One egg didn't hatch yesterday. All the others did. They look a bit like this:

 
(a daddy looking after his babies)

except mine are bristlenose plecos ^^ while this is an albino pleco... nevertheless the fry still look the same - they all have their healthy egg sacks and squirmy tails hehehe

oh so squigelly eehehehe

the egg that DIDN'T hatch yesterday, hatched today.

So I learnt that just because the eggs are laid on the same day, doesn't mean they necessarily hatch on the same day. At first I counted about 25 eggs.... there only seemed to be 18 fry so I removed the dad (in fear that he ate a few)

APPARENTLY... I found out later that the father doesn't usually eat the fry...

so it probably means I can't count

but considering I've already caused such a disturbance, I'm just going to leave things the way they are. I don't see any reason to keep the male with the fry anyway. The main male's role is to look after the fry from other hungry predators who might also be in the tank - but since my fry are in a separate tank... I think it'll be ok to keep them there. It's well oxygenated, and they eat off their yolk sacks... so the role of the father is redundant ^^

sigh... I love fish...

the only problem is, the father is stressed now in his other tank. But hey~ his greatest wish is for his babies to be reared nicely eh? so that's ok cuz that's under control

Oh... one other thing:

SIPHONING - people do this to keep the water clean and optimal quality. a problem people keep mentioning is that the fry get sucked up into the siphon...

I found a way to prevent fry being siphoned - use a thick plastic siringe (with no needle of course) and carefully aim at whatever it is that you want to siphon.

You get the job done quicker, and no fish is being harmed. and the siringe is also useful for injecting bring shrimp for the pleco fry to eat after their yolk sacks are gone

 (brine shrimp a.k.a. SEA MONKEYS- btw the retailed $50 seamonkeys are a rip-off... I buy packets of healthier ones for $5 as fish food...) 

[so when you have sea monkeys... buy the ones from the pet stores that are being sold as fish food... you'll get them cheaper, and you'll be saving their lives xD]

g2g back to my english essay... sigh...  

Breeding Plecos (Bristlenose)

Bristle nose plecos are common to breed but information on them isn't very common...

mine laid eggs recently


[this is the common pleco; I have 2 bristlenose plecos]

Yesterday I was cleaning my aquarium when I stumbled across a pile of orange pleco eggs on the ceiling inside one of my fish tank accessories. I wasn't intending to breed the plecos - I was conditioning my fish with the intent to breed my siamese fighter fish and gold fish, but in the process, I accidentally came across an unexpected suprise; lucky me, eh?

As soon as I found the eggs, I went on the internet to look for information on how to look after the eggs. I found that information on the internet was scarce.

Because of that, I decided I will process the development of my own fry and compile information here so that whoever needs it will be able to (hopefully) find this information off google or something - I understand how frustrating it is when the only information you can gather are in tiny snipets and brief explanations off forums.

My knowledge isn't expertise level, but I'll try my best to be helpful with knowledge that are hard to find on the itnernet. Most of the things I know are incredibly basic at this stage though, only because this is my first attempt at rearing fry. I hope I can add more useful thigns as my experience develops. But here's what I know so far... I hope it might be useful for you.

• Pleco breed in tube-like spaces
  some people use PVC pipes (explanations on pleco breeding sites are everywhere on the internet, so I wont go on about that here) - however my own pleco didn't breed in a PVC pipe: I have a long, narrow ship-wreck (with artificial holes on the sides to produce wreckage effect) accessory in my fish tank, and when i lifted the hollow accessory, i found the eggs on the roof of the accessory, inside. Generally, they breed on the ceilings of narrow things.
  after mating, female should be separated. she'lle at the eggs. male should be left to watch over the eggs; he shouldn't really eat the eggs - even if he did, he wont eat all of them - he'll swish his tail to keep the eggs oxygenated
  egg will hatch in 5 days.
  people say in the wild the plecos lay more than 200 eggs - mine didn't lay that many... i could only count about 26 - either the aquarium atmosphere isn't as sophisticated as the natural way of things, or someone ate them. but I presume more the first option.
  
  
• What do the pleco eggs look like?
  I kept finding only descriptions of what pleco eggs looked like and found it hard to find actual pictures of pleco eggs off the internet - I realised why. You won't be able to find pictures easily because plecos lay eggs in dark or narrow places; it's hard for the camera to actually capture what the eggs look like, given the awkward angle of the eggs inside fish tanks. Plus, when you use the flash on the camera, you'll very likely get the reflection of the glass, rather than a picture of the egg itself.
  So I too can only describe what it looks like - it looks like orange caviar, like those balls you get on your sushi. It's diameter I'd say is about roughly less than half a centimeter. They're stacked up neatly in a pile, hanging off the ceiling.
  the colour is redish-yellow.
  
  
• What to do when they hatch?
  Mine havn't hatched yet, but from all the info I've scraped from the internet, this is everything I collected so far:
  when the fry hatch, the male keeps the fry within the breeding site. he should be kept there. (I dont know if he'll eat them or not, but nevertheless, he's doing his job). the male protects the fry until he thinks its ok for the fry to swim outside of the breeding site (the PVC pipe or watever the eggs were in). THIS is when you get rid of the male, and let the fry swim alone.
  fry will eat off their own yolk sack, so no need to feed for about 3 days. when the yolk sak is gone, feed them zuchinni, GREEN STUFF and other stuff... which again, can be found all over the internet

at all times, water should be very clean. pH should be about 6-7.8 but 7 is ideal. they're pretty adaptive so they can do alright in slightly alkaline water (mine's slightly alkaline). water has to be soft (not sure how soft mine is though)
temperature: no more than 27 (celcius), no less than 18
 
people say you should buy like... 6 plecos when ur trying to breed them for the chance of getting one male and one female - i just bought 2 plecos and i was lucky enough to have a male and a female. large numbers are not a necessity, but ur chances are just slimmer.

I know this is all pretty basic information, so I'll try to add something you don't know as I go along. this is only my first pleco breeding (which wasn't even intentional) so I'm still pretty noob.

If you know something useful, please please tell me. If you can't be bothered, you're a bad guy. but that's ok - i'll eventually find out what you know, if it's important enough.

this will be updated again in the future.

This void in my mind craves nothing more than to feel him near again.

him and Him.

I'm looking down.. I search into the black spaces beneath me to feel a sense of relief from my searches for fulfilment in the relationships I invest in.

I live this life of complexity… because I fear of living the sacrificial life…the simple life…  though deep down I know it’s the only way I could be happy…

Or do I really know….? Maybe the reason I’m living such a life is because I really have no idea.  

The cold window reflects an image of myself, yet there is no sense of familiarity. I am no longer who I used to be, so who am I, or who am I to be?

I wish to distract myself and reminisce… I feel at peace being alien to arguments on morality.

How I love having a soul to communicate to… I honestly love you,pb…

Who else could love literature, and who else could understand scorn and death with the same understanding of the importance of happiness… it’s all I ever asked for… and it’s exactly what I got. [f-I want to cry. Emoemoemoemoemo…emo. I don’t care… you are so perfect]

Sitting in that hall, the music blaring all the god-forbidden tastes of our youth; and in the midst of the thundering noises, his eyes looked into mine, pleading me, caressing my hand.

Tangling my fingers amongst his, he kissed each tip one by one, as to carefully analyse my skin with his lips… His lips observing every detail of the form of my hands…

with each peck he closed his eyes…

Yet where does my pleasure lie….?

And as I write these things, the more fearful I become

Whathaveidonewhatthehellamidoingshouldibehereorshouldsomeoneelsebewhyistheperfectpersonhavetobesomeoneican’tbewithforeternity,whydoesfatedothatdoesfateexist?whydoesfatedothethingsitdoeswhothehellcantellmewhatfateholdsandiftheydid,howcouldtheyexplainhowtoresolvehowi’mfeelingrightnowwhycan’tidoanythingRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

..shit… and I blame it all on one thing in my life for thinking like that… yet I DARE NOT say it… it would screw over too many people.

actually… would it?

And I fear more… Because what I write, when I consume it, becomes a more concrete part of who I am

And without analysing all thoughts, I fear of moulding myself accidentally into a person of contradictions

Thus I become a person living in fear, trying to walk as straight on the line as possible, knowing I will waver anyway,

not knowing what is right or wrong anymore…

And those who tell me what’s “right” seem to not carry the gentleness some have
yet I presume that will give me no excuse for going contrariwise to my own “sinful” actions.

strict morality never demanded gentleness

so what to do with my tiring situation…? A perpetual cycle that will not break unless I myself force it to

Such things are of my greatest fear...

It’s days like these I hate myself, because it’s not who I wish to be.

Another typical teenage story. Sorry if it put you off.

[tell me to cheer up, but don't to it unless you have a good reason with it... otherwise no comments would be splendid]

I have a frustration with PG2. I don't think it would be wise for me to say why at this point though...

it's not a frustration aimed at anyone in particular...

just frustration.

I'm saying this because i realised someone commented similarly...

lol... I thought I was alone...

I don't know but I might regret saying this later...

May God have mercy on us all...

hahaha what are the questions

sorry.. i'm being a real coward and a highly self-conscious prick cuz i'm too scared to type them

when i gain the confidence i'll type them up one day - i just don't know how people might react to the things i might say...

yeah.. u can say "just don't care about what people say about you"

but it's not about that...

it's about how I might possibly destroy all the hope in living left in some people, when in true fact, I may be the one in the wrong and THEY (or you) might be the ones in the right.

lol don't get me wrong... I'm not going suicidal =P

not trying to sound egoistic here... but I really don't want to say anything until I'm certain that my questions are valid and that I havn't missed out anything before questioning something I might be highly ignorant about...

if i'm not making any sense... then dw... sorry for being a vague communicator... I know vague communication is the cruelest form of trying to express thoughts but i really don't know any other way to type down the things in my head

Thanks for caring enough to leave messages though =P

btw... i'm not depressed or full of anxiety or anything like that... just a bit unclear on a few things i've been taught all my life - and NO I'm not sad -_____-;; just want to clear a few things like all people like doing

thanks guys... love you too Will haha and Hanah and Janie... Janie's a poopy head hehehehe

but a hot one.. =) 

laterz