Just stripped the Yellow Electric! 18+

So its 1:30AM and i took a peek into momma's mouth.
i saw a wiggler and decided to strip her.

i counted roughly 18-20 of them! all free wiggling no sack!

this is amazing!!!


pictures to come!

Scratch that 6-8 more just came out!

the count is nearing 30 babies!!

Cool hAve fun

Papa Danny! Way to go!

fishloverRon wrote:Papa Danny! Way to go!

This is really exciting for me.
I am so happy that i have successfully "birthed" a fish so to say lol.
it was an amazing experience.
i could feel her struggle at first, and then she basically let me give her little tiny squeezes on her jaw until near the end she literally held her mouth open.
took little to no effort.
she was really calm and relaxed.
i think she was tired and hungry at that point.
i put her into the tank around 2am and fed the tank.
she quickly went for little bits of food.



i tried grinding up flaked food into fine powder, i sprinkled some in there.
wasnt sure if they were eatting or what. so i went and bought some hikari first bites.
i put a little in today and still am unsure if they are eating or not!!

how nerve racking?




Should the fry stay kinda huddled up in 1 corner almost playing leap frog with eachother?
or should they be active swimmers?

am i being too impatient and hoping for a little too much this early?


any advice is welcome at this point

doing a water change~

Poor mom -- I always feel sorry for them when the babies are forcibly removed. But congrats on successfully stripping them out without harming her! They are probably huddled up because they are out in the open and don't feel safe like they did in mom's mouth. They should get adjusted soon and be fine.

I think I mentioned it in your other topic, but be careful not to overfeed the tank. It's easy to do. I didn't think the babies were getting enough to eat my first time raising them and overfed and ended up with tiny worms in the tank.

I started keeping new fry in a breeder box for their first week or two so I could control the feeding better, but they will find the food in a bigger tank too. The easiest way that I found was to sink the food down to where they were because they weren't coming up to get any food that was floating. I would wet a very small part of a toothpick and dip that into the powdered food, then dip that into the water and it releases the powder in a way that sinks to the bottom. Or if feeding defrosted frozen baby brine shrimp, I used a turkey baster or syringe to squirt it into the tank.

Don't overfeed, keep the water nice and clean, and they will grow quickly.

Betty wrote:Poor mom -- I always feel sorry for them when the babies are forcibly removed. But congrats on successfully stripping them out without harming her! They are probably huddled up because they are out in the open and don't feel safe like they did in mom's mouth. They should get adjusted soon and be fine.

I think I mentioned it in your other topic, but be careful not to overfeed the tank. It's easy to do. I didn't think the babies were getting enough to eat my first time raising them and overfed and ended up with tiny worms in the tank.

I started keeping new fry in a breeder box for their first week or two so I could control the feeding better, but they will find the food in a bigger tank too. The easiest way that I found was to sink the food down to where they were because they weren't coming up to get any food that was floating. I would wet a very small part of a toothpick and dip that into the powdered food, then dip that into the water and it releases the powder in a way that sinks to the bottom. Or if feeding defrosted frozen baby brine shrimp, I used a turkey baster or syringe to squirt it into the tank.

Don't overfeed, keep the water nice and clean, and they will grow quickly.

i am only giving them the smallest pinch of this stuff possible.
im doing daily water changes of like 20% just to not disturb them too much with huge water changes.
but i am doing steady changes.

they all are still alive here nearing 24 hours later, no deaths. all of them if you stare at them long enough will move, you just have to be patient and watch.
some of these guys swim alot its pretty cool.

im not sure if i am going to sell these tho. i want to grow them out and add them into my 125 Gallon.
i may sell a few

Congrats! It's always a great experience when you get a chance to do that! Make sure to clean old food out from the bottom of the tank; sometimes it molds and makes it unhealthy for the fry. Good luck!

Mikey wrote:Congrats! It's always a great experience when you get a chance to do that! Make sure to clean old food out from the bottom of the tank; sometimes it molds and makes it unhealthy for the fry. Good luck!

Actually this tank has never been fed. well... prior to the fry.

i set it up, cycled it, plopped the preggo fish in there and i knew she wasnt going to eat anyways so i didnt waste time and food trying to feed her
it has 2x amazon swords in it.


question - is it safe to implement CO2 with fry? or will it kill them or cause damage?

i cant imagine it killing the fish because i again think about the wild, but i just wanna make sure



these ltitle guys are getting more active by the day, they finally come out and look around for food.
they swim through the amazon swords. it actually looks like they are now swimming with a purpose!


Day 3, and they are already visually bigger then day 1 and day 2.

CO2 does not replace oxygen in the water.

Zerc wrote:CO2 does not replace oxygen in the water.

What do you mean?


im not fully understanding what this statement was directed at.


Im just wondering if the CO2 would hurt my wigglers is all.

i removed the Amazon's from the 120 and put them into the maternity tank.
i got 4-6 new leaves on both plants. so the growth is there again.
but the leaves are brownish tinged. they look pretty rough.
i want them to fill out and be a bit more vibrant, that is where CO2 comes into play.

The only way co2 would hurt the fish is if it depleted the oxygen content of the water. It does not, so your fish should be fine.

Zerc wrote:The only way co2 would hurt the fish is if it depleted the oxygen content of the water. It does not, so your fish should be fine.

awesome deal!

i got the CO2 generator hooked up and going.

hopefully the plants will come out

Zerc wrote:The only way co2 would hurt the fish is if it depleted the oxygen content of the water. It does not, so your fish should be fine.

Cool guys thanks, i was just worried about my little wigglers.

i just wanted to make sure that Co2 isnt going to wipe out the batch.

c02 does lower PH though.... Im pretty sure it does??? or plants??? I forget, lol.... but anyway, PH should be 8.0+ for these little guys.

sandnuka wrote:c02 does lower PH though.... Im pretty sure it does??? or plants??? I forget, lol.... but anyway, PH should be 8.0+ for these little guys.

my ph is right around 8.2-8.3

plants lower ph, rocks harden water, and wood softens water.

so far no deaths on the wigglers, everything is going good. they seem to like the CO2 actually.
they kinda huddle around the airstone (diffuser)


they are growing really fast its unreal.
from Day 1 to Day 4 they have grown about 2.5x in length its awesome.

hopefully they all grow out pretty healthy and i can sell them off.

CO2 does lower pH. It is equillibrium as an acid in water. Carbonic acid.

Co2 does not displace oxygen but it does have toxic effect at high levels in that it interferes with respiration or gas exchange in the gills/lungs. The exchange of co2 and o2 is driven by partial pressures and too much co2 and the fish can not exchange co2 for o2 and they suffocate.

I believe this needs to be over about 40 ppm co2. Not sure exactly.

Tr182md wrote:CO2 does lower pH. It is equillibrium as an acid in water. Carbonic acid.

Co2 does not displace oxygen but it does have toxic effect at high levels in that it interferes with respiration or gas exchange in the gills/lungs. The exchange of co2 and o2 is driven by partial pressures and too much co2 and the fish can not exchange co2 for o2 and they suffocate.

I believe this needs to be over about 40 ppm co2. Not sure exactly.

I'm sure my DIY Co2 system doesnt have the capability of 40ppm.
The babies are growing rapid. They are searching for food. They swim around everywhere in the tank almost exploring.
I am getting to the point where i may start adding rocks and hiding places for them.

good info tho, thanks for your input

I have a 50 gallon high tech plant tank and I bought a complete setup 100 gallon recently and put all the plants I bought at plant auction, no fish yet. I have been trying to get the pH to go down set it at about 6.5. Bubbling away for days. Finally decided to check calibration of my pH probe. It was off by 1.5! No wonder my tank would not go below 6.9! Recalibrated it is 5.6! Good thing no fish in there.

High Co2 levels in water make it hard for fish to swap co2 for oxygen. As blood carries waste (co2) to gills and to water exchange is by equillibrium so gas flows to area with low concentration. If co2 in water is really high then it can not leave the body and no oxygen can be picked up. So fish suffocates in high o2 environment.

Tr182md wrote:I have a 50 gallon high tech plant tank and I bought a complete setup 100 gallon recently and put all the plants I bought at plant auction, no fish yet. I have been trying to get the pH to go down set it at about 6.5. Bubbling away for days. Finally decided to check calibration of my pH probe. It was off by 1.5! No wonder my tank would not go below 6.9! Recalibrated it is 5.6! Good thing no fish in there.

High Co2 levels in water make it hard for fish to swap co2 for oxygen. As blood carries waste (co2) to gills and to water exchange is by equillibrium so gas flows to area with low concentration. If co2 in water is really high then it can not leave the body and no oxygen can be picked up. So fish suffocates in high o2 environment.

so for my 20 gallon maternity tank i want to plant it not "heavily" but i want to plant it for sure, maybe a nice rock or 2, and a small piece of drift wood.

what would you suggest for an easy, cheap substrate that will help the plants grow out of control?
id rather have to prune daily because the plants are green, lush, and huge, then to dose daily because the plants are small, and brown.


Probably should add, i have some form of Co2 in the tank, and i also have about 60 watts of lighting.

I knew it was c02 that dropped PH!!! Wish I knew the details like tr182md, seriously, good information, thanks for sharing....

Danny-I used flourite (didnt wash it like people do, left it muddy and all) and had about 1/2 inch gravel on top of flourite, filled the tank slowly or it will cloud up... anyway, thing had the best growth.... well not the best, that was my soil tank.... store bought soil (pick out the chunks of bark and stuff so it was just soil) packed it pretty tight, then a thin layer of argonite sand, and 1/2" gravel on top.... the craziest growth ever, no c02 needed, or lights!!! Something about the soil and argonite that creates its own c02... maybe tr182md knows and can explain why/how. lol

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This was my flourite tank.... Think after 4 months.

I've never had a healthy planted tank before -- how difficult would it be to catch those fry without uprooting plants?

Betty wrote:I've never had a healthy planted tank before -- how difficult would it be to catch those fry without uprooting plants?

not very hard.
they don't seem to flock to the plants when they are scared, they seem to bunch up in the corner of the tank instead.
atleast in my experience.


why would you need to catch the fry tho?

I meant later when you're ready to sell them or they outgrow the tank. I should have said juvies instead of fry.

I can see myself destroying a planted tank chasing after fish.

Betty wrote:I meant later when you're ready to sell them or they outgrow the tank. I should have said juvies instead of fry.

I can see myself destroying a planted tank chasing after fish.

Well i wouldn't be any harder then trying to catch them from a tank with rock formations.

You can easily remove plants or move plants around the tank to get at fish. It shouldn't stress the plant too much because its still in the same environment.
nothing really changed. All of the parameters are the same. And basically after you have snatched the fish you stick the plants back in the dirt or whatever substrate you use.

plants might take a few to start "growing" again technically but it wont kill them.
the roots will figure themselves out in no time lol.

this also gives you a chance to prune away any dead leaves, or trim some of the plants down. do some cropping so to say.

dunno seems like there are some pro's and con's in my opinion

hold on im confused are they yellow electrics.or electric yellows

aquaman95 wrote:hold on im confused are they yellow electrics.or electric yellows

Labidochromis Caeruleus

Yellow electrics