I've got baby Briggs!!!!!

Yeah... yeah... I know... lots of people have had baby briggs before me... but these are my first babies!


Experimenting with two batches- one hatched out Sunday- I've got them in an unheated fresh tank set up next to a window to get algae growth...

... they don't seem very active- I hope they're not too cold being next to the window.


The ones I left to hatch "in-tank" (don't know if they'll be eaten by dwarf crays/spixis) hatched this morning too!!!! They do seem to be visibly more active... (but they're also in much warmer water). I just hope the Spixis don't eat all the little ones.

(now a couple of egg sacs have hatched I can start destroying the others)... the two that hatched are both fairly small egg-sacs so I shouldn't be overrun with young... I'm guessing two dozen from the first batch... second batch they're still emerging but it looks about the same size.

There are a couple of HUGE egg batches stuck to the lid that I will freeze now I know I have viable young- can only imagine how many babies that would produce.



Can already tell that there is a variety in colours of the young- some with visibly darker shells than others- some have a definate purple lip on their shells already.


I had thought the father was a little Ivory guy (Gala) who has been breeding with my burgundy stripe (Granny Smith) non-stop the last few months- but Saturday I caught a dark-stripe-purple (Braeburn) laying eggs early in the morning before light's on... so she may be the mother of them instead... not sure who the father is. I have seen Gala mating with her on one occasion.

If Gala (Ivory) is dad and Braeburn (DSP) mum that means there is a very wide possibility of phenotypes for the offspring... yeah! I'm hoping I get one blue-striped out of the batch- that one will be kept.

Known adult Briggs who could be responsible:
2 DSP both female ... (Braeburn & McIntosh)
1 Burgundy stripe female. (Granny Smith)
1 Ivory only known male in the tank (Gala)
1 Ivory unknown (Roma)
1 magenta stripe unknown (Jazz)

Fastfly,

My Spixis haven't been the most prolific breeders... started out with 3 mid-summer... I'd guess there are about 7 adults/sub-adults now... I don't see as many eggs now though, I'm not sure why- I suspect the other inhabitants have developed a taste for spixi eggs. (I have also cut back on feeding quite a bit because I was getting over-run with Quilted Melania).

The spixis are always breeding like crazy... one male in particular is always trying to mate... not just with spixis- he prefers breeding with Briggs to his own species... (actually it is Braeburn, the DSP that I suspect layed the eggs that he kept trying to mate with)... I even saw him with his dangly out pestering a tylo once- they don't even look similar.

Try addicted2fish, she's in state and sells them. She sold me mine... if she doesn't have any check back with me... I wasn't planning on thinning the herd yet (planning on getting a 55g invert paludarium set up soon- they were going to move there) but if you need some and can't find any I can probably help you out with a couple... if not now- then later when more grow up.

jaxmom293 said:

Congrats!!! I had my first clutch hatch back in September and had easily 200 babies. I only lost about 15, all others are going strong. I've sold many, kept a few and still have 125 left. I have my babies and several egg clutches (in paper towels, in plastic bags) in a 14 gallon, heated tank. I'm going to start giving them away. They are burgundy stripe and gold, some are solid burgundy right now. Anyway, good luck with your new babies!!! Take care.

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The ones in the unheated tank were originally floating in damp paper towels in a ziplock bag in the main aquarium. The ones that hatched this morning I just left where they were.

Thankfully I have nowhere near 200- I couldn't house that many... although, the two I let hatch (the first two laid) were small batches- they're dwarfed in size by some that I must now freeze and discard. I can easily believe 200 coming out of the larger egg sacs that have been laid more recently.

No clue if the ones in the unheated tank will survive... I may break down, buy a heater- and hatch another small batch in the hatchery if they don't.... just because I'm not convinced the ones in the main tank won't become live-food.






Fastfly,

I love my spixis... You do NEED them... every tank NEEDS them! LOL- if I ever get a surplus I'll let you know... otherwise go send addicted a PM and see if she has any... trust me... you do need spixis! LOL

Shame they don't come in the colour rainbow that Briggs do- although I personally think their colouration is fantastic. Seems easier to keep their shells in good condition too- despite adding things to harden my water my briggs all have slight imperfections in their shells and slight growth rings (probably due to warmer water than they like and accelerated growth)... the Spixis all have perfect shells even in South Carolina water.

jackiomy said:

I love the names!

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Thanks, I've had a "Fiji" and a "Cameo" too- but they alas both died shortly after getting them... Fiji and Braeburn, my original duo both arrived with cracked shells- think they got rough handled by the post office and banged together- they were seperately bagged but the bags were next to each other... Braeburn's damage wasn't extensive and healed- Fiji died after a few days...

Cameo lasted about a week or two... just never wanted to eat and seemed to be a bit of a runt compared to his/her siblings.

I'll run out of apple names eventually- I've decided against naming any "Golden Delicious or Red Delicious" ... doesn't seem appropriate somehow...

One batch hatched just leaving them where they were. The other batch I dampened a paper towel in tank water- wrapped the egg-clutch in the paper towel and stuck it in a ziplock bag. I "refreshed" the air in the ziplock every day. Just let the ziplock bag float in the tank.

After about a week and a half they hatched.