The Oto Journal

[James0816]

Update 17-Dec-2012

Wee ones continue to progess very well and remain very active. Water change on the tank and added a couple slices of zucchini. Being how active they are, I went ahead and fed early to keep them grazing.

On a disgruntled note, I'm still finding pond snails in the main tank. Grrrrr. Just shows how resiliant they are. One here and there but managable. I squish when I find them. What's worse is that I cannot put the moss wall back in until I know they are gone. That would provide them a big hidey spot which of course I don't want.

And on a positive note, I did find a baby green shrimp in there this morning as well. Maybe a good sign for them as well.

 

[James0816]

Update 19-Dec-2012

All is well in Oto land. Wee ones have discovered just how good zucchini is. Still grazing nicely.

 

[Fish_Bone]

Sounds like they are doing nicely, credit goes to their caretaker is my guess why. Congrats!

Ps I had huge snail invasion too, 3 assassins and one clown loach later we are finally making head way....good luck.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[James0816]

Update 30-Dec-2012

All babes present and accounted for. Colored up very nicely and remain extremely active. These guys took a little longer to hit the zucchini but now have learned its a good nummy num. They aren't so skittish now when I walk by as well. Scrapped some GSA off the front glass and will be recharging the CO2 tomorrow. Think it may be safe (snail wise) to but the Subwassertang wall back into place.

 

[James0816]

Update 31-Dec-2012

Might by my last update for 2012....we'll see.

Just went down to dose the ferts in the tanks today and walked in on a potential spawn. Crap! I walked past a breeder to get to another tank and I was opening the lid, I caught the two doing the dance in the tank. I very carefully and slowly dosed both of those tanks and then low crawled away from that area.

Good thing I don't have a live cam on that tank like I planned. Woulda been funny to see that.

Finished dosing and started a little mainenance on the Cocama tank. There's a male and a female hanging out together. This tank is in dissarray as I'm doing a big TDS clearing and rescaping. But I haven't noticed a male and female hanging out in a while. My only problem with these guys is that I have (6) guys to (1) lady. I need to get a couple more gals in here.

 

[James0816]

Just went down and did a stealth peek in on the tank and confirmed that it was in deed a spawn. I could only see the Bacopa area and there are quite a few eggs in there. I'll get a better look tomorrow and see what's in the whole tank. Great way to end and begin a year.

 

[James0816]

Update 01-Jan-2013

Happy New Year!

Went and checked on the spawn from yesterday. Pretty nice numbers. I found a total of (51) eggs this morning best I could tell. Pretty much even split between the Bacopa and Crypt jungle this time with 23 and 26 respectively. Found (2) isolated on a different plant.

Here's a couple shots of the new (not quite ready) arrivals:

And here's a shot of one of the older siblings:

Guess it will be a bit longer before I put the Sub wall back in.

 

[James0816]

Update 02-Jan-2013

And we have a hatching today. A double hatching actually. The Otos hatched out and a mama green shrimp also hatched her young uns.

I was able to visibly count (29) newly hatched fry guys. Here's a couple of shots for ya:

 

[James0816]

Update 03-Jan-2013

Got home a bit late today but was able to get a quick check of the tank before the lights went out. I was able to find (41) wigglers during my quick scan. I went and began feeding as well. Some of these guys look like they are gonna grow pretty fast by the size of them. Adding new zucchini as well for the others.

Snapped some pics but they are all pretty crappy. Didn't get the opportunity to do a do over today.

One interesting thing going on with the tank now is the appearance of BBA. Not really sure why this has cropped up as the lighting, ferts and CO2 haven't changed. Have to think on this one for a bit.

 

[James0816]

Update 10-Jan-2013

So unfortunately, I regressed a little with this lastest batch. I made a rookie mistake but was a good learning experience to add more data. Being that the spawn was mid week, I didn't do a water change but instead just made sure the tank was topped off. I had a good hatch out and at day two, I was able to count over 40 wigglers. The next day, the numbers diminished greatly with just under (20) being visible and found a few wee ones on the substrate that had passed. I immediately suspected something wrong with the tank and did the water change then.

As of today, I'm still able to visibly count around (12) wigglers. The new guys were really actively grazing yesterday when I checked them. The juvies are still do really well and continue to grow nicely. They are just about ready to move over to the holding tank.

Lesson learned. Always so a fresh water change prior to hatching.

Will have to do some plant prunning in the tank this weekend as well.