Water quality for hatching amano eggs?

brbarkey · Post by **brbarkey** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:00 pm

I am trying to hatch these eggs. I got a female that is dropping her eggs. Prior to moving her to a hatching tank today, she lived in water (10 gallon) with a pH 7.2 -7.3 kH 16 and gH 14 and temp 76 degrees F. The hatching tank is 2.5 gallons and has the same water as above. The only difference is the pH will rise because I am not adding CO2 to this tank or there is not a heater. The pH of this small tank could rise to a pH of 8.2.

Does anybody know if this water will help in hatching the eggs. After they hatch I will follow the directions on this link.

http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

Thanks

bEn

Rob G · Post by **Rob G** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:39 pm

Could it be that the eggs are not fertilized? This may be the reason that they are not hatching at all. I would expect that fertilized eggs would hatch, and then the hatchlings would need the salinity to survive.

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:54 pm

Rob G wrote:Could it be that the eggs are not fertilized?

I believe this is the most common reason for dropped eggs.

brbarkey · Post by **brbarkey** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:16 pm

Good news just found about 6 larvae floating around! we will see if they survive! She still has most of her eggs too

They are really cool and tiny. They look like a little over 1 mm long and they are hair line thin. I had to use a flash light to see them.

I knew that they were fertilized because I have been watching this female for a few weeks and noticed little black specks on the eggs...This is how I knew the eggs were ready to hatch

Ben

brbarkey · Post by **brbarkey** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:37 pm

O.k. more good news. Above I said She lived in a 10 gallon tank. Well I just checked that tanks and saw about 100 larvae in there

What should I do now

1. move all the larvae to the 10 gallon?
2. move all the larvae to the 2.5 gallon?

I am favoring to move them to the 10 gallon. That way the water wont get as toxic if I make a mistake with overfeeding and the addition of salt.

Another problem

1. How much to feed?

I can crush up algae flakes and add yeast but how much should I add. I will probably feed 2 times a day, maybe three. I've also ordered golden pearls because Ive heard they are good sorce of food.

Now I have to figure out how much salt to add to my tank to get it around 30-34 ppt

Ben

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:51 pm

brbarkey wrote: I can crush up algae flakes.

Use a mortar and pestle. Using your fingers will probably not get the flakes fine enough. You might try freeze-dried bloodworms or hard-boiled egg yolk. Both of these crumble very well.

Now I have to figure out how much salt to add to my tank to get it around 30-34 ppt

Are you sure that is the correct amount? Off the top of my head, I think that is about 1mg/L NaCl is .3ppm. So, you would need 1mg for every 10L of water. My intuition says that that is not enough. Either way, I don't think table salt will work. I think you need sea salt.

brbarkey · Post by **brbarkey** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 3:42 am

Bradimus wrote:

Are you sure that is the correct amount?

Why does that sound to high?

I think you need sea salt.

Yea I was going to use sea salt

Ben

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:27 am

Seems low to me, but I have never kept salt.

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:02 am

more salt.

brbarkey · Post by **brbarkey** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:24 pm

theshrimp_123 wrote:more salt.

Correct me if Im wrong...I am new at this but I thought sea water was around 35 ppt salinity? So why do i need more salt if sea water is 35ppt?

ben

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:25 pm

poo...... i got mixed up. sorry about that

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:31 pm

See what happens when I post late at night. I read your previous post as 30ppb, not 30ppt. 10g NaCl per liter of water should be about 30 ppt. That makes much more sense. You'll have to adjust for the mass of the other salts, but I imagine any commercial mix would have directions. Otherwise, you can just ask your friendly neighborhood salty LFS.