chels1289 Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 I was lucky enough to have two of my tapajos spawn last weekend They guarded the eggs for about 40 hours before picking them up. Then after another day the female was the only holding the eggs. The male still helps her guard her territory a little, but less involved now. So today is 5 days after they picked the eggs up. And I'd really like to know what to do from here? In the first two days of them holding I saw the eggs with wrigglers on them when they swapped them. But haven't seen the girl let any out since then. I'm thinking they should be close to free swimming now but she possibly isn't letting them out cause of the threats in the tank. There are 4 tapajos in there along with pep bns, plecos, tetras and cories. I don't know whether to just leave her be and try to siphon the fry when she lets them out if they make it (whenever that may be...) Or should I try and heard her into a bucket and move her to my 2 foot tank with the fry in her mouth? The only thing with that is that I'll have to disturb the tank quite a bit and it might stress her out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Any help on this would be really appreciated Cheers guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Up to you which way you go.Myself would milk her and place them in a small tank and feed brine shrimp freshly hatched with 30% daily water change from main tank.This way its easy for them to find food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 By milk her do you mean strip her? I don't know how to do that. Would it be pretty much the same to get her in another tank and wait til she spits them out then move her back to main tank? If I did do that do you think I should wait a bit longer or do it soon? Just thinking about how fragile those fry might be.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 I usually do it just before free swimming.Catch the girl hold her face down in fry tank and open mouth with fingernail and dunk 2-3 times . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Ok, this morning I emptied the tank, put a bucket laying in there and managed to heard her into it without freaking her out too much.. Now she's in a two foot tank on her own. I've decorated it pretty much the same as the main tank and draped black sheets around it so she feels comfortable. I haven't tried to strip her.. not sure if I'm game to try it yet. I'd really like to see her just do her own thing, let them out when shes ready. I saw wrigglers on tuesday when they switched but haven't seen anything else since mum has had them. I hope everything is all good. She's still chewing away. Unless there is just nothing in her mouth. haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daharkazangel Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Sounds like your doing just fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Haha thanks, was a good excuse to do a huge clean in the main tank. Churned the sand and changed like 80% of the water I think. Other tapas are looking soo good now! Colour is amazing after a churn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 First up congrats! I'm no expert when it comes to tapajos, but If she's still chewing and they're anything like african mouthbrooders than she's still got them... After stripping females or they're no longer holding, the throat goes back in and they stop chewing after around an hour max. If it's her first go I'd recommend stripping cause she may in the end still eat the fry. Stripping fish is very easy and amazing... worth a go in the future and higher chance for survival of fry. and you have another tank for the fry so no probs... Gogle a you tube vid for stripping fish and you'll see it really is a simple. But here's a run down on how to look after fry after stripping. If you strip early and get eggs you will need lots and lots of water flow over them to stop fungus ( i have 2x 200ltr internal filters, one on each side at the top so it creates a whirlpool of eggs in the centre of a 1ft tank as every egg tumbler I've tried to make has failed misserably) if you strip wrigglers just clean water and a sponge filter is needed... the high flow of water is not as they'll move around themselves; if you strip on the 18th day (prob should count the days inc when laid) you should have free swimmers and sponge + clean water as above. Start feeding when the egg sack is depleated I don't count days cause there's to many females in the one tank to keep track... I just go "it's around 2 weeks... Time to strip em all!" so I'm well prepared for all stages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Thanks heaps for that fish4fish I think with tajapos they should have been free swimming on the 5th day after she picked them up. So should be well and truly ready to come out now. I'm just worried she's going to starve herself! Does that happen? Even in her own two foot tank she hasn't let them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Fish can go a few weeks without food. They do starve themselves to that point... Emperor cichlids won't eat for more than a month as they are very busy protecting the fry. Depends on how fat she was to start I guess determines how long she can go without. But... The problem is each fish learns to be a parent differently. i.e. eat the eggs, drop them early and in this case maybe she doesn't know when to let go / out? you should probably start the brine shrimp into the tank and see if she lets them out to eat or takes them in for them to eat. If she doesn't try the normal food she would eat but soak it in water enough for it not to fall appart cause the fry will starve before she does. Fry have very tiny stomaches so they need to eat several times a day if not constantly picking at algaes to stay full. I think you should strip her if it's been too long as the fry will starve if she doesn't at least take the food in. I have seen mothers take in small amounts of food in the later stages to feed her babies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Sounds good, thanks again. Might give it a go tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Wooh hooo!! :D So happy when real live babies swam out of her mouth!! It was amazing cause I hadn't really seen any sign of them!!! They are so tiny and cute, and fast! Pics are pretty blurry as I don't have a macro lens and these are tiny. I know I need to feed these at least four times a day. Does anyone have any recommendations for food? I have to go buy some bbs tomorrow morning, tonight I crushed some pellets up for them and broke off a little bit of an algae wafer.. thought they might pick at it. Oh and mum is STILL chewing away. Poor thing. I'm so sure we got all of them... maybe not... but I don't know how to get her to start eating again I'm a bit worried about her. I was really nervous stripping her, but bf helped. He held her cause his hands are bigger than mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Congratulations! wasn't hard was it? and it really is amazing! is she still chewing today? if She is you didn't get them all and you can give it another go. As much as she doesn't want to let go the fry don't want to come out... I have the problem of some fry come out and then a few others rush back in all the time lol. just check by looking down her throat if you got them all. But remember she can go for weeks without eating. brine shrimp is what every one feeds american fry. I feed my african fry the normal 3mm pellet I feed all my other fish... they just pic at it all day until it's all gone so I only feed twice a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Oh perfect that's what I was hoping for. I've crushed some of my spectrum thera a pellet, and also tried just dropping a couple of pellets. Haven't seen many of them eat too much. So I've been scooping out whatevers left after a couple of hours. Is there much difference between fresh hatched bbs or frozen? Thanks so much for all your help I'll try strip her again tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faithgteasley Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Any help on this would be really appreciated Cheers guys! I'm thinking they should be close to free swimming now but she possibly isn't letting them out cause of the threats in the tank. There are 4 tapajos in there along with pep bns, plecos, tetras and cories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 She's been in a 2 foot tank by herself since sunday morning but didn't spit them out. So we stripped her on monday night. Update.. My fry net wasn't very good and they escaped and she gobbled them back up. hahaha. So we have to strip her again tonight. After a get a new fry net They are definitely free swimming and need to be eating now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 any updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted November 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2012 Yep we stripped her again on wednesday night, now they are in a 30 litre tank by themselves. Mum started eating the next day which was great. Now she's back in the main tank. The fry are doing great. Have doubled in size since I first stripped her. I've been feeding crushed spectrum pellets and frozen bbs 4 times a day. I work full time so sometimes the food sits there for a while but I vacuum excess food twice a day so hopefully this is ok. Working on hatching some of my own bbs this weekend. Just gotta get it set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadFishFloating Posted November 2, 2012 Report Share Posted November 2, 2012 excellent work well played well done and kudos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish4fish3 Posted November 2, 2012 Report Share Posted November 2, 2012 Aren't they cute! well done... You are certainly on the right track now... you're doin it, you're doin it, you're doin it right! lol Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chels1289 Posted November 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2012 Haha thanks soo much for all your help guys. I had to ask a HEAP of questions but got there in the end Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
