Hello!
2 weeks ago I got some small sparkling gouramis (was planning on waiting a bit, asked the shop if they'd have them in a few weeks, then they ordered them in for me 3 days later ). I've attached a photo of the tank, apologies for the weird distortion,my phone would only take a well-lit shot in panorama for some bizarre reason.
They don't seem to notice flake food, so I've been feeding them small daphnia and ostrapods/tiny motorised butterbeans from my water butt. This made made them get much bigger and more colourful rather quickly, and they've been croaking a lot. I thought I had 2 males and a female, and discovered I was right last night as I saw them coupling up, with the larger male making a hidden bubble nest in some salvinia roots. I asked for 2 females and a male, but they said they were too young to sex. Came home and realised I obviously have 2 males and a female from the spots... the smaller male is looking a bit ragged this morning, but I don't have another tank for him to go in
My question is... 1. do I need to culture infusoria for the babies? I have lots of plants and dead leaves in the tank, and I regularly dose with waterbutt animals, so not sure if they might already exist there.
2. I have a lot of green hydra.. I had a few at first which were cool, but in the past 2 weeks they've been feasting on the waterbutt animals too and have spread everywhere getting quite long. I watch them eating, which is interesting, but I don't want to watch them eating any baby fish. I was thinking of dosing the tank with some pancur stuff to get rid of them earlier in the week, and now I think I really need to get rid of them so they don't eat the baby fish (if they hatch). Do you think it'll be safe for the eggs to dose with this now?
This is my first tank, and my first breeding, so it's very exciting and I want to do what I can to make it successful You can't see the gouramis below, butthe nest is slap bang in the top middle of the tank!
2 weeks ago I got some small sparkling gouramis (was planning on waiting a bit, asked the shop if they'd have them in a few weeks, then they ordered them in for me 3 days later ). I've attached a photo of the tank, apologies for the weird distortion,my phone would only take a well-lit shot in panorama for some bizarre reason.
They don't seem to notice flake food, so I've been feeding them small daphnia and ostrapods/tiny motorised butterbeans from my water butt. This made made them get much bigger and more colourful rather quickly, and they've been croaking a lot. I thought I had 2 males and a female, and discovered I was right last night as I saw them coupling up, with the larger male making a hidden bubble nest in some salvinia roots. I asked for 2 females and a male, but they said they were too young to sex. Came home and realised I obviously have 2 males and a female from the spots... the smaller male is looking a bit ragged this morning, but I don't have another tank for him to go in
My question is... 1. do I need to culture infusoria for the babies? I have lots of plants and dead leaves in the tank, and I regularly dose with waterbutt animals, so not sure if they might already exist there.
2. I have a lot of green hydra.. I had a few at first which were cool, but in the past 2 weeks they've been feasting on the waterbutt animals too and have spread everywhere getting quite long. I watch them eating, which is interesting, but I don't want to watch them eating any baby fish. I was thinking of dosing the tank with some pancur stuff to get rid of them earlier in the week, and now I think I really need to get rid of them so they don't eat the baby fish (if they hatch). Do you think it'll be safe for the eggs to dose with this now?
This is my first tank, and my first breeding, so it's very exciting and I want to do what I can to make it successful You can't see the gouramis below, butthe nest is slap bang in the top middle of the tank!