More Waiting

And so the festive season is now truly upon us - a very merry Xmas and a safe and happy New Year to you all.

I'm now on holidays! Yay! Time to catch up on all those little tasks I've been putting off in the Fishroom.

I have a new 9 bay barracks coming for Xmas. This will be for my breeding females. My current 9 bay barracks will revert to a men only domain. My current sorority will become the second growout tank, and I'm fighting with the tank ear-marked as the third growout tank - it wont settle the water parameters where I'd be happy with it...pH way too high, and the Nitrates are way too high. I've tried numerous water changes and have added a lot of plants to no avail. May have to break it down and start from scratch...again...or it could be the rocks I've got in there - might take them out first, do another big water change and then see where we sit...

Lots of container cleaning to be done. Nobody is in isolation currently, which is a good thing, but I've not felt the need to clean up all the containers from the recent spawning processes, or the recent QT episodes - naughty of me.

My Grindals wont transfer to my soilless culture box either. Second batch has been transferred over this morning. Fingers crossed these ones are happy in there.

Daily water changes (currently only every second day) on fry tanks to commence as soon as I setup the second water storage container, which will also allow me to do weekly changes on the bigger tanks and barracks. Need to build a new base for it to sit on so I can get a bucket under the tap.

Lastly, the room needs a good clean and sorting. There is stuff everywhere and I'm forever having to step over things, or dig around to find things. This will include the placement of some handy hooks...everywhere!

But, I'm waiting of Xmas for the arrival of the new barracks (and a new small three bay holding cell for photos and introductions). Xmas will also bring all the heaters and filters, etc I need.

Now I'm going to take the rocks out of the third growout tank, I'll need to wait on things to settle to see if that makes a difference.

Cant go an make a new base until I've gone and spent all my money on Xmas, so that will have to wait till the first week of the new year when I'm flush again - which means all the water changes will have to wait as well.

And there's not much point in cleaning and sorting just yet till I move the new stuff in so I know exactly what space I've got left - which wont happen till after Xmas!

So I shall go clean containers and remove rocks, and do a water change...and then wait some more...

Easist BBS Ever

A few months back, I couldn't hatch BBS for love nor money.

I researched all over the place. I tried many of the suggestions from members of  the AusAqua forum.

I tried many of the DIY suggestions from YouTube.

Then one of the AAQ members offered up this little gem of advice: Mike's Whatever - Hatching Artemia the easy way.

I took this original idea and have modified it to suit my needs and situation. I've found I will need to modify it further to produce more BBS, but whether that's by adding additional containers or larger containers I've yet to settle on...

This is how I do it now...

 

I use a small glass cup. I think this was originally for holding tea candles

I cut to shape, so it would fit snuggly, a piece of black corflute

There is a slight gap at the bottom, but the sides are snug

I then taped it in place for an added precaution

 

As you can see, I setup four of them

 

They are arranged in a semi-circle in front of a light source

The recipe for the salt solution was from another fellow AAQ member. If you don't have your own, or cant find one that works for you on the net, then join AusAqua where I reveal the ingredients as they were told to me.

 

Obtain quality BBS cysts. They are not technically eggs, but some still sell them as such.

I get mine from Elite Betta who post within South Australia free.

In the second and third pictures above, you can see a small white scoop/spoon.

I got this from an instant BBS product - which was good, but expensive.

The spoon gives me one full measure of cysts which is placed in the dark half of the cup

- the side furthest from the light.

 

Within 24-36 hours, the BBS will hatch.

For harvesting, turn on the light and wait for a few minutes.

The BBS will swim under the barrier in an effort to get to the light

This leaves their discarded cyst casings on the dark side...

and clean BBS on the light side you can siphon up as required.

 

Here you can see the discarded casings

 

I found filling the cups two-thirds full and adding half a scoop of cysts allowed me to feed from one cup, for a small number of fry (<20), for three feeds. I now have two young spawns requiring BBS, and they're both larger in number than the first spawn (combined 100+). My fry get fed three times a day.

I now fill the cups almost to the top, and add a full scoop of cysts. I need to make a new cup each day. It is just enough. If one fails, then I'll have to resort to frozen for at least that feed, although, there is normally some older BBS in the previous cup as a backup.

The scoop I place in front of the cup I last placed new cysts into (seeded), so I know at a glance which cup holds the freshest BBS. If fed to fry within eight hours of hatching, you will gain the biggest benefit from BBS. At least one feed per day consists of new hatched BBS for my fry, but new BBS are hatching out constantly (after the first 24 hours) in each newly seeded cup, so the fry gain a benefit from each feed - just not as much in the second and third feed of the day as found in the first.

If you are having trouble finding a solution to hatch BBS, or simply hate the sound of the air pump bubbling away overnight - give this a shot.

New Spawn...Going Postal

Two bits of news to convey:

1) Ghost and Pippa (see previous post) have spawned and started my third line of CTPK!

I have been trying to spawn Ghost almost since the day I got him, back in September. As with all things with Betta, patience and perseverance pays off.

 

After much trial and error, we finally got a cup full of eggs.

To the left, you can just see the bubble wrap I left in as a secondary choice

Ghost chose to use both, without building a bubblenest under either...

 

And shortly thereafter...we spied tails!

 

 So I now have three CTPK lines on the go. To successfully line breed, according to many successful and experienced line breeders in the USA and in Europe, you require multiple lines in the fish room to allow you to cross between them as required, to introduce new blood, and to improve individual traits.

The three spawns I currently have will all produce combtails in F1, but will give me CTPK in F2. Selective breeding should help me to produce a quality CTPK in a few years.

2) My green giants have been sold and have arrived at their new home...eventually.

I've heard stories of fish going missing in transit, only to turn up a week or two, or three, down the track - still alive, and apart from a little hungry, not really worse for wear.

I always thought these were somewhat exaggerated urban myths, kind of like fish only have a three second memory...turns out I was wrong.

Now, I don't condone the sending of live stock through a medium which specifically states it does not allow it, but we are simple hobbyist, trying to do the right thing by our fish, and by others who share the same passions. We do not make a living by the selling of fish (that is another urban myth). Most of us cannot afford to pay for dedicated couriers - so we use overnight parcel express, with heat packs, double bagging, and a wing and a prayer to send our fish around the country.

I'd sent an experimental parcel of vinegar eels to a fellow fish keeper as a trial run. It arrived successfully and without issue. I sold my giants at auction, double bagged them, fasted them the day before being sent, packed them tightly to reduce jostling, used a polystyrene boxed taped to within an inch of it's life, added heat packs, and sent it off for overnight delivery.

A week later...they arrived on the doorstep, hungry, but very much alive. They have now been fed and are being acclimatised to their new environment. A scary seven days...

Not sure long fin Betta would have survived. Not sure even short finned plakats would have...lucky these were giant plakats and had the stamina and fortitude to endure it.

So the lessons here are:

As the sender

• Ensure your packaging techniques are as good as you can make them
• Ensure your fish are in peak condition
• Do not feed for 24 hours prior to departure
• Always send in IAL and rock salt treated water
• Individually wrap the fish in newspaper (or similar) so they are isolated and in the dark
• Add in a heat pack (if needed) for longer than you think you need
• Be aware that things can go the long way round
• Be prepared to refund the cost of the fish
• Don't use parcel post if you're not prepared to pay the possible fines for sending live stock and/or if your parcel breaks open and destroys other mail items (it can be hefty).

As the receiver

• Be prepared to lose the cost of postage if your new purchase doesn't make the journey successfully.
• Always ensure the sender has a Dead On Arrival policy, and you know exactly what the policy entails.
• Do not go all belligerent on the sender if your fish arrive dead. They will feel just as bad about it as you do. Treat them kindly and with respect and they should return the favour in kind - if they don't, take your business elsewhere.

Facebook Stole The Love

A long time ago, I was a writer of fiction. I wrote a number of short stories, of which some were lucky enough to get published, and a few novel length manuscripts, of which none are worthy of seeing the light of day.

During that time I blogged, because that's pretty much what writers did.

I had a number of followers and a pretty constant stream of readers and commenters.

Now I breed Betta. I still blog (obviously). I still have a number of people who read my posts each time I publish one...but only if I publish the link on FB. Nobody comments on the blog :( A number of people post a comment on FB where I publish the link...which is nice, and appreciated, but it's not the same.

So lets run an experiment...

I'll post this shortly and I wont publish the link on FB. In a weeks time, I'll check the stats and publish how many have seen it. If you come to this page via any means other than through FB, please leave a 'Hello' in the comments.

If you have your own blog - let me know. I'd be happy to trade links.

But onto business...

Ghost is in the spawn tank with a turquoise CT.

He's very busy currently constructing his nest. This makes me sad, as no successful spawn in my Fishroom has come from a male who has built a bubblenest...but there's always a first time...

My week 11 CTPK F1 spawn (7 remaining) have been successfully moved into a bigger tank. They now look so small in there. Lots of plants and lots of places to explore, but nobody comes to the front of the tank for dinner time anymore. Hopefully they really start to put on some size now.

My 12 day old fry are also doing well. Their tank is almost full now and water changes are happening every second day, soon to be every day once I setup the second storage container. They are completely on live BBS now, and growing well.

If Ghost can get his act together, that will give me the three CTPK lines I want to work with.

After moving the week 11 fry, I now have another spawn tank free. I still want to get a line from my yellow CT, but the jury is still out on whether it is male or female. It definitely has a prominent ovipositor. It is definitely slim enough to be female, but it has a beard big enough to be male. It has had three shots in the spawn tank with Ghost of which all have been unsuccessful.

So I'll try to match it with another female and see if that works. If not, I'll try with another male...

What do you think? Male or female?

***Update***

4 days have come and gone and nobody has read this post :( So, I guess, this becomes my diary of things to remember as my fish-keeping journey continues, but if I want others to read it, I must share the link on FaceBook...sign of the times.

Why didn't I wait the whole week? I has news, which needs a new post...which will have to be tomorrow now...

***Update - part II***

On posting to FB - 8 viewers and 1 posted reply within the first hour or so... :)

So Little Time...

Famine or feast could be another title for this post...

F1 CTPK Spawn #1 has just passed the 10 week mark and, sometime this week, will be going into the grow out tank I have prepared for them. I have also started them on pellets during the last week. Greedy little blighters can barely get their mouth around them but they quickly tear them apart.

They've also seriously begun to grow, both in girth and length (not to self: must get some more photos!)

F1 CTPK Spawn #2 has just passed the one week mark, and I saw one fry with a caudal already visible! Every spawn I've had, they still look like tadpoles at this point, but there is definitely one fella who is ahead of the curve. Lots of fry still in there, although I did suck out seven dead ones tonight. I'm hoping it's because tonight was the first really good clean I've given the tank since they hatched.

I've been doing water changes since day two, and feeding VE and BBS, but I've only given a quick clean around the bottom to get the majority of the gunk mum and dad left behind. In that time, I found only three dead fry. I have a piece of drift wood in the tank with a small Anubias attached, which I got under to give a half decent clean tonight - maybe the dead were hiding under there (it is very close to where the nest site was so it's possible). Hopefully these are just the weakest of the spawn who never stood a chance. One or two a week I can handle...if I start siphoning out a half dozen every day, this spawn wont last long...

The one week olds have now been fully transitioned onto BBS. The ten weeks are now fully on pellets, but I'm going to introduce blood worm treats soon.

Sold my giant pair of HMPK's. I've thought about it for a while now and decided I will need the room for the CTPK project. No point keeping a perfectly good breeding pair when someone else could get more enjoyment from them...so they are off to NSW. Now I can spend the next few days worrying sick over whether they make the trip alright...

Still conditioning Ghost and a turquoise CT for the spawn tank. He, Ghost, the white dragon marble HMPK, just doesn't seem interested. He was quite down last week, so I increased the water in his spawn tank and turned the temp up a little more. He perked up almost straight away, but still doesn't seem keen on getting it together with any of the females I choose.

I shall persevere...and so to, hopefully, will Ghost!

On Wednesday, the father of my one week old spawn shall return to his home. Thank you again, Amanda and Brendan, for having enough trust in me to care for your boy for the past couple of weeks. With him will go the last two girls I got to fill up my sorority tank.

I'm switching from a sorority to a female barracks. I have my male barracks:

 

This pic is a little old, but you get the idea

 

And my female barracks will be almost identical, except I've asked my tank builder for some tweaks to the design to make my life marginally easier.

That will give me space for 9 males and 9 females. I have the current Aqua One Trio tank for three extras of either sex. I'll have two spawn tanks, one hospital tank, and two grow out tanks. I need to get some more containers of a decent size to house individuals when necessary, and I want a photo tank and a decent introductory vessel for the females.

That will be it for now. I'm concentrating solely on the CTPK project. Within the year, I suspect I'll have very few fish in my Fishroom that I haven't hatched and grown myself. By then, I'll be looking for either fresh fish from fellow team members of the CTPK project, or maybe even an import or two...

And of course, I shall be sending some to interstate shows and then putting them up for auction to spread the love for CTPK :)