Keeping wild caught fish. Crossband chocolate gouramis

Discussion in 'Oddball fish' started by pierreschoonraad, Aug 18, 2018.

  1. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    As with my rainbow thread, which I have neglected to update, it is time to do an update here.

    Due to my own stupidity I had 1 of the fry jumping out of the cube, never put a glass lid on. So I was down to 9 fry. I did put a glass over the tank after getting the dry bookmark on the tiles.

    Last weekend I wanted to move 5 of the fry to the adult tank, 4 of them are spoken for and would remain in the tank until they are collected. Now due to various things that have happend during the last month I havn't spend that much time with the gouramis as I should have. Bascly only did feeding and weekly wc. After moving 4 fry I could only see 3 fry left in the cube. Started looking around the tank and found the dry boddies behind the tank. I have no idea how the got through the small gaps that the glass lid made. Overnight the 4 in the 2ft were reduced to 3, havn't found the body yet.

    At least 1 good thing about adding the 3 to the 2ft is that they have a positive effect on the adults as I see them way more now than before. Still have females showing up holding eggs but no new fry yet.

    There is a good chance that I will convert the 3ft, to house the 8 gouramis in. Just some logistics I need to sort out before as I will need to get a ro unit for the wc. Will defnitly work out cheaper than getting 50L of water each week just to do this. A buffering substrate will also set me back about R1500. Baby steps at the moment and no rush.

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  3. f-fish

    f-fish #unspecified

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    Yeah missing fish seem to be a theme for January ... good to hear you still have the parents going.

    Later Ferdie
     
  4. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    I realy hope it is the end of the tile surfing. At leasr I have 6 healthy fry and 5 adults. Hopefully this will trigger the female holding eggs to keep them there and then release the fry. Should know by the end of the week.

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  5. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    Im sorry for the loss @pierreschoonraad .... Gee.. that must have been heartbreaking....
    Must admit I didnt realize they were also jumpers..

    But at least not all was lost so we will keep our fingers crossed and m sure the parents will soon surprise you with some more babies...
     
  6. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    Thanks @MariaS.

    Unfortunately it seems like they are. But then again it has been a problem with me and small sized fish for years now. For some or other reason they jump ship. I even had hatchit fish that desided to lie on the brasing, belowe the glass slider, would be a cool idea. This is also the giggest reason why I don't keep any of the smaller rainbow spesies.

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  7. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    Wow... I really didn't think that all these small fish were a problem especially those that are not 'hyperactive'
    I know the likes of Bala sharks, ciegar sharks, torpedo barbs... can be a problem but I guess any fish will
     
  8. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    Only small fish I ever kept, that didn't jump out, was my guppies. Only lost 1 jumper in over a year. I love the smaller rainbows and will keep on loving them bit not in my own tank.

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  9. Reedfish

    Reedfish Moderator

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    I have noticed that fish get spooked for whatever reason, and this causes them to jump. (Probably a predator evasion tactic).
    My Dollars seem quite prone to this. Fortunately I have glass drip tray, so they fish bump into that and fall back into the water.
     
  10. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    I guess you right.... when spooked anything can happen
     
  11. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    1 week later and no new babies yet and no one leaving the tanks without permission.

    To me it seems like these damn fish are worse than wild caught discus to breed. There are various recordings of sucsessfull spawns and hatches of 1 batch. Then the spawning continues, as in my case, but no fry are released. Now my brain is working overtime. If I was in their position what would I do. Let's say I have a child and it is gone right after my wife gave birth, will I have more? Out of all the recorded sucsessful batches the fry was removed asap. Now if I left the fry, with the parents, would there have been more?

    Too many questions and not enough answers unfortunately.

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  12. SalmonAfrica

    SalmonAfrica Batfish

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    There are a bunch of factors that might influence holding. I can only speak for cichlids, but parents may even incubate eggs and fry for even longer periods if there is a perceived risk of predation. If the risk is perceived to be excessive, rather than waste energy protecting fry that may be eaten, they'll swallow the brood.

    This perception problem also occurs among other fish that provide parental care, and has been the bane of fish breeders for ages. Some parents are a little more paranoid than others, it seems, and will quickly resort to long incubation times, or egg/fry eating. From what I've come across in the literature, things that may be thought of as threats include noise, tankmates and/or aggressive mates, checking on the tank too often, not enough shelter etc. Some people have gone as far as blocking off the sides of the tanks, reducing water changes to reduce disturbance, and limiting their own visitation times!

    I'm not going to specifically say, yes, this is the case, but give it some thought. If your current routine isn't working for you, change things a little at a time.

    Alternatively, you could try to strip the eggs/fry from the female, and attempt to artificially incubate the lot. This is something that can take some practice getting right, though. I've made my own from bits and pieces of small (cheap) sponge filters, but you can buy a purpose-made one (or a few) from certain stores.

    Good luck though!
     
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  13. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    Funny enough that we have also found that our Geos will spawn and have babies ( they also hold the babies in their mouth)
    Because it always happens in the Community tank, Cesar usually siphons out the babies

    Then for months, they will spawn and we can see the female holding but we never get to see babies

    After a few months or if we move them to another tank or introduce a new geo, we suddenly have a successful spawn again
     
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  14. OP
    pierreschoonraad

    pierreschoonraad

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    An update is long overdue here.

    Unfortunately things havn't being going so good lately. Firstly I lost 5 of the 10 fry I had in the cube. They desided to leave the tank through the smalles of gap of the glass cover.

    The second thing that happend almost had me out of the hobby. Most of the info on the web I got was that most people get one spawn and then nothing after that. After a bit of searching I found a guy that was able to get more than one spawn raised. I will explain the method as I tell you what happened. Seeing that the remaining fry was big enough to move to the 2ft, and I need their tank for what I planed, I moved them over. Due to the two tanks having the same parameters I can transfer fish between the two without any problems.

    The next week I decided it is time to move the one female that is holding eggs. The idea behind this is to create as little stress as possible to the fish in the transfer. You catch the fish as normal with a net. Next step is to transfer the fish to a glass, never taking the fish out of the water. Then transfer the fish to new tank and release under water.

    My first try at catching her was not a sucsess and I decided to leave it there and try again the next day, trying to minumise the stress to the fish. That same night I went into the fish room. Normaly the two 2ft tanks lights turn off before the other tanks. As luck would have it the female was in the right front corner with some anubias above her. This served as nice cover for the net going down in the tank and I got her. Transfered to glass and tranfered to tank. Checked on her the next day and she was still holding eggs. I was extremely happy to see this.

    If I remember right she was transfered to the cube on friday. On sunday, my normal wc day. I came into the fish room but couldn't see her anywhere in the tank. I feared the worst and started looking on the tiles. 1m from the tank I found her dried out body. This was a complete shock to me as that was the last thing I wanted to happen. Till today I'm still blaming myself for this. If I havn't moved her, this wouldn't have happend. I know it sound stuped but I was so down about this that I almost gave everything up, and other issues I had with the rainbows.

    Fortunately I'm getting out of this deep dark pit I'm in and will still continue with them. I will not transfer any females as I defnitly won't be able to handle it if it happens again. If there should be another batch of fry there will be as with the first batch.

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  15. MariaS

    MariaS Retired Moderator

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    Nice to have you back @pierreschoonraad ...

    Sorry for your loss and that things have been a bit rough...
    This is an amazing hobby but sadly it does have its unexpected thorns sometimes... especially if you love and are passionate about your fish
    But that is the journey of life... God puts these hurdles n our path and you ask yourself why... there is never an answer... maybe to test our strength..

    You cant blame yourself... for all you know she could have jumped out the other tank if you hadnt moved her..
    Luckily you still have the rest and some babies and Im sure the pieces will all fall together again


    Im glad you didnt throw in the towel.... the rest of the kids needed you and we missed you.
     
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  16. OP
    pierreschoonraad

    pierreschoonraad

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    Thanks @MariaS. I have put the gouramis on the back burner for now and will try not to disrupt what is going on in the tank. Just maby they will surprise me with another spawn.

    You have no idea how close I came to shut down everything in the fish room that day. Busy picking up the pieces. Hopefully they will all fit.

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  17. Pierré Schoonraad

    Pierré Schoonraad Rainbow Freak

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    Basicly this tank went south.

    After my last post I started losing fish on a constant basis. I started noticing less fish every few days. Some bodies I did find in the aquarium, but not all. The original adults are no more. At the moment there are only 3 or 4 of the fry left. Hard to tell how many as they don't come out all at the same time, although I'm 99% sure it is only 3.

    To be honest this is very sad and hard on me at the moment. Everything started perfectley. Stuff happend that other people strive for years to achieve. Luck played a big part with this, as I don't see myself as a very disciplined aquaris. This was actually my first aquarium that I gave 110% on. Maintanance was done each week. Other aquariums were skipped but never this one. Paramaters were kept perfect, I even got my first ever test kid for this aquarium.

    It breaks my heart to see this happend to fish I fell in love with that were not rainbows. For who I gave the best I possibly could. For who I went the extra mile. I will not be closing down this aquarium. I will still do my best for the survivors. Who knows, maby this story will not end here. But as my father always said: a pessimist is an optimist with life experians.

    I would like to stay positive about these awesome little fish but it is very hard for me to be at this moment. If anything special happens with them I will post here again.

    Thanks for going with me on this awesome journey with extreme highs and extreme lows. Thanks for every comment. Thanks for all the support. Thanks @MariaS for the pm's when I fell silent. You will never know what it meant to me.

    I hope, and wish, that the next notification you receive about this thread will only be good news.
     
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  18. Amakawa

    Amakawa

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  19. OP
    pierreschoonraad

    pierreschoonraad

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    Thanks. I will still keep them going. Just not sure I have any males left.

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  20. DoubleDutch

    DoubleDutch Corydorasfan(atic)

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    Sorry to hear mate.

    No Cory no glory
     
  21. OP
    pierreschoonraad

    pierreschoonraad

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    Thanks @DoubleDutch. Unfortunately this is the part of the hobby which we all dread the most. Will still give the survivors the best I can.

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