Still may be a little to early to tell but on day 6now I have only lost maybe 20larvae out of about 150 oc fry.
When I first started I would find nearly 100% hatched and alive at about 11:00pm at night on the first night and then the next morning half or more were dead using your normal 10g method. And then over the course of the next few days my count would drop down to almost nothing. To date I still have no clue what I was doing wrong there.
But two batches ago I was caught off guard and with a tank full of larvae swimming around. So the only thing that I had next to me was a plastic Cheetos container (about a one gallon cylinder) so I filled it with water and larvae and then I just stuck that container in my sump expecting all to be dead in the am. Much to my surprise the container was full of babies, however I was really low on rotifer so I lost most a few days later.
Fast forward two weeks and I now have another batch that is 6 days old with well over 100 survivors that are just starting to inter meta. These larvae were hatched and raised so far all in my sump in a 1gallon container with an air stone and an LED night light that I have hanging on the sump wall. The only difference between this batch and the last one is that I kept adding rots in as fast as they could eat them. By the 4th day I ran out of rots and my bbs culture was ready so I started feeding that on day 4.
So I still have a long ways to go but even if they all kick the bucket tomorrow I made it a lot farther this time then I have on any of my other half dozen or so attempts at this breeding thing.
I guess what I have learned from this is that there are no set rules on how you have to set up your breeding system. This new technique of mine is by far the easiest and so far the most fruitful for me. There is no blacking out the sides, no need to try to match the PH or temp, and daily water changes couldn't be easier. I just take about 1 cup from the hatching tub and add in one cup from the sump.
I plan on moving the one gallon container to a 10g tank some where around 10 days. The 10g tank will be half filled with its own heater and air stones along with one in the one gallon container. Then over the course of the next few days I will use the 10g water for the water changes so that they can have a slow two or three day acclimation to their new home.
When I first started I would find nearly 100% hatched and alive at about 11:00pm at night on the first night and then the next morning half or more were dead using your normal 10g method. And then over the course of the next few days my count would drop down to almost nothing. To date I still have no clue what I was doing wrong there.
But two batches ago I was caught off guard and with a tank full of larvae swimming around. So the only thing that I had next to me was a plastic Cheetos container (about a one gallon cylinder) so I filled it with water and larvae and then I just stuck that container in my sump expecting all to be dead in the am. Much to my surprise the container was full of babies, however I was really low on rotifer so I lost most a few days later.
Fast forward two weeks and I now have another batch that is 6 days old with well over 100 survivors that are just starting to inter meta. These larvae were hatched and raised so far all in my sump in a 1gallon container with an air stone and an LED night light that I have hanging on the sump wall. The only difference between this batch and the last one is that I kept adding rots in as fast as they could eat them. By the 4th day I ran out of rots and my bbs culture was ready so I started feeding that on day 4.
So I still have a long ways to go but even if they all kick the bucket tomorrow I made it a lot farther this time then I have on any of my other half dozen or so attempts at this breeding thing.
I guess what I have learned from this is that there are no set rules on how you have to set up your breeding system. This new technique of mine is by far the easiest and so far the most fruitful for me. There is no blacking out the sides, no need to try to match the PH or temp, and daily water changes couldn't be easier. I just take about 1 cup from the hatching tub and add in one cup from the sump.
I plan on moving the one gallon container to a 10g tank some where around 10 days. The 10g tank will be half filled with its own heater and air stones along with one in the one gallon container. Then over the course of the next few days I will use the 10g water for the water changes so that they can have a slow two or three day acclimation to their new home.
