The Oto Journal

Not sure what you mean by "different"?

 

Update 15-Mar-2010

Kind of gotten away from posting water parms so I'll try to get that back on track. Here are the numbers from yesterday...the day after replanting the crypt jungle and doing a pretty good vac of the substrate:

Temp: 77
PH: 7.4
NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 20
GH: 4
KH: 4
TDS: 101 (This number is way down from last recorded reading of 240. Guess I removed a fair amount of stuff when I re-did the crypts)

No room parms taken as I had moved the guages out temporarily. They are now back in place as well.

GH and KH numbers reflect the constant running of the airstone and inadequate CO2.

Recharged the CO2 and have it back in place under the filter. Airstone use back down to night time only after the lights go out.

Will be placing two small pieces of cuttlebone in the tank today. Have some Briggs on order. I'm just going to place (2) in the tank when they arrive.

Little more work to do with the Ludwigia and Downoi and that should take care of things for a while. I still have to trim down the Suesswassertang wall. Have to figure out the best way to do that.

Crypts are pretty thin looking without the mother plants in there. I hope I didn't make it too thin. I have others on stand to go back in there if need be. The lack of Duckweed is also adding to that effect.

Didn't find either of the two fry guys yesterday. I'm hoping they are fine and just hiding since the major overhaul.

I think that just about sums things up for now. I'll get some pics of the tank once the dust settles.

 

Update 16-Mar-2010

Eggs found! Came in to finish the scape with the Ludwigia and Downoi and found a bunch of eggs. Excellent! Hopefully this is a good sign that mama still feels comfortable with the environs after the change. Current count is (41). Cannot determine at this time if any are not viable however, there are a couple that I suspect of at this time.

Didn't look like too many in the crypt jungle this time which is understandable. Majority appear to be in the Ludwigia and Bacopa areas. I'll get better counts later.

Found one stem of L. Arcuata with at least (14) on it. Have made the decision to move this stem over to the test tank. Getting ready to test that water to try and match parms closely. <crosses fingers>

Also found (4) on the drop checker. lol

Working on some pics now.

 

I will be. I am waiting for the weather to warm up a bit as I don't want to ship these guys in this climate.

 

Photos from 16-Mar-2010

Final check of the eve yields (57). One egg has already been deemed unviable. There are a few that I am watching as suspect. We should know by tomorrow.

Now we'll see how the Tiger shrimp do with eggs in the tank. Hopefully they won't bother any good eggs.

Removed the stem of L. Acuata and placed it in the test tank. Counted (15) eggs on this stem. Water parms of test tank:

Temp: 75 - Turned it up a smidge.
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 10
GH - 4
KH - 3
TDS - 105

Airstone turned on for the eve. Prepping zucchini for all tanks.

Here are some shots from today:

I am watching these two closely. I believe the one on the right is not viable. Notice the color difference.


One of mama's favorite spots...the Bacopa:


Does yellow mean preggers...or is it the plus sign?

 

Update 17-Mar-2010

Evening check and all seems to be right on track in both tanks. Found (2) non viable eggs in each tank. Much better results than recent batches.

Hatching will be soon. As I was snapping pics...I could see them move around in the eggs. Pretty kewl.

Some shots from today:
Egg shot shows one non-viable egg and development of others:


A shot of the beautiful lady:


And here is their current home. Since it will be a spell before I can finish it, figured I'd get a current shot of it up.

 

Update 18-Mar-2010

Hatching today.

Main tank: Was able to locate 11 wigglers around the tank. Mama also laid some more eggs today. Will try a get a count before the lights go out.

Test tank: Was able to locate 6 wigglers in this tank.

Prepping fresh zucchini to add to the tanks.

I'll leave you with this shot. This is one of the wee ones that hatched today:

 

Final update on the eve. Counted (59) more eggs. (2) were already non viable. I believe there will be several more tomorrow. Some looked like they are a little fuzzy. We'll see.

 

Update 21-Mar-2010

Weekend check:

Main tank: Was able to spot (18) wigglers. As expected, a good amount of eggs from the second batch were bad. Everything seems to be doing ok so far.

Test tank: Was able to spot (5) wigglers in here. Little ones have found the zucchini in the tank. That's a good sign. I have another thought to try out on the next batch I move over here to see if I can increase the numbers.

Prepping water for topping off the tanks.

Here's a shot from today. This little guy is in the test tank.

 

Update 22-Mar-2010

Daily check and all is well. Numbers remain good. On the plus side, I can add one to the test tank. This now brings the total to (7) confirmed in this tank. Starting to color up nicely.

The little ones in the test tank are doing good with the zucchini. Ground up more flakes into a fine powder and added to both.

On a side note, over in the second breeder tank some of the CRS shrimp have hatched. I have a nice batch of CRS/CBS shrimplets roaming around.

 

Update 25-Mar-2010

Little ones in the main tank continue to grow. I was able to visibily spot (11) fry today in the main tank. Little guys remain active which is a good sign <knocks on wood>.

Over in the test tank...only spotted one. I didn't give it a good once over so hopefully there are more.

Zucchini not lasting long in any of the tanks. Prepping more.

 

Update 27-Mar-2010

Evening check of the tanks. Mama is laying more eggs. Counted (35) at the moment. One was non viable and has been removed. Found several fry still in the main. Keeping fingers crossed.

Over in the test tank, only located (1) fry still. Very dissapointed with this. Have to decide if I should keep trying or now. At the moment, mama has laid many eggs on a single stem so may not transfer any over this go around. She will probably lay more this evening so we'll see.

Here's a shot of a group of eggs from today:

 

Update 28-Mar-2010

No further eggs were laid last night. The final tally looks to be (40) with (4) being non-viable. Hatching will begin tonight/early morning.

I'm going to try a different feeding method. I'll still feed as normal like I have been doing:
blanched zucchini
a few veggie flakes and sticks for the big guys
ground up flakes for wee ones (I just used my fingertips to do this)
and now adding ground up flakes using a mortar and pestal (this is to make an even finer powder)

This will allow for (3) varying coarses of food. Just a thought.

I will be looking to get a smaller tank ~ 5g for a new test tank for fry development.

 

Think I'm gonna bust a theory here. I had a gallon of aged and treated water ready to go. This morning I placed an air stone in the jug to get it well aerated. Just a while ago, I performed a 10% water change. Since I was getting a little slag on top of the water, I placed the air stone back in the tank after the water change.

Within minutes, I lost two fry! WTH! I just don't get it. Temps were fine, parms were fine, all was fine. Just a simple itty bitty water change. Dang that ticks me off. I think what I am going to do now is just do routine top offs while there is fry in tank. I need to go back and review my notes to see what I'm doing differently and back all the way up. I believe my best results came with little air stone usage.

 

Update 29-Mar-2010

Counted (14) wigglers today. Didn't find the other older fry. I think they may have perished with that last water change as well. Very odd.

Running the air stone for about an hour to break the surface. Debating on whether I should continue the 10% wc/day test. I have a gallon aerating as I type. If I decide to do the change, I'm going to trickle the new water in the tank. This should hopefully avoid any major swings.

Prepping more zucchini for the tank.

 

Here's some parting shots from today:

Eyes haven't developed quite yet on this guy.


Wee one with Mama Tiger keep a close eye


Here's a little interesting one. I didn't notice the little surprise guest up top until after I was going through the pics.

 

Update 31-Mar-2010

Another 10% water change today. This time I drew the water out slower and trickling a new gallon back in. It is half way done now....an hour later. Better safe than sorry. The interesting thing though...my snails obviously know the difference even at this slow drip rate.

Only found (5) fry today. On the brighter side of things, found (23) new eggs. I don't think I'll add any additional food today. I still see fragments floating around.

 

Update 01-Apr-2010

* DISCLAIMER *

We interupt your normally scheduled journal update to announce that this is not an April Fool's joke. We now return you to your programming.

* DISCLAIMER *

Picked up a new/used 5 gallon tank today. Going to use this for a fry tank...hopefully. Being that it was already set up, it shouldn't take much to keep it going. Will be putting old water in it to keep it cycled.

Anyway...daily check of the tanks.

First stop was the main tank. Since mama laid some eggs yesterday, I had to check on everything. Mama Oto literally "eggs-ploded". Eggs, eggs everywhere. Between the eggs she laid yesterday and the ones found today, the count now stands at (105)! One is non viable and I will remove it shortly.

Now...the startling discovery. I was walking from the backside of the main tank through the doorway which takes me past the Juvie tank. Something catches my eye. Upon closer investigation...FRY! Most Excellent! I looked further and was able to find a total of (4) fry in this tank. I think it is safe to say that this is no longer a Juvie tank. ;o)
Over 50 Oto's in this tank and there will be absolutely no way of know who the parents are.

Simply Awesome!

Getting ready to do another 10% wc in the main tank.