Fresh Princess

Well one of my little fry is fairly noticable now, I only see the others when they are moving. There aren't really that many, maybe 4 or 5. They hide well amongst the moss too. So, here's a curious thing that happened today.... The Sterbai laid eggs again today. I grabbed 6, but had to run errands so the fish probably grabbed some too. I will keep watching though. Is this gonna happen every week from now on? This is crazy.....

Well I got my Ziss Box set up, put the eggs and fry in there with some moss with a baby sitter (cherry shrimp). Stopped by my LFS earlier to get a check valve, and a cherry shrimp (and walked out with a pair of Rams too), and I asked them if at some point this works out with the sterbai, would they want some. They said yes, not babies though.

So as I suspected, there were a lot of white fuzzy eggs. But what truly surprised me... was this morning there were two fry with egg sac still attached! Can eggs hatch in 24hrs?

I know I've seen Dean do something a while back. I'll have to go look for it. Dean is so creative.

I haven't really thought this through as yet. I have raised Angels (successfully) and Discus (not so sucsessful) many moons ago, but those I put in a smaller tank with the parents for a while. I might see how this goes and talk to my small LFS where I bought the parents and see if they might be interested if things go right. I think I will go for the 5 gallon. I wasn't planning on putting any plants in the grow out tank, nor any substrate.... basically bare bottom tank. I could ad some floating plants but nothing permement.

I kinda think the eggs I got last night might not be fertilized, I will watch that carefully. But today was a busy day. I have been sitting in front of tank grabbing eggs just as fast as I could, as other fish were doing the same thing and sometimes beat me to it. But the 20 that I did get, in addition to the 9 last night, are safe for now. And I know that most of todays were fertilized. I can't be sure but I think I might have 2 males and 2 females. And I think both females were laying eggs. Gets kinda hard to tell them apart when they are that busy. But things have finally slowed down. New question, I were to get a small tank to grow out the fry, could I do that in a 5 gallon? (I know a ten would be good but just don't have a lot of room.) I have an extra seasoned nano sponge filter I put in my 55 gallon months ago for emergencies. HAHAHA, great minds think alike! I already made one 2 months ago!! Works great!

I knew it... I just knew it! Around 6pm I saw my female gliding across the back wall leaving a small cluster. (She didn't use the wall last time) but I couldn't get the eggs. Then she went to the red tiger lotus and layed a few here and there on the underside. Those I got and put them in the floater because I put silicone on openings on the bottom of the PennPlax net box, and its still tacky. I know that I have at least 3 days before they hatch and the Ziss will be here by then. I got 9 eggs but the light are off now so guess thats all I will get for now.

My Ziss box is due Saturday, so I hope she holds out a little longer. I do not have a catch basin or a tumbler. I only have a PennPlex net box and a floating box. I guess in a pinch I could silicone the holes in the Penn Plax, or use a fine net inside the floater temporarily. Is the Ziss box a safe way to hatch the eggs? (i.e. no holes for the them to swim out)

Well I had two hatch, and wiggling around yesterday. But last night could only see one moving, and this morning both gone! Not dead...gone. 😞 It appears that the penn plax bottom, where the bottom snap into the sides has tiny gaps on all sides. I can literally see the bottom of my tank. So somebody probably had a nice late nite snack. But the female is heavy again, so hopefully I will get my Ziss box before she lays eggs. If I see them dancing again, I will put some silicone in the gaps of the net box temporarily.

Curious.... would amano shrimp work too?

OMGosh, lights are on in tank and I just saw a wiggling egg! I'm a Grandcory!

well, darn ... that would make breeder box #4... was hoping to utilize the ones I have/ordered already.

Thanks to the tropical storm that passed this weekend, my Sterbai had their first spawn in my community tank. I have 4 (unsexed) and it seems like there was always 3 dancing together (but not always the same 3). Then is saw her laying eggs here and there under leaves. She didn't lay many eggs, and no thanks to my SAE, t I was only able to get 10. I had a floating enclosed breeder box and put them in there, but saw online that people were using net boxes. So I got a Penn Plax from AMZ and transfered them in there. I then said to myself "what would Cory do?" and saw a video that Dean did about Zisss Breading box, so I ordered that too. Currently my 10 are down to maybe 6 or 7. My question is, would the eggs be better in the one than the other? Or is there an order in which you start with one and move to another after hatching? I am not new to breeding Angels and Discus, but have never tried to raise eggs for a fish that has no husbandry/parental care for eggs.

@Guppysnail, prior to your response, I pulled it out to trouble shoot. Took it apart, cleaned the felt discs in the air stone, played with the pressure, and cut the pigtail hoseline to the airstone. It works fine now, not sure exactly what I did or what was wrong but its going strong. Unless I accidentally hit a button without knowing it, it should not be in power out mode, but thats something to check if it happens again.

A about a month or so, I purchased a second sponge filter (small) and an air pump as a back up for power outages and/or hospital tank (if needed) for my 55 gallon. I already had a large one with a separate air pump that runs great. I noticed this morning that the small one is suddenly cutting in and out every few minutes from normal air to almost no bubbles. Any ideas?