Found babies Lda08s first ever spawn, help plz

[bbbls108]

Hi ev1,
This morning i spotted some young plecs on the glass,i thought they were L144s as i have a group of 8 and they r always having babies.I then noticed they werent as yellow so had a look about and spotted some more and could see the top of them and they are dark.So my gold marbles have finally spawned which i didnt think they would with the L144s in the same tank.
My problem is after 4/6 wks out and about the babies(l144s) start to die off.
I am thinking its either not enough food getting to the young or its the depth of the tank which is 24inch deep.The tank holds 55 gallon i have over the top filter, i have had added a fluval 4 with a stocking over it, just incase theres not enough oxygen.I havent had any babies while this has been in so not sure if this will help too.(been in about 5/8 wks now).
I have tried 20% water changes everyday,then the next lots of babies tried every 2days,tried every 3 days with their next spawn.The weird thing is if the L144 kicks eggs out i can hatch them and those babies survive.I do water changes every two days with them and most of them make it.I put them in smaller tank think its 20 gallons.
So if anyone can help me as i would love to try and hopefully get the young gold marble babies to make past the 4/6 wks.
I managed to measure one and its 2cm long from head to tail.I was expecting them to be smaller.
many thanks in advance
sue

 

[Doodles]

That is a pretty big tank, i would think even though you may be feeding them they aren't finding enough food or someone is eating them.
What other fish are in the tank?
Would you be able to catch them and put them in the smaller tank?

 

[bbbls108]

Hi ya doodles,
It is a big tank, i have 8 L144s,3 corries,30 fireworks rasbora,4 gold marbles,lots of cherry shrimps,loads of mts,12 assassins snails plus plants
I could try and catch them which would be fun in a 5ft tank.I wasnt sure if they are young to move to another tank yet as i am not sure how old they are.
When i have young i feed them twice a day so maybe three times in this tank might help.
Thanks for your help

 

[Doodles]

hmm tough one, i would consider getting some smaller breeding tanks for the future, this way you can monitor and have more control over whats going on.

Now, if they are too small or young to catch, then feeding more often may help but you need to be careful not to let the water parameters go pear shaped. The problem is there are a lot of other hungry mouths in the tank. Have you tried any veggies?
Where abouts in the tank are the babies hanging out? mainly on the sides or bottom?

Hopefully, someone who has had to catch fry this small may be able to help if needed.

 

[Irene0100]

hi, keep a very close watch on the rasbora and see if it is fin nipping the babay BNs.
I am not sure why you are loosing babies but tell us more about the water type and temp, etc?
baby marbled BNs do look very slightly different to common BNs by the shape of their mouth, look carefully when they are sucking on the glass.
they are dark when in a dark place or have just come from a dark place, and go pale if siting on pale sand etc.
I will try and find a pic if that will help.

 

[Doodles]

Wouldn't there be a chance also of cross breeding with the L144 and LDA08?

 

[Irene0100]

I guess there is a possibility of cross breeding, thats why I dont mix the BN types in the same tank just in case. but given they are quite different sizes I guess it is not very likely.

 

[bbbls108]

Thanks for all your replies,
I try and help and answer all questions.i just got visitors i will be back asap.

 

[Irene0100]

hard to get clear pics on glass cos camera wants to focus on inside of tank, or baby is feeding so fast its mouth is a blur! lol.
anyway here are a couple of pics that may help, I think the mouth is a slightly diff shape to a common BN, maybe someone can put up a common BN fry pic for comparison??

 

[bbbls108]

Hi,
I have L144s and gold marble are the only bn in the tank.They were only in their until i got a spare tank ready for the gold marbles.Which i keep expanding my collection so havent got round to moving them.I was told they probably wouldnt breed cos of L144s.I hope they havent crossed due to i do keep all my other bn breeds in differnet tanks.I will be trying to free up a tank for them.I will be pushing my luck for another tank thou lol.
Rasboras i havent seem them fin nipping on the young as they are very shy and tend to stay amongst the plants unless they are having a go when lights are out.
My water is ph7 and temp is 25 sorry havent a clue about my nitrates as i havent tested water for years.
Feeding they have courgette every couple of days, peas once a week,flake,algae wafers,jmc pellets.When theirs only adults i feed once a day if theirs young twice day.
Only thing i have noticed with the young their bellys are nice and round and then they seem to get what looks something has taking a munch out of their side of their bellys or looks like they been sucked in.I hope you know what i mean.
I have other breeding bns and 14 more tanks which are normal standard height,i do the same with the others to what i do with this tank ie feeding and water changes their young are fine.Only lose a few which is normal.
The young at the moment they are hanging around on the glass.I have only seen 6 so far.At the moment they look ok.

 

[Irene0100]

well good luck, you will be able to be more sure of what they are as they grow
cheers

 

[bbbls108]

Thank you irene we will see and i will try and move them to another tank hopefully soon.
I was watching them last night to see if i could see where the male gold marble was and he was under a piece of bogwood and he was chasing the L144s away.The weird thing is on last week water change i had that piece of wood out of the water attaching plants to it, must have been out of water for over and hour.I never noticed anything.
I have just been and got a tester kit (first in about 6 years)
I have tested the water now before i do its 10% weekly water change which is due today.
Here are the results
PH7
Nitrite 0
nitrate 75
Ammonia 0.1

Should i do another water test after the water change?
If yes how long should i wait to do it again.
While i am doing the water change i will try and catch the little babies and put them in a fry net in their tank so at least i can feed them and know they will be eating.

 

[bbbls108]

I have done their water change and i have managed to catch 12 little ones and put them in a fry net with the fluval blowing the water onto it plus i have added 5 cherries just to help eat up the leftover food,small piece of bogwood and some moss.
The littles one did change colour (paler) once i placed them in a white container.

 

[Irene0100]

well done. I would try and do w/c twice weekly if you can for a while.
have you spotted where the male Marbled BN is hiding?

 

[bbbls108]

Yes i can do w/c twice week not a problem 10% again?
I noticed him again last night feeding under the bogwood so it must be him as the other three where out and about feeding and the female looks alot thinner then she did.
Plus the male L144s looks like he is guarding again in his tree truck.