lewk

Do you have anything else in the tank with your Corys? They could be breeding already and getting their eggs eaten.

I haven't gotten breeding from my Cauliflower Swordtails recently and I can't figure out why. I got small batches of fry in early April and early June, but haven't seen any babies since. I had small drops both times (around 10) so I added a plastic mesh fry cone and increased the hornwort in the tank since the last drop, thinking that would lead to greater fry survival. I also added a male from the first gen of fry as I had kept it 1 male 6 females previously. I do 25% WCs weekly, get no detectable nitrates thanks to the hornwort and pothos, and keep the tank around 74 degrees (i briefly went a little higher but didn't want to go higher than that with the scleromystax fry in breeder boxes). I have both a sponge and a box filter in the tank. Any advice appreciated.

Posting in the morning for what i got done last night. 😛 I hatched my first batch of Scleromystax barbatus. I had 11 eggs and it looks like I'll have 8 or 9 babies based on the 2 fuzzy eggs and one yet to hatch. I'm excited as these have been some of my favorite fish. I also water changed all my tanks.

@Fish Folk Thanks for the videos. I'm happy to hear that's a trustworthy source as it was the only one I could find online. I was about to order yesterday but the shipping cost convinced me to try to exhaust all my local options first. Am I correct in assuming by the videos that you feed and preserve your blackworms, but don't propagate them yourself? One of the videos that I watched said that there used to be multiple blackworm farms in the US but now it's reduced to only one.

Yeah, to clarify, I know I don't *need* blackworms. I've been able to spawn multiple varieties of Corys without them. I just think I might enjoy having them as an extra live culture in addition to an extra food source. I should definitely look into other types of worms such as white worms, though!

I've heard from multiple sources that live blackworms are among the best possible foods you can give Corydoras, especially if you want them to spawn, but I've been unable to find them from a reputable source. Can anyone tell me how to obtain and culture live blackworms?

Some beautiful fish, for sure. Do you also acquire these from the wild? The Orangespots were wild caught and I've considered going on the hunt for Southern Redbelly Dace and others...

My dad keeps Orangespotted Sunfish and every time I look at them I'm confused as to why they aren't more commonly kept in home aquariums. The males in particular are absolutely beautiful. They definitely change color throughout the seasons, but it's not even into the breeding season yet and this one I took a picture of looks stunning to me. They're a North American native with a reasonably wide range. Actually, when looking into them originally we had no idea that they were in our area even though we do a lot of fishing in the same area they're found in. Compared to other sunfish like Pumpkinseeds, Orangespots are both more peaceful and smaller, allowing them to be kept in smaller tanks with a larger variety of tankmates. So yeah, I think these fish are overlooked, and if you're interested in something different, especially something native, I highly recommend them. Had you heard of Orangespotted sunfish before? What do you think of them? Are there any other fish that you think might be overlooked in the hobby?

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I won't deny my hatchery could be improved but until I get the motivation to do an overhaul I'm going with @CJs Aquatics's suggestion - honestly I feel silly for not thinking of it myself!

Hello, I've been using a DIY Brine Shrimp hatcher that I've been pretty happy with. It's a hanging system that uses a CO2 cap to have separate airlines for aeration and for access, as shown below. Please ignore the mess - my setup is made for function, not for show. 😛 Anyway, I do have one issue with this setup - as you can see in the picture, sometimes when the air is disconnected brine will flow down the side with the check valve, which it shouldnt be doing. I'm guessing this is an issue primarily because of the check valves I've been using, as if the check valve was doing its job the brine shouldnt be able to displace the air in the valve, right? I was hoping someone has done something similar and can recommend specific valves. I know these clear ones are cheaper, but I do like the fact that they are clear - I know if BBS has gotten inside of them. I worry that wouldn't work with a metal check valve. Alternatively, if you can think of another way to avoid this issue I'm all ears. Thanks!

Often in situations like these there could be more to the story. As @Cory says it sounds like you got the default response. Maybe there's no budging from them - if so, I get that it sucks but I find it'd best just to shrug and move on. What fish were you intending to sell? How large are they? When and how would you be bringing them into the store? Did you have a price in mind? These are all questions worth thinking about that could factor in to their situation. I also think this might be time for some introspection. Why should your LFS buy from you rather than the distributor, especially when it's more work? You have to realize that you're the seller in this situation, so you should be sure to offer something that the LFS wants to make up for this. This might be lower prices or larger, healthier fish, but you certainly need something to make them consider your fish over others. I think Cory goes over this pretty well in his breeding for profit youtube series.

+1. I had messaged you on GetGills not long ago asking for regular longfins, but these golds are really impressive as well. I look forward to getting some of either from you when they come into stock. I'm sure you've seen a ton of fish with different qualities throughout your breeding project. I'd be curious to hear if there have been any unique traits that you have seen but not yet worked on selecting for.

I agree with @Scapexghostthat you should be less concerned with females than males, but I do think culling some females is correct. Basically, I'm looking for defects - bad tail shape, bad conformation, color where it shouldn't be, etc. Those would be culls.

@Fish Folk Thanks for sharing! I had seen the one from Greg Sage before and it's a great one that's probably worth a rewatch. The other is new to me and I'm excited to check it out.

Hey everyone, I'm curious on where I can find more videos similar to the ACO member talk videos -if you're not a member, I highly recommend becoming one just for those. I was wondering if anyone can recommend videos from other sources. I specifically love the fish breeding videos. If you have a favorite video that you think deserves more attention, share it here!