Angel Spawn #4

Mom seems to be moving away from the nest quite frequently to chase Dad away and also look for food. Because of that, some of the fry were food for the Chocolate Gourami! Also, Mom didn't remove the white dead eggs which by now had some hair like algae/fungi which were growing and threatened to engulf the fry that were still alive! Fish_


Before all the fry were gone, decided to take things into my own hands to save them. Snipped the leaf and put it into a floating breeder at first. Unfortunately the slits on the breeder for water circulation were too big and they fry could slip through if they fall off the leaf.


Finally, decided on a makeshift setup with a seperate container within the floating breeder with its own air supply through a pump. Lowest setting of the pump created pretty large airflow so had to setup a simple waste valve to reduce the amount of bubbles.



Now most of the fry are on the leaf. Those that fall off will end up in the container so its quite safe. A toothpick can be used to put the fry back onto the leaf. Apparently their mouths secrete some sticky substance which will stick to the toothpick and eventually the leaf.

Water level is also just above the container so there is still some water circulation. Any fry that gets "bubbled" out of the container will still have a chance of being "rescued" in the floating breeder before being swept out into the open and become fish food.

Took a couple of nice macros of the fry using the Ricoh R3. Can see the eyes, tail and yolk sac...