catcher Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 G'day all, Hope you all had a great xmas and new year. Last night I shifted two of my large female kadango Red Fins into a nursery tank I've got setup in the garage as they both had big mouthfulls. As normal, I put them into seperate holding nets as the tank also has fry growing out as well and another net with a holding Cobalt Blue. All these other fish have been there for sometime except Cobalt, she's been there two weeks. Went to bed, got up this morning and went out to check on them and they were both dead. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH. All others in the tank are micky mouse as they were before I put the Kadango's in. The water chemistry is basically the same, the water temp is maybe 1-2º different. This has been the norm for all occasions up to now, why does this happen? I can only think of shock of some kind but the females have held a number of times before so the routine wouldn't be any different. Any thoughts? I'm stuffed and stumped but more-so, really frustrated that these things happen with no real stand out reason. They were my two biggest girls and part of a colony I've had from the very start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicksGotFish Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 Im, sorry about the death of your females.. I have no idea why they might have died though.. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 My guess would be pH shock. You said the parameters are BASICALLY the same, but even a point or two difference is quite a bit if you simply transfer from one to the other. If conditions were exactly the same (pH, kG, gH) then I'd look at something else, as a degree or two temperature difference is unlikely to kill fish. A pH of 8 is ten times higher in alkalinity than a pH of 7. (I think that's how it works anyway ) If you transferred a fish from 7.5 directly to 7.7 or 7.8, then that would be more than enough to cause pH shock (especially with a holding female who is more frail than usual from having had no food for several days). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 Sorry to hear Glenn. When you say holding nets, what exactly do you mean? Are they soft sided ie. don't hold their form so the other fish can bash them through it? merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catcher Posted January 4, 2005 Author Share Posted January 4, 2005 Hi Andrea, Yeah, the breeding nets with a fixed frame, I have them floating in the tank with wine corks fixed to the sides as the support. I've always either used these or ice cream containers floated the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 You say they are the biggest females - how big? I have found once fish hit 8-10cm they really don't take kindly to fry nets/ice cream buckets. I have stopped using floaties for bigger females for this reason. It is really a shame to hear of your loss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catcher Posted January 5, 2005 Author Share Posted January 5, 2005 Thanks for the kind thoughts all, hey Duck what do you use when they get this big? And yes, they where both at least 12cm. I had a good think about it today and am kinda leaning to possible over-population for the big girls. I have two large sponge filters in the tank that copes easily for the fry but possibly wasn't enough oxygen for the larger fish and the fry. Just a guess cheers glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Glenn, you saw my place mate, big sponge filters can do anything At that size I generally try to get them in a small tank. Or I don't move them til they are about ready to spit, and I use my biggest fry savers, which are 5 litre jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 I'm only new to the breeding thing but I was planning to use a large 10L plastic container (a la fry-saver) that sits nicely in my 3FT breeder. After the holding female has spat her fry I was going to remove her from the 10L back into the 3FT, and eventually the fry into a seperate nursery. Hopefully this will work, with my only concern when I transfer the fry to their nursery after a few weeks. I'm breeding Blue Orchid Peacocks which are a smaller Aulonocara, so the 10L fry-saver should be plenty big. From what I've researched, it seems to be easier to keep the holding females in their accustomed water conditions. A mate of mine breeding Electric Blues has a 3FT and a 2FT on a rack in his garage. His filter set-up cycles the same water between both tanks just so he can avoid the disaster you experienced. The PH thing that Andy suggested sounds spot on. Hope this helps and sorry to hear about your Kandangos. I share your frustration: I just lost my display male Electric Blue that I've had for over two years. All other fish are fine so the only thing I could figure out was he may have got into a fight that he couldn't finish! Like you say, things that happen for no stand-out reason are very frustrating in this hobby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.