Wigglers

Frank and Agnes now have a batch of wigglers, so it won't be long now before I have babies in the 37-gallon. I need to prepare to hatch out BBS, because that is apparently the best food for angel fry. Maybe Frank and Agnes did NOT eat their babies, but perhaps they starved? I was feeding them "First Bites" by Hikari, or something like that - powdered fry food the consistency of talcum powder. I have found BBS hatching to be a pain, not only the hatching but the mess in the tank with uneaten dead BBS. We'll give that a try, as it is strongly encouraged for these babies. I will siphon out the uneaten stuff and do big PWCs and see how it goes.

This is a large tank for a batch of tiny fry, but if most of them prove to be viable I will need a tank that big to house that many juvies before sale. I think this arrangement makes sense. I am thinking about trying the "instant" BBS that you buy in a jar, but perhaps that would not stimulate them to eat like live BBS. This may be where the "First Bites" failed them - not alive, not moving around, nothing to let the fish know they should eat it. Food for thought... ha ha. Can you tell I am new to this? Any experienced breeder must be groaning in torture to read this! I have, in the past, been a hands-off breeder, with livebearers and extremely competent African cichlids, so hopefully my ignorance will be forgiven as I bumble my way through the learning curve.

The pair of them right now are vigorously tending the wigglers, catching the fallen ones and gluing them back on the leaf. Very cute. I am glad I have sand and not gravel, though I have not had a gravel tank of any kind in a while now since I took down my planted 55. I am all about sand substrate! I don't think there is ever any real reason to use gravel, though I know there are some excellent plant substrates that are gravel-like.

More to come....