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Water preparation
Hatching EggsDry-storageStart with some cool, aged tank water in a jar. You will then need to aerate the water. I use about 1 Bag Buddies tablet (Jungle product) in a gallon jar and shake it to dissolve. If you do not have Bag Buddies available, you can stick an air hose in the water and pump air into the water as you shake the container vigorously for a minute or two. Place the peat in a medium to large container and cover with about an inch to 1 1/2 inches of the treated water (plastic shoe boxes available at Lowe's, Wal-Mart, etc work well for this purpose). After the peat has had a chance to soak a few minutes, use your fingers to gently break up any clumps that remain. You should start seeing some fry within a few hours. I usually stir the peat up once or twice a day after collecting the fry. Check for fry over the next several days. They may be hard to spot, watch for them hiding in the bits of peat fiber floating along the edges of the container. Collect the fry as they appear and move them to a separate container and proceed as you would with most killies. Very few if any fry hatch after four or five days. Collect the remaining peat and drain through a fine mesh net. Dump the peat out on newspaper and blot dry for three to four hours (sometimes I let it set overnight). Place the peat back in the bag and make a note of the date you stored the eggs. In two or three weeks, repeat the wetting process. This can be done a third, maybe even a forth time as well. Most species seem to have no problems eating BBS as a first food, some smaller species may require "green water" the first few days. I always add a little mix of plants (Java moss, Java fern and floating plants) in all my fry containers just in case some of the fry are to small to feed on BBS.
Wet storage
"Peat Tea", aeration, etc |
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