Breeders Award Program (BAP) with friends.

[Guppysnail]

My friend Jen at Smallworld Aquatics who is the vendor that buys most of my fish wants us to participate in our clubs Breeders Award Program.  
 

I have no computer or computer skills 🤣 I tried to find a format on my phone to write and organize all my Breeder forms, spawning reports and proof of spawn to be able to submit them. The first submission for January is a bunch that bred Sept -November.  I doubt the folks on the committee want to read my 120+ page journal and side journals to find the info 🤣

I’ll keep everything here because @Elodie Rose is going to proofread and put them into an accepted format to submit for me. I figure it will be easy to simply mail 1 link to the Bap committee that displays all the videos and photos for proof of spawn. 

Im also going to participate in the photo and writers award program for my club. Those articles have to be unpublished elsewhere (not sure if this counts as publishing) so I’ll do those in email. Hopefully they choose some to put in the club newsletter Tank Tales. If they do I will ask permission to photograph the article and share here. 
 

Follow along and those who participate in BAP for their club if you see anything I missed chime in so I can include it because I have no clue about the BAP program 🤗

If you follow along with my adventure please check back on any species you are interested in. Each species will have only one entry that I will edit to update as I collect info.  Feel free to comment or ask questions. 
 

HAPPY ADVENTURES…TRY SOMETHING NEW!

 

 

 

[Elodie Rose]

I’m so excited about this! What a great new adventure, your breeders and their babies are gorgeous and healthy. The ones I’ve gotten from you are doing great! 

I’ll be trying some BAP too this year with the sister Club (livebearers). Very exciting! 🤩🎉

[Guppysnail]

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi

German Blue Ram 

total this survivors this spawn 196

Photo Program submissions of parents also hatched in my tank 1/15/23.

Proof of Spawn

Spawn date 10/29/23

 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

Ancistrus sp. L144a

Longfin Lemon Blue Eyed Pleco

Photo Program submissions of parents. Purchased as very young juveniles end of 2020-beginning 2021

(need better photos )

Proof of spawn -spawn date end September.

 

 

[Guppysnail]

Apistogramma cacatuoides

Cockatoo dwarf cichlid “triple red” color morph  

Photo Program submissions of parents. Purchased April 2023

 

Proof of spawn 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

Badis badis

Blue Perch, Blue Chameleon, Blue badis

Photo Program submissions of parent
 

Proof of spawn -Spawning occurred in October 

 

[TeeJay]

One day I may take the time to start working on the bap program in my fish club as well. Just so much paperwork. Maybe I'll get one of my girls to do the paperwork and I'll get the plaques. 😆

[Guppysnail]

Woohoo 🎉 

My German blue ram breeding article was published as a feature story in Tank Tales the ACLC Newsletter AND I made the cover with my photo submission 🎉

I cannot post the article though you must be a club member to get the newsletter 😞

Just wanted to share my excitement 

[nabokovfan87]

Congrats!  Well done.

[Guppysnail]

Corydoras melini

false bandit cory 

Photo submissions

proof of spawn 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

Aspidora spilotus C-125

Spotted Aspidora catfish

Proof of spawn 

 

 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

At the meeting this month when I took all these in to submit I also dropped off a bunch for my vendor.  
I had a bag with 12 GBR that were “runts” 

The runts I give to a guy who has had a piranha for many years as feeders.

Several club members asked why.  I explained they were outcompeted for food and 1/3 the size of their litter mates. They then asked why I did not grow them out now that I had rehomed all the big ones  they were a touch upset that I would intentionally send fish as feeders.

I thought I would share the explanation here since there are many new breeders on the forum.

I do not grow them out because even though some would likely grow out and some may not there is a good chance there is an underlying reason they could not keep up and compete easily with their siblings.  
 

Could be late hatches, could be internal defects that were not at mortality level.  The inability to obtain enough food to grow may have caused health issue or may have stunted their growth.

It is considered responsible breeding to not allow potentially weak genes to be spread.  Even those hobbyists who would keep only s single sex and not breed could someday rehome them to someone who does.  
 

I also put myself in the buyers shoes.  How would I feel if someone sold me a fish that they knew was weak and needed special care to achieve its adult stature.  
 

I used to keep a handicap tank for small fish (in my main journal) or fish with defects or injuries that did not limit their quality of life to live their best life.  I had the space at that point.  Having branched out to cichlids who require more tank space and have crazy huge spawns (ex. This GBR spawn was 196 survivors. The runts were 9 and 3 had only 1 eye)

The size tank I would need to house the weak genes as adults I can no longer accommodate.  
 

Euthanasia is one option for these.  I choose to give their life meaning by allowing them to remain in the food chain. These would have been eaten by the parents.  The parental care parents do that to ensure the strongest of their young have more food resources.  Non parental care fish these would have become prey for other fish.

This is not an issue new hobbyists think about or long term hobbyists just getting into the breeding side until after it happens  

Hopefully this post gives guidance on how to handle this either to plan ahead for it or how to react to it.  

[jwcarlson]

Ok, @Guppysnail, how do you go about counting 196 little GBR fry?

[Guppysnail]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:27 AM, jwcarlson said:

Ok, @Guppysnail, how do you go about counting 196 little GBR fry?

They were no longer even remotely little tiny fry. They had grown to developing color. I had 4 tanks of them. The counting comes from netting scoop by scoop into a specimen container counting them and checking each for quality. Dump in bucket and repeat many many times until none are left in the tanks. 

 

[Guppysnail]

Very funny must share. One of my baby rams I still have is on eggs. Half are fertile. I did not think they were old enough. I wasn’t paying attention when netting so did not see them until last night but they registered as nerite eggs. I was VERY TIRED.  I was looking at the babies I kept here and realized I do not have a nerite in that tank 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Guppysnail]

Make that 2 pairs laying and I just heard  that the ones @SJ fishingtook home are pairing off. These just hatched last week of September. Guess I did a good job raising them. 🤣

 

[Guppysnail]

This program has kept me hoping. The folks are so great.  I don’t need to keep a log. They have allowed me to email the paperwork, stories and photos individually. So I decided to turn this into more of a journal. 
 

It’s the club a bit farther from me so I do not go to all the meetings.  I intend to go in April with more critters. 
I submitted 7 critters and 7 story/photo submissions in January. I also did an oral presentation on my Apistogramma cacatoides. They print the list for everyone and their submissions in the following month newsletter. 

My Aspidora spilotus C-125 story was published in February as the third article.  
 

Several friends have been swapping fish with me so we do not have to break the bank buying different fish to breed. 
 

I got Xenatoca doadrioi -San Marco, Heterandria formosa and a few Spixii snails. All from @Elodie RoseThe Xenatoca I’m getting a few more from an ACM club member and a few from an ACLC club member all San Marco collection to keep genetics a bit livelier.  @Elodie Rose also has a few other less commons I am excited to try.  Those I need to wait for hers to breed enough to get.  

Limia nigrofasciata from a ACLC club member. I did not think they were old enough to birth but found 1 little fry.  I was not prepared and did not have the tank filled in with enough bushy plants for more to make it.  I’m hoping a few more are hiding still but I don’t think so.  Another girl is ready to birth.  She is better hidden by more plants I added but these group up around her like hungry hyenas.  

I started collecting CPD eggs and hatching again.  Most are still to small to show on camera but I have I nice little tank full so far. Roughly 30-50.  
I still had 1 female Taia naticoides piano snail. She has been pumping out lots of babies for me. 
 

I hatched half batch of Laetacara curviceps. They should start free swimming tonight or tomorrow.

My friend Jen from Smallworld Aquatics who buys my fish is giving me some Daisys ricefish to breed for points. 
She has wrestling halfbeaks she wants me to breed but I’m very on the fence about them. I need to learn more since I know nothing about them other than livebearing. 

I did get in on a ACM club order from Dans fish and bought a group of Nannostomas beckfordi