Fed Up.

[Pat Kelly]

Well I think I am going to give up on the Eureka albinos, that I have. I am not getting enough fry to bother
with. The males are gorgeous, but in a year I have about 40 healthy fry. Just this week I had 5 holding females from 3 different males.

I stripped 1 of them, or I should say, she spit them out when the net got near her. Eggs did not develope. They turned clear like empty shells in about 3 days. I put the 4 other females in small tanks. That was Saturday. All have eaten the eggs by last night.

If I stip the eggs only about 10 out of every 50 develope. (multiple females.) Then out of the 10 that
get to free swimming, at the end of a week they are eating good and growing. At the end of the second
week, 50% of those will die. By 3 weeks, if I am lucky I will have 3 left. Just not worth the work and
the frustration.

I have 3 different tanks with 1 male and 3 or 4 females. Each tank is just a little different in ph. All are at
about 78 degrees. Two tanks are bare bottom, one has gravel. The are all fed multiple foods. If left alone the males only breed with one female every 2 or 3 weeks. If I switch the males from tank to tank with different females then they go to town for a while. With less breeders, my demasoni have had 500 or
more fry hatch, grow out and sold.

Any ideas.

Signed,
Fed up :angry:

 

[Charlotte]

Pat,
I would recommend leaving the females in the take with the others until they eggs are wigglers, that way if the female spits when you try to net her, you can just put her back in the tank and put the fry in a seperate tank, feed them well and keep the tank clean. Nothing will help the fry grow quicker than lots of food and clean water... happy fish, happy fish

Remember Aulonocara are different than Pseudotropheus so the breeding rate will be different...

 

[Steve]

Pat,

I think I've asked you this before, but I don't remember what you said: have you ever used target fish in your breeding targets? That is, just some other species to make the females feel/act protective of their broods?

Just curious,
Steve

 

[Pat Kelly]

Yes. I tried it but maybe should do it again. It has been a while.

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Is the albino strain a weak fish? You could try breeding a regular w/ albino and then breed the offspring back
to albino to stregthen the strain a bit?

 

[Steve]

Pat,

Egads! It's catching. Sunday night I moved a Cop. azureus female that had been brooding in a community tank for awhile into a 20-gal. (unceremoniously dumping the inhabitants into another tank). Monday evening I enjoyed watching the 20 - 30 fry swimming around the rock pile in the tank while the female hovered above. "Ah," I thought. "This is great. In a few days I can move these fry in with others." (About two weeks ago I did the same thing with another C. azureus female, with the result being about 30+ fry happily swimming around in a 30-gal. while the female, after a few days of eating & resting, has returned to her original tank.)

This morning I could see the female. Nothing else. The extermination was so complete that I can only assume that the fish gladly returned to the female's mouth last night, only to have her change the game plan and swallow them. In the immortal words of Bart Simpson, "Bummer, man."

Steve

 

[Pat Kelly]

The albino strain is very weak. I dont have any regulars. I guess I should get a male and try.
I just had a female release another 16 fry. Lets see if they make it very long.

Francine, the 3 you came to see are still alive. But still thats 3 out of around 60 fry so far this year.
not counting the 4 females that swallowed.

Ive had more angels, demasoni, and flavis since you were here but these are the first eurekas that came
out alive since then.

 

[Pat Kelly]

The 16 that I last reported on are down to 8 but read on.
At the Feb meeting Larry suggested that my water may need
minerals. I went out and bought the buffers, salts etc and started using.
Right now I have more babies, 60, that have come out and lived than I have had in the
last year. So far. They are young but doing okay so far. I keep saying so far. I just moved them into bigger tanks for growing..... HOPE, Hope,

Thank you Larry

 

[Larry-T]

I'm glad the additives seem to be working, Pat. Now if I could only get a positive ID for these Neolamprologus that have been scattering fry all over my fishroom........

 

[fishboy11]

Pat, when you say it needed minerals. Did you just add aquarium salt to your tank to get minerals in it. Is your fry survival rate much better now. I need to know because i am getting some AER next week and of course some albino stuff from you soon.

 

[Pat Kelly]

I started using Kent cichlid essential and Cichlid Chemistry.
I do not use them all the time. Once in a while. Basically yes Salt.
Seachem has some also.

 

[AndyNarwhal]

Pat,
Do you use any antifungal medications in your fry tanks? Whenever I have wigglers I use Methylene blue from Kordon at 1 drop per gallon to keep the fry from getting fungussed. You can also use Acriflaving but I prefer the blue. This may be why you are losing your fry recently. The older a tank gets the more microorganisms are going to develop in it including fungi.

Andy

 

[Pat Kelly]

No, I do not use. Since using the additives all is fine.
Also, this thread was from two years ago. someone dug it up recently so no problems with baby melt now days.

 

[Guest]

Pat had a similar problem with that line when I was breeding them. We are not alone, I know at least one Fl farm that gave up on that line for the same reason.

I like the breed with a none albino idea. I have one female albino lefty and would like another. I have male Euro Eurekas (not albino). Up for a swap?

Let me know if your interested.


Bob

 

[Pat Kelly]

No, thats okay.
Like I said, the original post here is old. While they do not produce as many fry as I would like, I still have quite a few. Running out of room to try any other fish for now.

 

[fishboy11]

Pat, i got another recommendation for ya!! Use split females instead of albinos. I have used both albino and split females. My split females give me more AER fry, and they do much better! My splits will give me about 15-20 AER fry per batch and i rarely lose one, unless i have to cull it!

I am sure you know that when breeding albino to split, u will get 50% albino and 50% split. I tend to actually get more albino fry then splits from my split females.

Also, never grow out split or regular eureka fry with AER fry. The AER are just so much weaker, and i haven't had any luck in raising the 2 together.