The Oto Journal

Turned the air stone off for a while this afternoon. Final check of the evening had (24) eggs. All but (5) are in the crypt jungle. May not be able to move over many but will move some never the less. We'll see tomorrow how many may be good. Air stone back on for the evening hours.

 

Update 25-Feb-2010

Check of the eggs revealled good news. Outside of finding more eggs, I only found (1) egg that was not viable and fuzzing over. I didn't bother trying to get a good egg count today. It is over (30) though.

I did manage to move over (4) eggs to the test tank. Mama laid pretty much all of them in the crypt jungle so can't do much with them. I turned the air stone back on and will leave it on from this point forward.

Removed the old zucs and prepping new. Ground up veggie flakes and added to tank. Took some pics of things and checking them now.

 

So here's a couple shots to get you by for now.

This is one of the eggs in the crypt jungle. The only one that turned out.


These two are now in the test tank. You can see they are getting ready to hatch.

 

Update 26-Feb-2010

As expected, hatching is on going.

Test tank: No good news. Two eggs went sour. The other two appeared to hatch but I can not find any sign of fry. Not saying they didn't make it, just didn't find any.

Main tank: Counted (11) wigglers. Most everybody is located in the back of the tank where lighting is poor so couldn't snap any pics. But then again...maybe play with the camera again see. Ground up some more veggie flakes and placed in the tank. Trying this time to ensure there are plenty fine particles around.

 

Update 28-Feb-2010

Very quick check of the tank this morn. A lot of work ahead with horse pasture, olympic hockey and nascar.

Quick count found (4) little fry guys. Mama has laid another big batch of eggs. She's still using the crypt jungle for the majority but did spot a few on stems so I will transfer those over to the other tank.

Again, this was a very quick check so no accurate numbers available at this time.

 

Final check of the eve. Counted (57) eggs. (6) were not viable. Found (11) on one stem of L. Repens and moved it over to the test tank.

Surgically removed the bad eggs using a big needle. We'll see tomorrow afternoon if the number of good eggs stays up there.

 

Update 01-Mar-2010

Evening check. Found more non viable eggs. (

Test Tank: (4) bad eggs found and removed. That leaves (7) good in this tank.

Main Tank: Found quite a few bad ones. Seperated a few from good eggs. Didn't bother counting at this time. I may try later before the lights go out. Prepping water for a top off in here.

Hatching expected late night/early morning. Will know more tomorrow afternoon.

 

Update 02-Feb-2010

Hatching today. Little fry guys everywhere.

Main tank: Found several little fry on the glass. Still have a few from the previous batches in there too.

Test tank: At first was discouraged. Checked the stem of L. Repens and found nothing. No bad eggs, no unhatched eggs and no fry. Initial check of the tank...nothing. Now this tank isn't designed for the best of visibility. It's an algae play field. Finally spotted (2) fry in here. Hopefull of more but we'll see. If successfull, it could be at least a week to find out judging by how fast the other little buckaroo has grown.

Took some fry shots so we'll see if any turned out well.

 

Well....here's the only good shot for the day. This is one of the newbies hatched this morning.

 

Update 03-Mar-2010

Test Tank: Still could only find (2) wigglers. Starting to doubt the capabilities of this tank even though ideal conditions.

Main Tank: Found (15) wigglers over here. Topped off tank and added veggie flakes.

 

Update 04-Feb-2010

All continues to do well in both tanks.

Main: Still counted (15) wigglers today. A few of them are getting nice and pudgy. Guess adding the extra ground up flakes might be paying off.

Test: Found a third wiggler in here. Yay!! That now makes (4) in the tank. Three that are a couple days old and the one that is four weeks old. Might be a good sign here that the tank will support fry development.

 

Some shots from today. These guys are about 2 weeks old.

 

Update 05-Feb-2010

Nightly check and all still looking well. Fry numbers still up. Only found (1) small wiggler over in the test tank. Hard to see in there. ;o)

I'm not ready to draw in conclusions from this latest round of experimenting but it does seem to be better on the fry to keep the air stone on full time. Probably keeping O2 levels up and added circulation. Just my thinking at this time. May be able to verify with next spawn.

I know I mentioned it a while back but definately deserves repeating...it so cool to watch a little fry guy swim from the back of the tank and lite right in front of you.

On a side note....found (4) CRS shrimp berried. Kewlness!

 

Update 08-Feb-2010

Water change Monday. Big test for the little fry guys. 20% changes across the board. Duckweed erradication still on going. Only find a few floating pieces here and there and they get removed when found.

Think I'm gonna fold up shop on the test tank and just convert it back. I haven't seen any fry for two days now. I would have thought under those conditions they would have done well. I don't know...maybe I'll keep it around for one more batch of eggs.

 

Update 11-Mar-2010

Been a few days since last update.

Main tank: Visibily counted (6) fry guys yesterday. Looking quite plump and coloring up nicely. Moved over (3) Tiger shrimp from the juvie tank due to mysterious kill off over there. Duckweed erradication continues. Looks like I will need to trim the crypt jungle again soon.

Juvie tank: Found almost all of the Tiger shrimp dead the other day. Oto's are just fine, which is a good thing. Two water changes done with another slated for today. Best I can tell, (1) male tiger remains. He is being stubborn and doesn't want to leave the Java Fern. If I can catch him, I'll move him over to the Main tank as well. Very strange as nothing has been added to the tank. Leads me to believe possible bad water used for a top off.

Test tank: Failed again. In what I thought would have been excellent conditions for the fry to survive (lots of diatoms, excellent water quality and constant running of air stone), it wasn't meant to be. I had that one successfull batch prior the power outage and nothing since. And now the strange part....my big fry guy that has been in there has vanished without a trace. No remains found at all. Yesterday I started breaking down the tank to give it a cleaning and revert it back to where it was. I removed all the plants and rocks, cleaned the pre-filter and filter and even sifted the sand. Nothing and no clue. I left some diatom growth on the sides and back for now. I may try the tank once again. Maybe the power outage did something funky with it and just needed a good once over. I'm contimplating moving a pair of O. Macrospilus in here. It doesn't match the specs of the main tank but may be worth a looksie.

Second Breeder: Still seeing a lot of "playfullness" from this pair but no spawn as yet. I don't think they feel very "comfortable" at this time. The flora hasn't gotten very established yet either but it's getting there. I have a few more to remove and some to add. There is no dense section to this tank as yet.

 

Thx. I'll do my best

 

Update 14-Mar-2010

Major changes today.

1) Had to thin the Crypt jungle. Always looks so different after replanting. At least it was easier to seperate all the different plants this time. The C. Retro was entangled a bit but nothing too bad. Wound up removing the mother plants of both species.

2) 30% water change due to the replanting of the crypt jungle. Removed all crypts and performed a pretty good vac of the substrate. Removed alot of gunk. Running the air stone full bore during and after the wc.

3) Moved over (2) juvies to the juvie tank.

4) Only (2) fry remain in the main tank. Hopefully they will do ok with the major changes.

5) On a sad note...I lost Boris. I kinda expected it the way he has been acting of late. Makes me sad. He was such a big guy with character.

All the Tiger and Yellow shrimp doing just fine. One Tiger still carrying eggs. Got to see a yellow molt which was a pretty kewl scene.

Plan is to revert back to some earlier testing. Think I had better success. We'll see how it goes.