baby update/new tanks/pics

[Tastey]

ok, so i got the camera out and took some more pics. here are 2 of my favorite pond ready baby who will be camping out in the 20 gal until spring...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1369&pictureid=12975

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1369&pictureid=12974

I got 2 more tanks to add to my operation... I'll need them come spring. those pond fishies sure are frisky! Here are the tanks... 2 of them are a little cloudy cause their plants aren't real big yet...

Here's the 5 gal. this is where the eggies hatch and the babies grow until they can withstand the power and suckage of a filter.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1313&pictureid=12976

Here's the 10 gal. this is where the next size babies live
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1313&pictureid=12977

The next 2 tanks hold the 3rd size babies.
Here's the 5 gal. hex
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1313&pictureid=12978

Here's the 6 gal bowfront
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1313&pictureid=12979

And finally, here's the 20 gal where the biggest size babies are staying until spring. They're big enough for the pond but I'm not sure they'd survive the winter yet.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1313&pictureid=12980

There's my pics for now... the fish in the pond are still doing great. the biggest babies are between 1.5" and 2.5".

I'll post more pics soon.

[Tastey]

Oh yeah, all tanks are in my basement except the 6 gal. bowfront

[Jennie Beth]

Tastey,
My babies are mostly an inch or so long, but I've seen a few teeny tiny ones in the hyacinth roots the last week or so. Three white with black markings and black eyes, and a whole herd of little black/grey ones...guessing 6-8, but they move so fast I can never be sure how many I have counted more than once. Got a cutie that's white with black eyes, base of tail, and top of head, and then orange from the gills back about a third of the way. Very Halloweeney :)

I can't bring them in for the winter. Any suggestions for helping them overwinter in the pond, as it looks like you might have done this a time or two? LOL

Jen

[Tastey]

This is actually my first year doing it too... ya never know, they might all survive. Fish do it all the time in the wild. I honestly have no idea what you can do to ensure that their survival chances are better.

How are you going to winterize your pond? Do they have stuff to hide in/around if they're still bite sized?

Mine have only survived this long cause I took them out of the pond when they were still eggs. I might have 50 babies left over a whole season. That's a very small percentage of what was laid.

So far I have 3 favorites... My stripped one in the pic at the top, he looks like a tiger. (they're all boys until they're big enough for me to tell. lol) I have a salmon colored one in the 10 gal. There's also a black looking one in the 10.

There's a big white one in the 20 gal. i'm pretty sure I know who his parents are. lol. I have 3 white ones in the pond a HUGE male, a medium sized female, and another small male.

I'm staying at my parent's house right now but when I move out and make my own pond, the people at the pet shop are going to hate me cause I'm going to want to check the sexes of the fish I'm looking at. lol.

I officially can't wait until spring! The fish will probably spawn before I put the bigger babies back in. I'll just have to watch for the flopping and the filmy bubbles. EWW!That still grosses me out. lol.

[Weather Loach]

Sweet :D

[Jennie Beth]

Tastey,
I am actually off to the craft store this morning to look for reject silk plants for hideouts. Soon as the first frost hits all the plants will turn to mush, so I am going to get some cheap fakes just for hiding and protection. Probably look cheesy as all get out, but if it helps, I'll do it.

Never overwintered in this pond before, as I just built it this spring, but everyone did fine in the old pond with the falls going 24-7. This one is above ground so I am a little worried about freezing, but I will get a small heater just in case it starts getting ugly out there. It went from the 80's to the 50's this week, so looks like fall is here already!

Jen

[ayra321]

are you sure that the silk plants wont leach dyes into the water?they may be toxic dyes

[Tastey]

Yeah, fall came over the course of a weekend here too.

Um... I'm going to assume that as long as they have places to hide and it doesn't freeze completely, they should be ok.

If you have extra rocks, like bigger ones, you could also stack those and make little caves for the babies. I did that while mine were in the pond. The adults couldn't get under them.

[rocker92]

you may want to level your 20 gal tank, if you dont disaster could happen.


nice fry tho!!!!!!!!!!

[Tastey]

Yeah, I know... lol. that's an older shelf and i'm still trying to figure that one out. lol. Also been looking around at what furniture we have here to replace it. We have plenty of odd furniture around here. lol.

[Muske]

Overwinter the fry as you would the adults. Condition them with plenty of food now while water temps are above 60 deg. Feed them plenty of fat and protein, mosquito larve work great and are easy to harvest/grow. Worms of all sorts will be easily eaten. Once the temps. get below 55, low temp. wheat germ based foods are used and don't contain enough protein to ready them for the cold. They'll work, but pre-fall feeding is best.

PVC pipe and fittings make good winter shelter.