jwcarlson

I've got to be honest, I'm not sure how I could be screwing it up. The only thing I'd say that looks like it could be vastly different is amount of salt? The (Scottish?) guy in the last video looked like he tossed four big nearly table spoons. Watched another guy do about the same thing. Maybe I don't have enough salt in there. The stuff I'm using is pretty coarse (but the aquarium salt was not). That said, I've read that they can handle a wide range of salinity, so perhaps I should put three tablespoons in and see if that makes a step change. Trying not to change more than two things at once so that it is easy enough to revert one back and re-check. I do genuinely appreciate the assistance and suggestions. I'll get it figured out at some point. It's possible the eggs are "bad" in some fashion, though, again... they're hatching, they're just not shucking their shells. Maybe I can find a timelapse of a brine shrimp cyst hatching. That might provide some insight. Though I suspect that might be a difficult ask. 😄 Reading another site that's saying two table spoons per quart. I think I'm definitely going to add some more salt.

@nabokovfan87 That's the instructions I'm following, but I will re-watch it in case I'm omitting something. To be fair, I believe they are hatching like a pro. They're just got leaving their eggs. 😄

I just bake everything at 200*F for a couple of hours. Probably totally unnecessary, but I'd feel pretty dumb if I skipped such an easy step and all my fish were belly up because of it. So it's more for me than anything else, I think. Doubly so if it's going in my discus tank.

Looks like eggs to me.

I feel like I am successfully hatching them, but something in the water kills them before they can exit the shell fully. Too much salt? Not enough? Chloramine? Something else? I appreciate the effort, @AllFishNoBrakes! Really slow air and full out air have had the same results, so I don't feel like that's the cause. I did start a batch with water from my discus tank which is aged and dechlorinated (and chloramines should be handled after 24 hours in its filtration). So we shall see what tomorrow brings!

It's been about 24 hours and it looks like it will be the same result. They're not all hatched yet, maybe 50%. But they're all doing the parachute routine. 😞 Not sure what to experiment with next. Probably won't be trying another batch tonight... going to do some more reading/watching and see what I'm missing. I guess if I think of it when I'm changing discus water tonight I might set some of the change water aside and see if that makes any difference. *shrug*

Might as well journal this. 🤣 This AM, the ones hatched in 74 degree water hanging in one of my aging barrels. It's wild because pretty much every egg is hatching, they look like they're parachuting. Basically no live ones, though. Feel bad dumping them, but don't want to feed a bunch of shells. Bought aquarium salt today on LFS trip. Using aquarium salt, 74 degree aging barrel, and waiting an hour before putting eggs in.

To be clear, I'm not frustrated or upset or anything. I will say that I've never failed this badly at hatching eggs though. 😄 I will say that I'm glad I'm not doing this in the middle of having a batch of fry to raise. I like a good riddle.

I'll certainly keep trying. Will do an hour wait next batch. Have one now running in a bucket of water at 74 and removed air defuser letting it send big bubbles. Still planning on getting different salt tomorrow. My water is about as hard as it gets, so perhaps that's part of the issue.

So, no heat doesn't change the results either. As you can see, I think, basically every egg hatched, very few got out of their shells. Dang. Getting aquarium salt tomorrow when we make the trek to LFS. Thinking of starting another batch and letting the air go whole hog. Am I tumbling them enough to help wiggle them out of their shells? I do not know the mechanism of how they hatch. Perhaps the tumbling is just for oxygenation.

2.3 gallons but looks like a well done four footer. Rethinking everything. 😄

Adult bristlenose and it's not even close. The younger ones that I got from someone are frequently active all day long. The big one, when someone comes into the room absolutely beats fins and goes *wherever* it is that it hides out. Can coax her out with an algae wafer, though. Borneo sucker lives in his little rockpile in the community tank, but even he/she is out and about frequently. CPDs probably next on the list. But they'll come out when I feed them.

Discus were from 20 years ago. Been back in it a little over a year after being on/off for a long time. Have had discus just short of a year now, grown out from 2.5" fish. Not sure what my dream fish is now, honestly. I feel like my 125 is going to end up being a native creek-ish type tank. So maybe natives are my dream fish now?

I've gone with static cling window film. Have both black and blue. They make all sorts of variety. For discus it's blue to help prevent them from peppering. But I like black for pretty much everything else. Though I'm thinking of trying blue on a planted tank. It peels right off and can be reused. Less of a pain then painting IME.

You green-pilled that guy, @nabokovfan87 Well done! "Have you heard of Aquarium Co-Op?"

Consider me a tentative begger. 🤣 I'm always curious how "required" live food is for some of these type of fish. I've kept native sunfish years ago and just starved them for a bit and, like magic, they converted over to Hikari cichlid pellets. Of course I wasn't breeding them, so that's a whole different ballgame. Good luck in your project! Should be fun to watch! 🙂

I had similar algae on my biggest anubias and some BBA kind of over the top of it. I can tell you that heavy handed hydrogen peroxide will kill the leaves pretty well. 😞 It's amazing how well the stuff can adhere to the leaves. It didn't kill the plant, but I pulled it down away from the light and hoping it recovers over time. It sent a new leaf here a few days ago finally. If you can figure out how to free that stuff up I'd love to know how.

Yeah, I'm just an hour drive from anything, so usually try the fish store first. 🙂

I guess it's possible the salt is the issue, but it's probably the most widely used salt I've seen mentioned on here. And I also have used a ton of it in my discus tank without issue. But I guess it could be causing the issue. I might end up at the LFS this weekend, if so I'll pick up some aquarium salt just to be sure.

ACO eggs, I have had them a couple weeks. Stored in fridge. Just started another batch at room temp (62). Put one drop of dechlorinator in case chloramines are trouble. Wasn't thinking or would have used tank water from discus tank which is basically tap water aged and heated. And dechlorinated for 24 hours so whatever chloramines should be broken down by then.

Just as big of failure today. Not sure if picture will show well, but pretty much every egg that hatch seems to still be attached to the egg. They float up and separate from the few live ones. This was the most eggs I have done and the least usable shrimp. Changes in this one were 80 degrees and less air.

I've got a 10 gallon that's supposed to be empty. It usually has something in it (currently young swordtails I'm worming and will put in a bigger tank soon). As long as I don't let the sponge die, it should remain able to take bioload "anytime". But the sponge usually goes to the permanent tank when they move and I end up pulling it back in as needed or pulling one out of one of the other tanks. My opinion is you should have at least one sponge filter in every established tank so that you have something to pull out for emergency purposes. Worst case have prime and stability on hand and cycle it with fish in it. Most times you're limitedly feeding fish in those situations anyway. Change a little extra water when that's happening.

@AllFishNoBrakes once you strain them (I have a strainer coming), what do you do? Can they go back into tap water? Tank water?

My biggest hangup is that the basement is so cool. It might not even be 60 degrees, maybe more like 58. Was worried it would be low hatch rates or possible a hanging hatch where some percentage hatches early but others are a lot later kind of deal. Whatever happens tonight (24 hours), I'll probably start another hatch right on the heels without a heater and see how it goes. I appreciate everyones' input, this has been really helpful.