I thought I would take a stab at breeding Black Mollies. If all goes well, I'll move onto Dalmatian...
So, I ordered 20. I was going to start with 10, but at a little over a dollar each, I figured why not!
My acclimation plan worked, but not as smoothly as I wanted. I was able to bring the salinity from 0 to 1.020 in six days. However, acclimation presented some struggles for my new little friends.
The ammonia exposure was pretty bad, although I used a conditioner, I lost 5 fish. The nitrifying bacteria from fresh to brackish to marine are different in each environment, so I'm not sure how I could have handled it aside from rushing the change. Theoretically, I have read you can adjust the salinity 0.002 per hour, which would put fresh to marine acclimation in about 12 hours. I would love to hear some thoughts on this!
Now, onto the good stuff, I did the bulk of the acclimation in a plastic bin:
I did an initial does of water purifier, as well as daily doses of Aquavitra Seed. Once the salinity was about 1.01, I added a bunch of rubble.
At 1.02, I moved them to one of my cycled QT tanks with a matching salinity. I just didn't trust the tub any more.
It looks like I have two males in the group, maybe three (but I think only two). So, another question: Should I keep only a single male with the harem of females, or will two or three be okay with this amount of females?
Lastly, it looks like a couple of the females have swollen bellies already, this might be getting real, very soon!
So, I ordered 20. I was going to start with 10, but at a little over a dollar each, I figured why not!
My acclimation plan worked, but not as smoothly as I wanted. I was able to bring the salinity from 0 to 1.020 in six days. However, acclimation presented some struggles for my new little friends.
The ammonia exposure was pretty bad, although I used a conditioner, I lost 5 fish. The nitrifying bacteria from fresh to brackish to marine are different in each environment, so I'm not sure how I could have handled it aside from rushing the change. Theoretically, I have read you can adjust the salinity 0.002 per hour, which would put fresh to marine acclimation in about 12 hours. I would love to hear some thoughts on this!
Now, onto the good stuff, I did the bulk of the acclimation in a plastic bin:
I did an initial does of water purifier, as well as daily doses of Aquavitra Seed. Once the salinity was about 1.01, I added a bunch of rubble.
At 1.02, I moved them to one of my cycled QT tanks with a matching salinity. I just didn't trust the tub any more.
It looks like I have two males in the group, maybe three (but I think only two). So, another question: Should I keep only a single male with the harem of females, or will two or three be okay with this amount of females?
Lastly, it looks like a couple of the females have swollen bellies already, this might be getting real, very soon!