry.
I took his advice, as simple as that seemed, and I am happy to report that I have successfully raised probably billions of Angel fry since those many years ago.
Now the moral of this short story is...................."The simpliest of something that you may take for granted that all are aware of, is or may be the key to another hobbyists success or failure."
Let's all share stories ! Lets all share opinions and advice!
Lets get everyone we know that has a tank of fish to join us !
The more members we have, the more opinions and knowledge we have, the more experience we have, the bigger the swaps we have, the more funds we have, the bigger the speakers and or programs we can have.
Now,......................someone else's turn.
Pick a section and tell us a story.
Or even a DIY.
Everybody loves them.
Later you all.
ree123
All of you could do this.........and what about the DIY section ? I bet we all have tips. I have several I will place later.
_____________________________________________________
We, as aquarists, find ourselves with an initial interest in our glorious hobby for many different reasons, and soon learn that there is more to keeping a fish tank than water and fish. We find ourselves slowly becoming ichthiologists, botinists, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians, but to name a few.
I found myself, like so many others of you, as a child of six or seven with a 5 gallon aquarium and a growing interest that has not ended for some 45 years to date.
Over the years we learn many things from other hobbyists, other breeders, from the publications we subscribe to or browse over @ our local pet stores, and now from the internet and fish forums like ours and so many others.
If you were @ our last swap/meet for the MCAA on 5-8-11 then you have heard this story told by me. If not, then it is worth reading here, so we can reflect and remember that all of us have the most simple of things to learn and prosper by.
Over the years my fish interests have changed from one type of fish to another, but my passion has for years fallen to the freshwater Angel, the BN Pleco's, and the smaller Central and South American and African river basin Cichlids.
As these interests grew for these particular fish I obviously wanted to breed them, raise fry, and sell or swap for more of the same and others too.
Well, As I began my attempts at breeding the Angelfish, I quickly learned that I had great luck maintaining them and even getting them to spawn, but then after the eggs hatched and I had wigglers, before the day arrived for them to be new swimmers, they would die. All of them! Or, they would die during the first day that they swam, which is usually about day 5 after the eggs are laid and fertilized.
I called folks I knew, I researched their deaths on the computer, I joined the Angelfish Society and posted questions on their forum. I received many responses with many suggestions. Suggestions to check all kinds of water parameters, collect water from other sources, try all kinds of medications and water additives, and ALL to no avail. I lost thousands and thousands of fry, over and over and over. I even involved a local Vet.
Then a day some one to two years into this, as I had just about giving up on the idea of any ever surviving, I was on the phone with an old fish buddy in Knoxville, where I am origionaly from, and he had heard of this delima from one of his fish buddies in N. Carolina. My friend got us on a 3 way conversation and I proposed the delima, citing off all the options I had tried, even carrying water from local creeks in buckets. A lot of work I might add.
*********The guy in N. Carolina simply ask the magic question................."What temperature is the hatch jar's water from the time the eggs are stolen until the time the fry come up off the bottom to swim?" ------- (If you were to leave the eggs with the parents the questions would be "what is the temp. of the parents tank.") **********************************
My answer, --------, "about 75 or so, why ?"
It was explained to me that @ 80 to 82 degrees speeds up development and from the time the eggs are laid and hatch out, there is a yolk sac for each fry. Within five days from hatch, the yolk sac is used up. If the fry take another 24 hours to come up and swim, which mine usually did, then the final explanation was the fry are all starving because on day 5 to day 6, their nourishment is gone and they can't eat the first brine ship until swimming.
I was and had been starving millions of Angelfish fry.
I took his advice, as simple as that seemed, and I am happy to report that I have successfully raised probably billions of Angel fry since those many years ago.
Now the moral of this short story is...................."The simpliest of something that you may take for granted that all are aware of, is or may be the key to another hobbyists success or failure."
Let's all share stories ! Lets all share opinions and advice!
Lets get everyone we know that has a tank of fish to join us !
The more members we have, the more opinions and knowledge we have, the more experience we have, the bigger the swaps we have, the more funds we have, the bigger the speakers and or programs we can have.
Now,......................someone else's turn.
Pick a section and tell us a story.
Or even a DIY.
Everybody loves them.
Later you all.
ree123
