They breed, They hatch, They die

[John H]

Hi all

Can someone explain why?
I have a pair of blue diamond , Male about 16cm, female about 13cm.
have their own 2ft tank, ph 5.5 temp, 30deg
Have spawned say15 time once a week and you can set your clock by it Wednesday around 3.00pm. :lol:
After a few unsucessful "lets eat our eggs", we now get wrigglers .
This is about the 5th time i have gotten wriggler they last 2days some start to free swim "out of say 150 wrigglers a dozen free swim" the rest just die . :evil:
Then mum and dad decide its time to clean up, "all gone". :evil:
this time i put a sheld around them to ensure mum and dad were not just cleaning up for the sake of it, and yep third morning all bar 6 were dead.
Could it be the water or weak fry?? :?:

Please help

[ILLUSN]

ok theres a couple of things you can do first things first is get a desk lamp and something like an 8w energy saver globe and run that by the tank 24/7 once the eggs are laid untill the fry are 2 weeks old, that way they wont get lost in the dark.,

1. once the fry hatch on the evening of day 2 drop the water level till theres just enough to cover the parents while upright, if need be GENTLY was the fry off the cone, the parents will pick them up and move then to a suitable place. the lower water level will help the fry attach.

2. the day before hatching (i like the 48hr mark), do as big a water change as you can without disturbing the eggs (drain down to the eggs then re fill, repeat 2x more if need be). then drain down to about an inch above the eggs and add rock salt at 1tsp/40L this will make the parents overproduce slime.

if option 1 fails then try option 2, followed by opption 1 but make sure to replace the salt in the water you take out. also try to keep the current in the tank down once the fry hatch, you can turn it back up after they have attached for 2-3 days.

[Hollowman]

Sorry, I have disagree with Illusn, please do not add ANY salt. Salt is a med, and should not be used at this time.

I cannot put my finger on the exact problem, but it sounds like a water quality issue. Can you post your water parameters please. What are your water change frequencies and how much are you changing? What and how much food are you feeding? and what type of filter are you using?

Some answers will help.

Hollowman

[John H]

water parameters are
kh 25ppm
Ph5.5
Temp 30deg
15% water changes per day
I do get the ocational Armona increase

[Hollowman]

The ph is a little low, I would maybe increae this a little, to have ammonia spikes a this level is a problem. I would up the amount of water to be changes, 15% is small, I would be doing 40-50% daily in your position.

hth

Hollowman

[John H]

So it is water quality!
Not Weak fry, or bad parenting.
elimnate Amonia (by greater water changes)
increase Ph to?

[jimbob]

Hi John i would try lowering the temp to 28 this will slow down the development of the fry they might be hatching premature and therfore weaker just another thing to try before altering the water cheers Jim