New "Dots"

[wallace]

The box from Liz came today with 6 Discus and a pair of Gouramis. The packing and fish are all perfect. The discus are in the semi dark but I got a pic of the gouramis in their tank. This tank was set up to hold a bunch of plants temporarily. I think I'll leave them in there for a while.

[LizStreithorst]

Nobody but Dan knows how stressed I was over this shipment.  I tried to take it in stride.  I failed.  The fish arrived on time and fine.  Once again, I can relax and enjoy life.

[Mugwump]

..very nice.... ....the "dots" will love it in there.......

[LizStreithorst]

ummm...six of my best Discus grow outs were in that box.  I wasn't worried about the worthless Dots

[Mugwump]

ummm...six of my best Discus grow outs were in that box.  I wasn't worried about the worthless Dots

I was..... ....see we tag teamed them for safe arrival.....

[wallace]

It took them 3 days in the tank. They built a nest and laid eggs and its only 77 degrees in there.

[Mugwump]

It took them 3 days in the tank. They built a nest and laid eggs and its only 77 degrees in there.

....Congrat's....

[LizStreithorst]

now you're in trouble...What you need to do is buy a 190 gallon container and develop a relationship with a wholesaler.  Not really.  The mother generally eats them once they free swim.

[wallace]

I'm definitely not pulling mom fish out. They are the only fish I'm not trying to breed and they do it instantly, go figure... Hmmm... the rams might like the fry too.

[LizStreithorst]

Mom will eat them before they become visible to the naked eye.  If not, the rams will have a party.  It might just kick start them in to breeding mode.

[wallace]

Thats what I was thinking, pull the mom and feed some golden pearls powder and grow ram food.

I'm still not seeing any pairing among these rams. What did I do, get all males like I managed to do with the HB angels? The odds of getting 12 males (to oversimplify) is 1 in 4096. None of them show signs of femaleness, either in overall shape or in fatness from eggs.

[LizStreithorst]

their little mouths are too small for golden pearls.  They need to feed on green water at first.

[wallace]

That was fast. There are already 100 gourami fry at the surface. I fed them anyway. I have the smallest golden pearl powder, which is 5-50 microns, much smaller than paramecium. That should work, right?

[LizStreithorst]

Wow, you have great eyesight!!!  I bet you know why I call them Dots, don't you?  I've only done it the green water way so I don't know if the small golden pearls will work or not.  Dennis is better at figuring that stuff out than I am.  Congratulations grand dad and best of luck growing live food.  Keep an eye on the kids.  You may need to remove dad, as well.

[BallAquatics]

Chlorella algae, a single cell algae like the algae that makes up green water, ranges in size from 3 to 8 microns.  I've probably raised as many tiny Danios on the 5-50 micron Golden Pearls as I have using green water.  The thing about green water is, you can't over feed with it and ruin your water quality like you can using commercial food.

Dennis