Stolen...........

I'm feeling really mean tonight, I've been in with my airline and stolen wrigglers! Both pairs are naughty, one pair munch as soon as they go free swimming, the other pair thin the free swimmers daily until they're gone

Before I went on holiday I was getting excited the second pair had an enormous spawn, I'd never seen so many, it was a huge cloud at lift off, I was wondering how my faithful daughter would cope, but all were eaten, then while I was away, they spawned again, so I've stolen half, just incase they get it right this time again.

Anyway, as I've just got back and am really busy, I managed to find a small tank (as you do!) and a heater (just happened to be laying about), so I set it up and as I said I stole some wrigglers tonight.

How long can I leave them filterless?? (still wrigglers) I have a mature sponge filter waiting (as you do............. I was a girl guide. be prepared ), I have a pump within reach and some tubing somewhere, is tomorrow evening ok to put the filter in? I can do a mini sweep / water change tomorrow morning, or should I get it in pronto. Looking a you tube the US seem to raise their fry in jars within tanks, but they don't seem to say when filters go in.

When I was breeding, I left a small air sponge in my tanks all the time. I used to leave it on a slow trickle and it worked fine. It also provides food for the fry at a later stage. You will see them pecking at it as they start to grow.

Yes, I have three sponges seeding in tanks ready to use, but this wee tank was in the garage, it had to come into play because of these wrigglers.

Wrigglers survived my theft and a night on their own, so filter will be moved shortly

Keep us informed of progress, good luck

Well the sponge filter is in........... a slight overkill lol I had to cut the uplift pipe in half to get it submerged. So far so good,

Both sets of parents still have their wrigglers, the blues whose wrigglers I've pinched most of have tidied their remaining ones up, the other pair who get them to free swimmers, I thought I'd pinched lots, but they've moved the remainder from the sponge filter back to the cone, they've still got hundreds!

Also today I had a stressful fight with a couple of filters, I removed the top trickle filter from a Boyu tank, which was annoying me, and replaced it with a large external Aquamanta, the pipes were a nightmare to thread up the back of the tank, but I managed it, I used all the media from the trickle filter in the new one, plus loads of new to fill the gaps, so hopefully it will be up to speed shortly. I do have another external working on it, so the fish won't notice anything, all they're noticing is the extra current and seem to be enjoying that. This is not an Angel tank, it has just Rainbow fish, apart from a few Corys and Ottos.

Isn't it sweet the way the parents put the free swimmers back on the cone at night!!

Disaster stuck, I came home Thursday night, the fry were all on the bottom together, I was a bit suspicious, got a torch out (Tank has no light) and decided they were maybe asleep! Next morning they still didn't look right, I have a stick on thermometer on the side of the tank, I happened to glance at it and realised it was looking a bit cold, digital thermometer confirmed this. Bashed the heaters plug,no change, so scrabbled about for another and swapped them over.

Of course I was just guessing at the temperature of the new one.............. went slightly too high, adjusted down...... a little low! Hopefully I've got there now, but I had to remove about 20 this morning who couldn't take the changes Hopefully the rest are strong enough to survive.

As for the parents who still had fry............... all gone! At least I got the decision to steal right! Stupid fish!

good luck with the remaining fry. Both of my tanks have been struggling with temps for a week now thanks to the heat wave. My fry tank, which is in my window recess, especially

Yes, updates please!

Well I'm not sure what my problem is, I was plodding along nicely with I guess over 100 fry, but somethings going on in the water, not sure if it was me, or the heat or just one of those things, I've lost quite a lot, and some of the remaining ones are floundering on the floor in a corner. I shall keep water changing and cleaning and see how I go, but I'm terribly disappointed.

Sadly it does happen & sometimes it's hard to know why.

One thing I am convinced of is the need not to overfeed.

If you look through my thread on hatching brine shrimp http://www.uk-angelfishforum.org.uk/t337-how-to-hatch-brine-shrimp there's one really important photo, this one...


In my experience, until they're angelfish shaped (usually at about 3 or 4 weeks free swimming) overfeeding can kill, suddenly & overnight.
If they've got fatter bellies than this one....

you've probably over fed.

If they've still got pink bellies from the previous feed, don't feed them again until the pink has gone.

If in doubt give less rather than more.

If none of the above rings true for you, it might just be worth trying a dose of velvet cure.

Thanks Rob, I had trouble with a heater sticking off, followed by a heatwave, so I'm thinking this might be my problem, I 'll carry on regardless!!

If it's any consolation I just lost 90+% of the Dantum X Albino spawn for no obvious reason, I have about 20 survivors and all my fingers & toes crossed.