If you saw my other post you will know that since I cleaned my filter I have had a nitrate spike. I dont want any of them to get sick so I had to take swift action....

I just got rid of one of my breeding pairs from my big tank. Took them up the coast to a fish shop, along with 6 of the last 7 babies from last years batch.

This is Red in happier times...

[video]

Moved another one out of the big tank into another tank. So I have 4 Oscars in the 6 footer now, another water change and dosed with Prime.

Hopefully I wont have to get rid of any more...

Red was my daughter's fish - we got him as a baby - so I replaced him with a fighting fish in a bowl for her. His missus was one of my babies. Sad day in our house.....
Read More...

So as I have mentioned my life is a bit crazy as a single mum of 5. I have been both time and cash poor. I looked into off loading some of my fish but the only LFS that would take them is not one that I would want my babies to go to - frankly I would euthanise them before sending them off to that place.

So my approach to fishkeeping has evolved through necessity these days. I have gone from weekly large water changes using Prime to weekly top ups and monthly water changes without a conditioner. I used to clean my filters twice a year, now well, I really can't remember the last time I did it. There is never a reduced water flow so there is no need as far as I am concerned. I think I have cleaned the FX5 once since I got it and when I cracked it open it was clear that I really did not need to.

My saving grace is rainwater, really well established tanks, not overfeeding (in fact I have gone from every day to about 3 or 4 times a week only) still mostly bloodworms, once a week a cichlid pellet or stick meal.

My water (when i test it) is the same as it ever was...0,0, <5, 7.2. The big tank is still overstocked with 7 oscars and all the rest and my tandanus cat is really big now. He ate my bristle nose last year but that is about the only casualty...oh and one of the silver dollars suddenly went down with swim bladder last year, but the other 5 are fine. So I think that was 2 fish lost in 2012 out of the 35 or so in all of the tanks.

The three breeding pairs still lay eggs regularly, there is no aggression (unless the tandanus cat gets too close to the eggs...which it always does!) and all is pretty cruisy.

So that is where I am coming from these days......I guess if you get a tank right in the beginning and have the right equipment and are lucky enough to have a good water supply you don't neccesarily have to spend alot of money on Oscars, in fact, sometimes less is more.

So I guess that is my tank update...nothing too exciting.....pretty boring really.

Shazzzzz xxxx
Read More...

Hello my OFL friends, sorry I have been away so long, life has just been too busy! Nothing really to report - my parents lay eggs every few weeks then eat them after a couple of days, my young breeding pairs in the big tank lay eggs about every month and the tandanus cat fish eats those ones! I have not hatched any in the incubator tank this year, I just dont have time to be a fishy mum when I am trying to be a single mum of my five land bound actual biological babies.... Anything happen while I was away? Thanks to Staffie, Nikki, Paul and JNET for keeping me tapped in to the fishy world!

Forgive me OFL for I have sinned, it has been 5 weeks since my last water change...but the water is still A1..just the fish are missing their play time under the hose..so I had better get on with it!

Penn have you got the technical difficulties under control yet?

Love

Shazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Read More...

I suspect my SD's have spawned today. They have been doing the dance for many months now and today I noticed there were fine kinda snot like web like clusters of silver / white dots floating in the tank, getting stuck to the plants. Given the tank make up they will never succeed in having babies in there, but I am curious..is this what SD spawning looks like?

There are 7 adults in the tank.
Read More...

Well the fry are well and truly swimming today. I reckon about half of the babies disappeared today. The parents have created a bit of a hole in the tank and keep bringing the babies back in. I could watch this all day. The first video is of the fry group. The second video is priceless..one of the little buggers escapes it’s home and dad takes him in his mouth, turns around and spits it back into the hole. Those big powerful jaws are also made to pick up delicate little fry.
Enjoy!

Shazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz xx




Read More...

As you all know from my last post,the fry hatched in the six footer....and they are still alive. Now I don't really want more Oscars, but I am not going to deliberately kill them either..so now I have to feed them. This morning I loaded a 10 ml syringe with baby brine shrimp and dumped it over their general vicinity and that seemed to work...except I hate putting crap in my water. Thereisreallyno way I could get them out without scuba gear and shark repellant for the parents...plus I wouldn't mind seeing Os raise their own fry.

Knowing they will be free swimming in the next few days I (reluctantly) put some stocking over the filter intake because they are right under it. That's till leaves the fx 5 up the other end to operate unimpeded.

Any great ideas from experienced parents of any kind of fry that have hatched in a large community tank? Unlike my incubation tank I can't really do really large water changes on a daily basis...what is the best way to feed them with minimal impact on my beautiful tank?
Thanx
Shazzzzzzzzzzz
Read More...

Two weeks on and my randy little teenagers have just hatched another batch. They learnt that the first position was not ideal for protection so they chose another place right into the corner (right under the filter intake!!) where they can better use their bodies to protect the eggs / babies. Now they are hatching. I really do not want any more oscars so I think I will need to get fish condoms...any ideas where I can get those or how to put them on? But dont think they will live very long...it is a fish eat fish tank...
Read More...

My beloved "Lil Oscie" and my signature fish have now paired up. I feel really sorry at the moment for the other fish in the tank - there are paired O's at either end. The ones that spawned last week are luckily not aggressively defending their rock anymore because the other two are at the other end defending a big hole in the gravel. The rest of the fish in the tank look like tennis balls going from one end to the other.

Will contact a few LFS to see if they want a breeding pair....

Anyone want me to ship them some of my water?
Read More...