First Spawn

[310 Aquatics]

First spawn from my trio. Eggs lasted two days before being eaten. Should I take the second female out if another spawn occurs?

 

[Apistoguy52]

First spawn from my trio. Eggs lasted two days before being eaten. Should I take the second female out if another spawn occurs?

Assuming the water falls into a range that will allow the eggs to hatch…yes, extra female should find a new home before momma eliminates her…

 

[anewbie]

Assuming the water falls into a range that will allow the eggs to hatch…yes, extra female should find a new home before momma eliminates her…

Nothing like an angry bear protecting her cubs.

 

[310 Aquatics]

What would cause a Zebra to die in under 24 hours?

Two that I believe are females; I pulled from a larger group and put in another tank two months ago were doing great. I fed last night. Both were active and aggressive as normal. They are in a 20 gallon long, heavily planted, with (5) Melini Corydoras and about (10) Panda Tetras. Feeding last night was frozen Brine shrimp and frozen Daphnia.

Tonight I was feeding fry and put a pipette of live baby brine in their tank as well. As I was shutting down for the night, I noticed one of the Zebras had no color and was just acting lethargic. Would swim to the top and back down. Her belly looked a little swollen, but not crazy. The other Zebra would come by the "sick" one and nudge it along. I tested the water and ammonia. All was normal. All the other fish are fine.

Less than an hour later the Zebra was dead.

What did I miss? Never had a fish go south that quick. Not sure if this means anything, but all her color came back after she died.

 

[MacZ]

I tested the water and ammonia.

Results? Ammonia is irrelevant in low pH-environments, which I presume you provide for your fish. Also IF it was that all fish would have been affected and the reaction would have been very obviously pointing to ammonia-poisoning.

Both were active and aggressive as normal.

The other Zebra would come by the "sick" one and nudge it along.

This leads me to presume you might have misinterpreted the behaviour up to that point. Maybe you missed out on telltale signs of stress or underestimated the aggression level?

In the end if there are no signs recorded or detected in advance a concrete cause of death is impossible to determine in hindsight.

 

[310 Aquatics]

Results? Ammonia is irrelevant in low pH-environments, which I presume you provide for your fish. Also IF it was that all fish would have been affected and the reaction would have been very obviously pointing to ammonia-poisoning.



This leads me to presume you might have misinterpreted the behaviour up to that point. Maybe you missed out on telltale signs of stress or underestimated the aggression level?

In the end if there are no signs recorded or detected in advance a concrete cause of death is impossible to determine in hindsight.

pH for that tank is 7.42. This is the same level from which the fish came from when I bought them. I understand the natural pH is basically 6.00 or lower, but the fish I have have been in this same level since I got them back in August 2022 as very young juveniles. If pH is the issue here, why did it take until now? Why are the other Zebras all doing well?

I could have missed behavioral issues. There was no fin damage or signs of aggression on the fish. The color was washed out so some stress was present.

I have only been keeping South American cichlids since July/August of last year. I have been keeping fish off and on since I was little. Been back into the hobby full time since 2018. I have a lot to learn; hence my question of what I may have missed.

On another topic. I am planning on moving everyone into a 60 gallon. I have experimented with pH on a smaller scale (5-1/2 gallons) and have the pH in that tank at or below 5.0. I hope to translate that same set up to the 60 gallon.

In any event, other than water acclimation, what is the best way to transition the Zebra from a neutral environment to an acidic one? Is it something I should do gradually over time or just drip acclimate acceptable? It will be at least a month or two as I set up the 60 gallon.

Thanks for your knowledge and input.

 

[anewbie]

Typically when my dwarves kill each other they don't damage the fins they go more for the gills or center body so not finding fin damage is not so likely. External damage can also be mostly lacking 'cept for a few scales. Not saying this is what happened but i suspect it is esp if a pair is forming; you know cleaning out the extra noise and such.

 

[MacZ]

pH for that tank is 7.42. This is the same level from which the fish came from when I bought them. I understand the natural pH is basically 6.00 or lower, but the fish I have have been in this same level since I got them back in August 2022 as very young juveniles. If pH is the issue here, why did it take until now? Why are the other Zebras all doing well?

pH is irrelevant as it's dependent on KH and dissolved CO2 (that does not mean injected). Considering the pH though, a medium KH is to be expected, which in turn means the water my have been a bit on the hard side. This can cause kidney deficiencies in softwater species. And things like that take minths to years to cause problems.

I could have missed behavioral issues. There was no fin damage or signs of aggression on the fish. The color was washed out so some stress was present.

I have only been keeping South American cichlids since July/August of last year. I have been keeping fish off and on since I was little. Been back into the hobby full time since 2018. I have a lot to learn; hence my question of what I may have missed.

In that case my bet is on a social issue and chronic stress.

In any event, other than water acclimation, what is the best way to transition the Zebra from a neutral environment to an acidic one? Is it something I should do gradually over time or just drip acclimate acceptable? It will be at least a month or two as I set up the 60 gallon.

If the TDS/EC of the water you move the fish from are more than double of the readings of the water you move them to, drip acclimation is advisable. E.g. if they come from 200mg/l (=ppm) TDS and you want to move them to 50mg/l, drip acclimation is best.
Otherwise if that's an option, raise the percentage of RO in the original tank until the overall readings are similar to the new one, then acclimation is not necessary, as you have basically the same parameters.
It depends on your situation.

60 gallon... what dimensions? If it's less than 150cm I'd not attempt a group in it.

Also, please open your own thread. Thread hijacking is not forbidden, but a bit frowned upon. I've notified the mods to separate your part from this thread.

 

[310 Aquatics]

pH is irrelevant as it's dependent on KH and dissolved CO2 (that does not mean injected). Considering the pH though, a medium KH is to be expected, which in turn means the water my have been a bit on the hard side. This can cause kidney deficiencies in softwater species. And things like that take minths to years to cause problems.


In that case my bet is on a social issue and chronic stress.


If the TDS/EC of the water you move the fish from are more than double of the readings of the water you move them to, drip acclimation is advisable. E.g. if they come from 200mg/l (=ppm) TDS and you want to move them to 50mg/l, drip acclimation is best.
Otherwise if that's an option, raise the percentage of RO in the original tank until the overall readings are similar to the new one, then acclimation is not necessary, as you have basically the same parameters.
It depends on your situation.

60 gallon... what dimensions? If it's less than 150cm I'd not attempt a group in it.

Also, please open your own thread. Thread hijacking is not forbidden, but a bit frowned upon. I've notified the mods to separate your part from this thread.

My apologies. I now know. Thank you for the input.

 

[MacZ]

My apologies. I now know. Thank you for the input.

It's fine, hope I was able to answer your questions nonetheless.