hastatus spawning in maintenance tank
Posted: 12 Apr 2011, 05:40
Hello all,
I've read a lot about raising hastatus in a species only tank over the last couple years. In December, I decided to get a group to try it myself and see how productive it can be. I have 18 adults in a ten gallon tank with one side of the tank covered in spawning mops to give adults a reasonable place to lay their eggs. They seem to be just as likely to lay on the walls as the mops, but it does seem to be their favored side of the tank. The gravel has more blackworms than they will likely ever manage to eat, but I put a new scoop in there every 4-6 weeks just to make sure they're well fed. They also receive frozen cyclops, decap brine, and 2-4 feedings of sinking pellets every day to keep them in good shape and try to limit their appetite for caviar.
Anyway, to my problem. They have been spawning off and on for the past 6 weeks and I've only managed to see one short glimpse of a fry about a month ago. They have been on a constant, daily, breeding streak for the past ten days, and I don't think I manage to see an egg last longer than 2-3 days before it also disappears. I'm hopeful that something hidden deep in the mops may be surviving long enough to hatch, but I remember them taking a bit longer than this to hatch the last time I was raising them. Is there something that I'm overlooking, and should be doing, to make this system work with them?
I'd like to give the system a chance to work since several others have written about successes using it, but would also like to raise a halfway reasonable group of fry. If it doesn't work a bit better than this, my next step is to separate them for a week to condition and put them back together for a couple days after the weekly water change. I didn't want to have to use another tank for them, but would like to have a few F-1 to add to my wild group.
Larry
I've read a lot about raising hastatus in a species only tank over the last couple years. In December, I decided to get a group to try it myself and see how productive it can be. I have 18 adults in a ten gallon tank with one side of the tank covered in spawning mops to give adults a reasonable place to lay their eggs. They seem to be just as likely to lay on the walls as the mops, but it does seem to be their favored side of the tank. The gravel has more blackworms than they will likely ever manage to eat, but I put a new scoop in there every 4-6 weeks just to make sure they're well fed. They also receive frozen cyclops, decap brine, and 2-4 feedings of sinking pellets every day to keep them in good shape and try to limit their appetite for caviar.
Anyway, to my problem. They have been spawning off and on for the past 6 weeks and I've only managed to see one short glimpse of a fry about a month ago. They have been on a constant, daily, breeding streak for the past ten days, and I don't think I manage to see an egg last longer than 2-3 days before it also disappears. I'm hopeful that something hidden deep in the mops may be surviving long enough to hatch, but I remember them taking a bit longer than this to hatch the last time I was raising them. Is there something that I'm overlooking, and should be doing, to make this system work with them?
I'd like to give the system a chance to work since several others have written about successes using it, but would also like to raise a halfway reasonable group of fry. If it doesn't work a bit better than this, my next step is to separate them for a week to condition and put them back together for a couple days after the weekly water change. I didn't want to have to use another tank for them, but would like to have a few F-1 to add to my wild group.
Larry
