babies on the way

[sploke]

Well I got some good news and bad news today. My JD didn't make it through all the tank trouble I was having, he died on monday. He was about 7-8 years old and I don't think he had the strength to make it through the pH crash and resulting ammonia spike. However, that leaves my pair of gold severums alone in the 55. Good news is that the tank specs are back to normal (0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, 6.8 pH, 4* KH). The other good news is that now that the severums have been left to their own devices, I have a batch of eggs. Its relatively small, I guess, compared to some of the pictures I've seen. There are probably 150-200 of them, they both take turns hovering and fanning them off, i only spotted one or two white ones, the rest are green.

So, are severums good parents? I realize they will take care of the eggs until they hatch, what then? My 30 gal is almost done cycling, should I pull out the fry when they hatch and grow them out, or will they be alright in the 55 with the parents? I don't plan on keeping them long term. The 55 has driftwood and a ton of plastic plants so there are a lot of hiding places. Advice?

[sploke]

Well pretty much all the eggs have hatched. I decided to take the rock they were attached to and separate it from the parents. So, I made the move tonight, everything seems to be going well. Its a bare bottom tank so that shouldn't be a problem. Some of the fry came off the rock and are just gathered together on the bottom, I figure they should be alright. I picked up some brine shrimp eggs today so hopefully they will hatch tomorrow night or tuesday morning. How long does it take for fry to absorb the egg sac? I've never bred egg-laying fish before so this is really cool, although I've had to kind of learn everything along the way. Any tips are more than welcome.

[sploke]

Well, all my fry are now free swimming. There was one guy last night that was zooming all over the tank, and when I woke up this morning, they were all swimming in a little cluster on the bottom. They're so cool looking, with big eyes, swimming around with their heads up all the time. I've been feeding baby brine shrimp, I don't exactly know if they've been getting eaten or not, but hopefully soon it will be easier to tell.