Breeding Log – Manonichthys alleni

[William]

Since I had such a good hatch, here is how I tumble the eggs.

I create a cone out of plastic gutter guard.


I then clip this to the side of the larvae rearing tub and place an air stone in the bottom.

[William]

Day 3. 4.2mm

[William]

Well, no luck. By this morning there was only one left and it was not looking too good.

The good news was that they spawned again on Tuesday, so I should have more hatching in another day or so.

[jadeguppy]

Those blue eyes are mesmorizing. Sweet yellow too. Good luck with the next batch. Any ideas what might have gone wrong with the last batch?

[William]

I'm pretty sure they starved to death - not sure why. They were eating. I saw them striking at rotifers and could see rotifers in their guts, for a while...but after a few days fewer and fewer had anything in their guts.

[William]

Again on Friday, I pulled the nest. And again none hatched. I let them tumble for a day, and on Saturday night, they all hatched. Like the last batch, the hatch was very good. Nearly 100% of the fertile eggs hatched. And nearly 100% were still alive the next morning.

For some reason, when I went to populate the larvae tub with rotifers, I came up short. They must have been in the midst of crashing or something. I was barely able to collect enough to for an initial stocking. Last batch this would have been fine - I never had to restock the tub. Last week the rotifers were reproducing like crazy and I had to thin out the rotifers in the tub after a day or so. But not this time, I have already added more twice (though my rotifers are so depleted, I'm not adding all that many more each time.) I don't think that I'm going to be able to harvest any more for several days or risk completely killing the culture.

I think I'm going to have to remove all but a handful of larvae, or by tomorrow morning the tub will be completely devoid of rotifers. Day 3 is probably too early to add BS.....

[William]

Well. I decided to go all in. All or none. I didn't thin out the population. Instead, yesterday evening, I ground up some Otohime and added that. I fed Otohime again this morning as well as around noon. I had/have no idea if they were eating any of the otohime, but they were clearly striking at something, and there were no rotifers to be seen, so I think they might have been.

This evening I added both Otohime and BBS. This evening it was obvious they are eating something as I can clearly see color in their guts. I'm not sure if it is the otohime or the BBS as both are about the same colour. All I know is that they are eating something and it isn't rotifers as there are no rotifers left.

Meenwhile, the parents are proving to be very reliable spawners. Today marks the 3rd Tuesday in a row that they have spawned.

[William]

Well not all that surprising. By Thursday they were all gone.

The nest from the 26th I gave to John (BaboonScience). John, how are they doing? Did you have any better luck than I?

They then laid another nest on the February 1. It hatched on Friday. So far so good with the babies. But I forgot to put the lid on the broodstock tank after pulling the eggs, and the female jumped out that night So this will be my last chance for a successful run on these guys until I find a new female.

[JimWelsh]

I forgot to put the lid on the brood-stock tank after pulling the eggs, and the female jumped out that night

Ouch. Sorry to hear that, Will.

[William]

By Wednesday they were all gone. Clearly there is a trend here, every time by day 5 they are all gone.... Either they don't like to eat rotifers or they are not providing the nutrition they need. Next female I guess I'm going to have to put more effort into rotifer enrichment.