You know, I have realized something after you found the little surprise fry in the original tank. I noticed in the beginning, that my best fry have been fry that I missed when collecting them from breeding tank. I never fed the tank with any special tiny foods, yet they survived and grew fast. I even had a fry that must have been scooped up with some plants in a tiny planted tank that ended up being taken over by scuds and I didn't notice it until I went to collect scuds. Each time I discovered these surprise fry, they were already pretty big, at a centimeter or more. Even without feeding the tanks they were in. So, I came to the conclusion that heavily planted, and well established tanks will feed the fry until they are big enough for foods like bbs, etc. I stopped moving my fry after that first batch and finding survived surprise fry, and just stuck to moving parents. I will still feed the fry tanks with fairy shrimp, cyclops, microworms, vinegar eels, etc. But I don't stress about it because of the plants. I sit and watch the fry very closely and will see them picking off microorganisms darting about in the plants, moss, salvinia,and glass and even the tiniest of fry. I tend to worry more about feedings with newer set ups if I don't see many microorganisms zipping around. Adding in moss and floaters really helps get things going, and feeding them cultured food in the mean time helps give the mo some time to reproduce and establish. It was definitely harder in the beginning, when it came to feeding, but now it's no longer a stress. I'd really have to say, having lots of live plants are the biggest thing that helps with the fry rearing part. Oh, that, and algae. As much as many hate it, these guys love filament type algae. The adults like to lay eggs in it, and it harbors tons of microorganisms. Mulm too! I forgot about mulm! Lol sorry. I keep thinking of things as I write. But the fry also find tons of live food in mum, and use it to hide in as well. It's funny to see them dash into it when startled. Lol so, my breeding and fry tanks are not the prettiest scaped set ups. More like over grown jungles. Lol

@たろう808

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing your experience, I believe that is the best way and the most natural.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I think I am going to do the move the parents strategy when I have the tank space to do so. Just cycle through the different tanks and then feed paramecium or vinegar in small amounts to the tank. I have also found that they like the filamentous algae even though I am not the biggest fan of it. I want to make my holding tanks heavily planted to take care of the aggression that can occur when they don't have enough hiding spaces.

I keep a colony of infusoria for my nano fish fry. I have a 2 gallon pottery crock with a tight lid. Thank goodness that keeps the smell out. No light enters unless I am getting some for feeding. I got a large amount of java moss, about 3 handfuls and put that in the crock with used tank water. I then addend some infusoria from the jar method as a starter. I feed the culture/colony occasionally some yeast, spirulina powder, or some Bacter AE. I've kept this going for about 6 months now. I have 4 different tanks of egg scatters. It's really nice to have food on hand. I feed the infusoria for 1-2 weeks and then add vinegar eels to the menu. By about 3 weeks I add BBS. I just got some E gilberti. I hope they will spawn soon. I love your videos.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I like having easy to maintain live food cultures. I think that the gilberti fry need small sized feed like paramercium or infusoria when they first hatch or they die. That is why I think a lot of people say you need a well seasoned tank to raise up fry in them because that well seasoned tank has all of those micro organisms.

Your wife is a diamond. And the fish are beautiful! Love your videos. Well done

Yes!!! Hopefully they keep thriving.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

The adults are thriving and happy. I don’t know if the fry would say they are thriving at this point but hopefully soon they will be thriving as well.

Just found this video, June 2024. With reference to fry survival, I have to agree with Katalina and say that microorganisms are the best first food for such tiny fry. Your fry died because they starved to death. Paramecium would be the ideal starting food. If you look at the ecology of the species, the places where the parents deposit the eggs, in clumps of filamentous algae, are not only inaccessible to predators, but also rich in infusoria. So the food is there, immediately available when the fry have absorbed their yolk sacs. Makes sense, really.

Glad to see you got your vacation 🤣🙏 Very interesting! I'm so excited for you!! Great information and congratulations Andrew 🙌🎉🙏🌿🐟🌿💚

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I’m glad that everyone enjoyed the vacation and that it wasn’t a flop.

@marypaigeflynn4512

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary Awesome!!! Next vacation you need to go to Peru 🤔🙏🤞🎉🤣

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

@@marypaigeflynn4512 That's a harder sell, though there are other places I would like to visit before Peru.

@marypaigeflynn4512

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary looking forward to your future Adventures 👍🥰

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Spring time I have some very fun adventures planned.

Congratulations!

@marypaigeflynn4512

2 жыл бұрын

🥰👋

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Great to see all the effort you put in to another great video , hope all is falling into place for you on your journeys as well as new ideas in and around your home !!! Glad I found your channel . Your easily one of best to learn from , no doubt about !!! 💚💙

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Stoney! Everything is slowly falling into place now and I’m hopefully to start having some good spawning here soon.

How can I get my hands on some Pygmy brother please some info

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Other people have non gilberti do sale like Jonah’s aquariums.

@jrodriguez2794

Жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary thank you so much I definitely gotta check them out ! 🙏🏽🙏🏽💪🏽💪🏽

Wow, progress!

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! I think I’ve had at least 3 spawns in the time all of these recordings happened so I think there is even more progress to be made in breeding them.

That’s pretty cool. I’m so excited for you.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I am very excited as well. Hopefully it means more success here to come!

@jamesholbrook7785

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary do you have an idea of the PH they like? Also the the hardness of the water? GH? KH? Etc.? Trying to start some five and ten gallon planted tanks and would really like to have them well seasoned. We are planning a five day vacation in the 2nd month of May and would love to catch a few myself. Maybe we could do some swapping to keep the gene pool fresh.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I do not measure GH or KH. pH is around 7 though I know they can go both higher and lower based on their native habitats. Hope you are successful in catching some in May. At the current time I think I am good with my gene pool with 30+ fish but I’ll keep you in mind if I want to swap some.

Following closely. Thanks for sharing!

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome! I know they are spawning regularly now it is just a problem of raising up the super tiny fry.

Thanks For Sharing ✍

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome Patrick!

If you have access to a 3d printer, I designed an egg trap for my CPDs. Basically a box with a removable grid and hole on the side for suction cup. I put moss over the grid and you could suction it up high for the Gilberti.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

That’s sounds really cool but I don’t have access to one.

@davidramsaur1984

2 жыл бұрын

That sounds awesome. Would you mind sharing the 3D file with me?

Can't wait for the next update, hope the breeding project is going well!

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

We are making steps in the right direction. Lots has happened that has prevented me from doing as much as I would like with them but this winter I am going to focus on breeding them.

you are a great husband , takin your Wife to Florida on vacation !!

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

That’s exactly what I thought! Though, she took a little more convincing after I told her I wanted to go fish collecting and that was the primary reason for suggesting this part of Florida.

Pretty exciting. 👍👏👏👏

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

It is very exciting!

as a resident of the state, thank you for not stripping the population from the water source. the amount of people i've seen online just taking the river home with them boils my blood. dont get me wrong, I'm all for natural harvesting, but just taking for the sake of taking is distasteful to say the least

Back in the day there was a product called Liqui-Fry, I used it successfully feeding newly hatched Betta fry

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I’ll have to look into that and see what I can find out. I’ve also heard of people feeding fry polyp food for corals in saltwater aquariums as a good fry food and cheaper than normal fry food.

@Flushsubi

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary celestial pearl danio are very small too and they usually start eating after a week and I fed them first bites with success.

I caught an elassoma boehlke, carolina pygmy sunfish last week, 10 min walk from my house. In a ditch near the Waccamaw river in SC. he is really cool but really shy. the ditch must be full of them, it only took me 5 min to catch him.

Oh! One more thing! I forgot I came back here to also tell you that I found a fry from last batch in with the new batch, but it is bright yellow! I took it out to put in a white cup to make sure it wasn't some reflection or lighting issue making it seem yellow. It was truly yellow. I even compared it to one of its siblings and the siblings were normal transparent white-ish. I'm not sure what happened, what made it so bright yellow. It's been a couple weeks, and tho it's not quite as bright, it's still got its yellow color. Pretty neat, and I wish there was more info. Or wish I had better knowledge on how to properly search the internet for the info. I'd like to know if this is normal or not and if it's happened before, and I can't find much about these fish. Anyway, can't wait to see more updates on the breeding and fry. I've got my first 2 batches of gilberti babies. However, I too, am having some issues of my own that I haven't dealt with, with the other pygmies. These guys are meanies, and egg eaters. Lol got it figured out tho, I think. hopefully it works out.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I'd be curious to see what happens to that yellow baby as well. Unfortunately there is not a lot of information on them even with the best searching on the internet, in my opinion.

@christopherkrause3255

Жыл бұрын

You should post a video!!

I can collect these where I live. very interesting.

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome. I wish I could have that luxury.

Ever tried boiled egg yolk. Crushed in water makes food for very small fry’s.

I don’t know if this will help, but I’ve seen several videos of people breeding various species & feeding fry with crumbled boiled egg yolk. This was frequently paired with feeding infusaria a few days later. I’ve never bred egg layers, so this is based only on the experience of others. I really hope your breeding experience is successful.

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I’ve heard of people using crumbled egg yolk as well before. I tried that with my batch of fish and it either fouled the water and killed them or they didn’t eat any of it.

Hello I breed pygmy sunfish everglades and I feed the fry thick green water with a turkey baster you can buy a culture on ebay. It worked for me.

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the information. I’ll have to check out eBay for some of that.

they are so beautiful, I like it so much. Can you sell it to me?!!

I know that place! Only 10 mins from me. Same place I get mine, least killis & ramshorns

@elvisanthony2234

Жыл бұрын

Where this place

start making infusoria it's a very good starting food 🙂

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Do you have a preferred method?

@MattMarcio

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary kzread.info/dash/bejne/m39hl9xmZa29m7A.html

Wow you collected 67 fish from the wild ? How responsible of you, you are a true nature lover.

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

How do you think any fish we keep got into the hobby? Someone had to collect them. There is a difference between sustainable and non-sustainable collecting, maybe you should learn about it.

@h1jra671

Жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary The ultimate selfishness and arrogance. The fact that you think anyone who feels like it can go out there and remove 70 individuals from the wild and pass it off as doing some kind of service to a (sick) hobby is worrying. How many of them have died already ? Just expected casualties I guess and for what purpose...? Maybe you should learn about the damage overcollecting does to the habitat.

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

@@h1jra671 Alright PETA. Do us all a favor and go chain yourself to a duck processing line again. If you want to have an actual conversation about the merits of wild collecting I am happy to but you obviously have no intention to do so. If you actually are open to learning about the merits of wild collecting, check out Project Piaba.

@ZeroTheHero92

5 ай бұрын

​@@TheAquariumLibrary I'm on your side lol 💪

Was That some kind of wild shrimp in the first net of the video?

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. I believe those are ghost shrimp that I was catching.

I’m taking notes. Thinkin this is gonna be my next project.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Hopefully my videos can leave you with some good notes.

I feed my cpd fry with aquarium co-op easy fry food and copipods.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately these guys are relatively picky eaters and don’t take to prepared foods very well.

What springs did you goto in Fl?

Why didn't you try powdered foods or egg yolk when they couldn't eat the live foods?

Are you still breeding the beautiful bred

Can you do an update please?

Any update??

What do you feed the adult Ellasoma?

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

I feed them a wide variety of live foods. Whiteworms, scuds, mosquito larva, and baby brine shrimp.

Any updates?

Ever plan on selling some in the future?

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I plan to yes.

@Flushsubi

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary I would love to buy some been wanting to keep these fish for a long time now

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

I’m hopeful that by summer I’ll have some numbers to be able to sell.

@Flushsubi

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheAquariumLibrary let me know I'd be interested

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Yup, I’ll make a post about it on here when that time comes.

Hello from Texas. Please sell me some I have been looking for them for the past year. Serious buyer. If interested please le me know. thanks!

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Life has been busy and breeding these guys has taken a back burner. Lots of things are currently hanging in the balance depending on a job offer and if that falls into place I'll be able to know what I can and can't do with regards to breeding these guys. If I every breed enough to start selling outside of KY I'll let people know here.

Do you have any for sale?

Are you selling these?

@TheAquariumLibrary

Жыл бұрын

Not currently.

you say they're hard to find..but you sure took a lot..and I hope you didn't carry them back in that cooler without lots of plants- as you know they're very shy and like to hide..if you didn't give them a "place to hide" on the way home you added a lot of stress to their trip...

Hello! I dropped you an Instagram message if you don’t care to check. I am in Lex KY, interested in some fish.

@TheAquariumLibrary

2 жыл бұрын

Hopefully i can start getting some out to you all.

Still breeding?

I have a friend who breeds this, first few breeding attempts, the babies just died. He switched to a tank with soil and sand substrate that has algae and stuff and he swears by it now, also he doesn't feed the babies till 2-3 months old, they just live off what's in the tank the whole time. beautiful fish

Can you share the spot you found them at please?