[johnwesley0]

The holes in the bottom allows a little debris to escape down - the air connection allows for some circulation; it isn't really targeted at tumbling eggs; ziss does sell an egg tumbler but i've not used it.

Well, here are my thoughts. Both the zisser and the marina breeder boxes are a step in the right direction as far as egg-layers are concerned; their fry tend to be smaller than livebearers (at least in my experience) and are susceptible to escaping the perforation that permit standard "floating" devices to stay inside the parental tank. OTOH, I wouldn't dream of trying to pack 50 newly hatched fry of any variety into anything that size for more than a couple of weeks after which one would still be faced with the question of what to do with 50 newborn baby fish? In my particular case some sort of "box" might have made a more stylish bachelor pad than the one I was able to provide for the adult alpha male.

 

[johnwesley0]

A report back on The Swap. I think this will work. The apisto juvies are smart and nimble and are able to hold their own against the mild-mannered danios. I have a funny feeling that this is the "fun" stage in their development. They already have plenty of personality and their antics fall into the category of "...and no one was hurt."

The biggest challenge comes at feeding time when it is necessary to divert the adults with a feeding ring at one end of the tank while I dunk BBS at the other. That works for about a minute. Then, it's a free-for-all between the adult glo-fish and the juvies.

I think it will be okay. I do notice now that the juvies congregate in one spot (as opposed to foraging far afield from each other) that some of them are much bigger than the others, as much as 2xs. I don't know whether that is due to differences in nutrition or the beginning of sexual dimorphism. Only time will tell.

 

[johnwesley0]

The juvies are starting to look and act like miniature adults:

 

[johnwesley0]

Not much has changed in the last month. This has clearly become my favorite tank. The glo-fish love it. The juvenile a. borelli are no longer in hiding and occupy all levels of the tank. Feeding time is a delight, watching the "teen-agers" stand their ground against the far more gigantic adults.

Jumbo, the oldest at six months is not much bigger than his next-in-line siblings most of whom have reached a half-inch in length. There are also a couple that I call, "the twins" who are considerably smaller, barely a quarter of an inch long who come out only at feeding time. For a long time, I wondered whether they were zebra fish fry but I doubt that they are. They look and behave like apistos and their siblings treat them as such - by bullying them. My latest theory is that they are the survivors of a hidden spawn that I just did not know about.

Which leads me to my next subject: these kids are ready to rock and roll. They constantly present to each other (if you know what I mean) although, it is hard to tell whether they are being aggressive or are courting each other. Only they can tell which of them is male or female at this point. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that these tiny little things will eventually grow to the size of their parents. They seem lightyears removed from the alpha male now occupying my porcelain bowl.