New Spawn Out Of The Tank

It took a while but Midas and Lilly got a nest, figured out what to do and then placed the eggs into the nest - it was a wonderful thing.

And then Midas went and ate all the eggs :(

Midas has been returned to the barracks, while Lilly swims back and forth shaking her head in disappointment.

I figured I'd clean the spawn tank and put Pippa and Prime in as next cabs off the rank.

Pippa went in first to have a look around, but clamped up and went off her food. I was worried sick.

Obviously all spawn ideas went out the window...sorry Prime.

For two days she refused to eat, and she had a long thin whitish thing dangling from her anus. My first thought was some sort of worm.

I went and investigated worms - didn't look like what she was displaying.

I investigated being egg-bound - a possibility.

But I settled on her having too many eggs and occasionally dropping a load, and then eating them herself. This, apparently, can cause her to be a little constipated and when she does pass anything, it can be on the whitish side. No mention of becoming clamped though.

I decided to test the water - pH had dropped to 6.8! My pH is always a rock solid 7.4. No wonder she'd clamped up. If it was any other type of fish, she'd probably be dead from shock.

I put her into an iso tub with a pH of 7.4. Within 30 minutes she was happy to accept a morsel of food and had unclamped her fins.

So spawning is on hold until everyone is properly conditioned...stay tuned.