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!

Hey, me too! I'm not sure where you two are located, but if you're anywhere nearby check out the Quad City Fish Swap! There's one on the 19th. Re: all the comments about the health of fish from Aqua Huna: I have only made one order but I would happily order from them again. I ordered some HiFin Paleatus Corys from them and they appeared to be super healthy, and actually have spawned for me multiple times already - I've got about 40 of their fry growing out as we speak.

Are you just wanting to make sure you can feed them to fish in a cold water tank and they'll survive for a while until they get eaten? If so, I've definitely fed to tanks in the 60s and had the BBS move around for multiple hours later. If you're wanting to raise them up, I've got no idea.

I do remember videos from ACO touring Aqua Huna where it was mentioned that they quarantined, but I don't know if they said how long or not.

There are a couple platy varieties I'm interested in, but I was concerned that they might be a little too good at eating the eggs. I have a tank of Red Dragon Guppies and Black Corys and the larger female guppies are fairly relentless when it comes to hunting down eggs. I've seen them follow a spawning female and eat eggs put on glass in the time it took me to grab a breeder box. Do you think Platys would be different?

I keep a trio in a 10 gallon. I know this is below what some recommend, but it has done really well for me. I have a male and two females. The male spends a good amount of his time in a pleco cave and each female seems to have her own half of the tank. I personally would lean towards a 20 long - I would say that 90% of the time all the peacock gudgeons are in the bottom 1/3 of the tank. I have a variety of different floating plants to help make them feel comfortable higher up, but they really just don't seem interested. That other 10% of the time a female might choose to perch at the top, but that's definitely the exception. In terms of food, mine eat both baby brine and flake food without any issues. I personally would not hesitate to add another type of nano fish if you wanted. I have some ember tetras with mine and their introduction actually seemed to make the gudgeons more comfortable. I would describe them as assertive but not aggressive when dealing with other fish.

Hey all, In the past I've kept exclusively nano tanks but I'm planning on getting my first 40 breeder soon and the one species I'm sure I want to keep is Scleromystax barbatus - sometimes called Banded Corydoras. I'm looking for some fish to pair with them. As I see it, there are two main things I'm concerned about: 1) Ability of the fish to deal with cool temps - the Scleromystax can handle it so I plan on running an unheated aquarium that may reach the low to mid 60s in the Winter months. 2) I want minimal predation of Scleromystax eggs - I understand a lot of fish will opportunistically eat an egg here and there, but I'd like to give myself a fighting chance of collecting a good number of them to raise on my own. I'd love to hear suggestions of fish that can fit the bill. I'm especially interested in fish that may breed as well. Some of the fish I've been considering are Medaka Rice Fish and White Clouds. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on these as well as potential suggestions for other fish!

When I first got into the hobby I bought a number of plants at my local shops and the only one I wasn't prepared for was Dwarf Hairgrass. I originally had it in gravel in a kit tank and it did not do well, so i eventually moved it to a tank with sand and a cheap LED where it initially fared much better but now seems to be wanting more. I've been feeding ACO root tabs every 45 days or so. I'd love to hear advice from someone who has had this do well for them so I can copy their homework!

Thanks for the reply. I bought seven fish, figuring at that age I would still be giving myself a pretty good shot at a male. I've lost one since but the remaining group is looking really healthy. As far as selection goes, for better or worse I chose them myself. The whole group was fairly uniform on size, though, and the traits I put the most focus on were conformation, color, and dorsal. Hopefully I didn't screw it up.

A few months back, I bought a group of Cauliflower Swordtails from an importer. He estimated that they were right around the 3 month mark at the time. Based on what I had seen from Greg Sage on Select Aquatics videos, I decided to avoid the small number of fish that had already sexed out with swords at that time, as ideally I wanted a big bodied male as my breeder rather than an early maturing one and I am fine starting out with a group of few males and many females. Now, about 3 months later, I still haven't had any clear signs of swords or gonopodiums. I'm not sure if I should be patient and wait longer for my swordtails to sex out, or if I should start the search for a male now.

1. My family had guppies in a tank when I was young, but the first fish I bought was a peacock gudgeon.2. Probably my endler/shrimp tank. I recently was able to take endlers to the shop for store credit.3. Can't remember - i think it was Cory's livestreams4. I have a pump that makes water changes much easier5. I would love any information on breeding fish and selecting which fish to cull6. I am new enough not to have an answer to this question. I do wish I hadn't lost some CPDs.7. From daily in some breeder boxes to monthly in established tanks with water lettuce (though im having to remove that weekly)8. A rack - I want a diverse group of fish and I want to separate the fry so they survive9. Yesterday - I had my first somewhat large hatch of Corydoras eggs10. Live baby brine