Question from a tumbling newbie...

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G'day Peeps...

I have kept and bred many fish over the past 30 years in the hobby, but I have never tumbled...until now...so my questions are;

• when you know you have a male & female that can produce a successful spawn, how early can the female be stripped?
• can eggs from 2 different females be tumbled together if they were stripped same day but laid 4 days apart?
• how much should the eggs be moving when dialing in the air flow?

Thanks peeps!


Danny

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

1. I wouldn't Strip them any earlier than a week.
2. Yes but you will want to move the older ones once they get big enough to pick at the others. Just watch them.
3. Eggs just need water flowing over them. Only a little movement of them slightly shifting weight is ample. Some have suggested that making them hover is better. I've not really seen any difference either way.

Hope this helps.

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Alright mate, cheers for the info.
I jumped the gun on 1 of my girls and pulled what looked like 9 fertile eggs on day 5. Last time she held she started with a big mouthful for her size but only produced 3 viable fry. I was thinking to strip her earlier to try to save a few extras. This morning 1 off the 9 had a small rupture of yoke coming out 1 end. I'm hoping the other 8 will be fine...time will tell...many uncertainties when the created order is disrupted...

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Another hard lesson from a rookie tumbler...I noticed this morning after a closer inspection another 2-3 of the eggs had some damage to them evidenced by yoke protrusion out of 1 part of the egg sac...I think I figured it out as the strip was clean, that is no mouth closing on eggs during the process...
So when I caught out the female Duboisi there were some grains of aragonite that ended up in the container I stripped the eggs into...when I tipped the container to pour eggs gently into the tumbler some of the aragonite slid across the bottom of the container and bumped into a few of the eggs...I believe even this gentle bump likely caused a weakening or micro tear in the eggs outer casing...
Lesson; make sure the stripping container is free from any gravel or sand that may damage the fragile eggs...double doh!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Yep. you can even use a little Stress coat, Prime or Novaqua to encourage healing of any scrapes on the eggs.

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I will remember that for next time mate, cheers...looks like I may only end up with 3 after all  I am amazed at how the females can keep those delicate eggs crammed together in her mouth and not lose them all...creation is SO amazing...Creator even more so!

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

I 100% Agree!

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So yet another tough lesson from a rookie tumbler...I hope this info helps prevent the same thing happening to anyone else...

So a few days ago I came down to sit in front of my tank to watch my fish as I have coffee and wake up, as I do everyday...low and behold the bottom part of my egg tumbler had slid completely off and the fry...searching, searching...I guess eaten...gutted

I discovered from a friend who tumbles regularly that this has happened to him as well and that the latest upgrade to Larry's awesome tumblers is the addition of a small stainless screw or pin to prevent such incidents happening...I will be modifying my older model to include this new safety feature...

[jumpman]

Sorry to hear that Danny, I'm sure there will be plenty more next time :-)

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Sorry. I think that the addition will do the trick.