Yellow Belly Damsels spawned today!

To make this thread a bit more complete, here is a spawn and hatch history to give you guys an idea on how productive these small damsels are.

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Here is an old picture from the male with his eggs. Around 1500 eggs.

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Disappointment

A few hundred hatched, but almost all of them are dead.
Usually under perfect conditions, they hatch at the 4th night. The majority of the eggs
is still there and is going to hatch at the 7th night. So the longer the development takes, the weaker the larvae will be.
I caught a few, maybe a dozen, but they almost all look not very healthy.
It is a pity, I don´t have space for a tank 50 cm high to put the damsel pair in.
Then it will be very easy to let them hatch in the 4th night and to catch 100% with the larvae snagger.
I try to feed the few larvaes and maybe I can see later today, if they are able to eat rotifers from day one. There is a 50/50 chance that they will take them.

Have a look, the larvae on the pictures is dead. Damsel larvae are fast swimmers, so I had to let her die. I added a few rotifers to see the size compare to the damsels mouth. It is a saying, if the prey is not bigger then the larvaes eye, the larvae will be able to eat it.

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What do you guys think? Would the rotifer fit into the larvaes mouth?
 
WOW Marcel! Sorry to hear about the fish larvae man! I really hope that they survive! HHHmmm - as far as I know, fish usually eats things much bigger than what we think they can...... I am more than sure that the rotifers would fit into the larvae's mouth!
 
The yellow belly female will spawn soon, the domino female as well and the albino making female did spawn. So everything back to normal, but a bit delayed.
I will get there, don´t you worry.
 
A few hundred hatched, but almost all of them are dead.
Usually under perfect conditions, they hatch at the 4th night. The majority of the eggs
is still there and is going to hatch at the 7th night. So the longer the development takes, the weaker the larvae will be.
I caught a few, maybe a dozen, but they almost all look not very healthy.
It is a pity, I don´t have space for a tank 50 cm high to put the damsel pair in.
Then it will be very easy to let them hatch in the 4th night and to catch 100% with the larvae snagger.
I try to feed the few larvaes and maybe I can see later today, if they are able to eat rotifers from day one. There is a 50/50 chance that they will take them.

Have a look, the larvae on the pictures is dead. Damsel larvae are fast swimmers, so I had to let her die. I added a few rotifers to see the size compare to the damsels mouth. It is a saying, if the prey is not bigger then the larvaes eye, the larvae will be able to eat it.

25074be26f3aa1fc3.jpg


25074be26f580e03f.jpg


25074be26f733a3d8.jpg


25074be26f87a054d.jpg


25074be26fa51909c.jpg


What do you guys think? Would the rotifer fit into the larvaes mouth?

Urm Marcel that does worry me a bit as I think the larvae would have to stretch it's mouth & don't you thik that the stretching would deform the mouth a bit? The rotifer does look a bit big for the larvae but I really hope the larvae do eat the rotifer. sorry about the hatch count I hope the next batch will be a huge success. LOL You can do it:slayer::slayer::slayer::slayer:
 
Another question is, how soft is a rotifer? I mean, to eat a big marshmallow is not a problem for me, a same sized uncooked potatoe will be a problem.
Have to set up something to catch the rest, hopefully alive tomorrow morning.
This weekend, both damsel pairs should lay eggs again. That´s the lekker kos!
 
Marcel something just struck me. I not so long ago read that in order to catch zoo plankton you should go to where a lagoon's mouth & the sea meets & by using a very fine net you can just take a swoop & then you have zoo plankton + other little critters then you can grow your culture in that green water. would you think that there could be some kos that the little buggers can eat from that swoop? I was thinking about Milnerton lagoon & maybe you could catch plankton there & hope that it's small enough for the larvae.
 
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Another question is, how soft is a rotifer? I mean, to eat a big marshmallow is not a problem for me, a same sized uncooked potatoe will be a problem.
Have to set up something to catch the rest, hopefully alive tomorrow morning.
This weekend, both damsel pairs should lay eggs again. That´s the lekker kos!
Now that just sounds great :slayer::slayer::slayer: WooooooHoooo Lekker kos makes lekker fishies. I have no clue how soft they are I just hope the larvae manage to eat the rotifer.
 
Marcel something just struck me. I not so long ago read that in order to catch zoo plankton you should go to where a lagoon's mouth & the sea meets & by using a very fine net you can just take a swoop & then you have zoo plankton + other little critters then you can grow your culture in that green water. would you think that there could be some kos that the little buggers can eat from that swoop?

I got something else in mind. Will see how it works.

Just checked the eggs, all white. Nothing left to hatch! I managed to increase the temperature, so the next lot can come.
 
I got something else in mind. Will see how it works.

Just checked the eggs, all white. Nothing left to hatch! I managed to increase the temperature, so the next lot can come.
:( Sorry to hear that Marcel & I recon the next batch will be successful & that food you are thinking of will work just keeping the positive fluids flowing:slayer::slayer::slayer:
 
I am almost sure, that they can´t eat the rotifer. Checked under the microcope, but these buggers are swimming so fast through the drop, it is difficult to see. On the other hand, it might be, that they still live on their yolk sac and they are not that hungry yet.
I reckon, that the larvae I caught this morning, will die over night. If there are any larvae alive in the morning, I will give them enriched rotifer for breakfast!

That is the good part with breeding, if something goes wrong, next week another chance. :)
 
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It is a pain in the back side!:( No space, not enough tanks and other issues to solve at the same time.
The larvae were suppose to hatch last night or this night. I set up a bowl, were I put in the flowerpot with the eggs, last night. This morning, the water supply was interrupted and the eggs were slightly white. I put the flowerpot back to the male and tonight the eggs were completely white.
The only way to get this right is to build a very special larvae snagger for this shallow and small tank. Will see to finish the snagger for the next lot.
 
Good luck Marcel! I am holding thumbs for you!

Thanks Jacques, today I made the larvae snagger, so now I am waiting for eggs.
The last batch of albinos is almost a week old and I lost six larvae so far. Prety good.
If the damsel larvae will eat the rotifer, then MASA will have a success story here.:)
I modified my technique a bit and it works much better. Got some plans to cut on my hours in the hatchery, to make space in my shedule for the damsels.
 
sorry to hear that Marcel. Better luck next time

That´s life Michael. I got a shit load of work in terms of plumbing and I have so many things to do in the hatchery.:(
 
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