Breeding condition

[ellebelle]

Huh. My royal gramma was really aggravating me for a while as he was digging a huge hole underneath one of my rocks one mouthful of sand at a time (and then spitting it out all over all of my corals). I wonder if he was nesting...

 

[Paul B]

Could be. I am not sure how Royal Gramma's mate. I know they are a deep water fish as I have seen them many times below 120' usually under overhangs or in caves.
I have not seen them mate yet. But if they are digging they probably are in good shape.

 

[Killerdrgn]

So wait do you put the tank inside the fridge or outside on a windowsill? Do you have them in saltwater or fresh?

 

[Paul B]

I don't do either. I have them in a small tank on top of my workbench in my shop.
They are in freshwater because they only live a few seconds in saltwater.

 

[jejton]

Great info.
About the blackworms- dont they need to be kept in cold water?
Just a note of caution regarding injecting vitamins - fat soluble vitamins, like Vitaman's E and A, are not soluble in water and therefore do not usually get excreted when they are in excess. Rather they get stored in fatty tissues and an excess of this in ( human's at least) will have various toxic effects. I assume the same is true for fish so dose vitamin's very carefully.

 

[Paul B]

Jejton, I am glad you said that but I think fish need or at least can tolorate much more fat soluble vitamins than humans can. The reason I say that is because their diet is much richer in those oils than our's is. We don't usually eat a diet every day of whole fish like fish do. These oils are stored in the liver of a fish which can be as much as a quarter of the weight of the fish as in say a shark. So if a fish eats another fish weighing 4 oz. then almost an ounce of that was oil. much of that oil is vitamin A , and D. This much vitamin A and D a day would surely kill us in short order.
But Jejton, you may be correct and we should be very careful and limit the amount of these oils we give to our animals. I do know that in the sea they get much more of it than we feed them.
Thanks Jejton.
Paul

PS, the blackworms do not need to be kept in cold water unless they are overcrowded

 

[danelam]

great info Paul, thanks for that.

Where do you get these blackworms from?

 

[Sean]

thanks Paul great info
I've always kept blackworms in a fridge and they didn't last to long just a couple of weeks. next time I get worms I'm going to try your technique. thanks again

 

[danelam]

sean where do you get your blackworms from?

 

[Sean]

wholesale

 

[sporty]

Thanks for a great article and posts

 

[Paul B]

In NY they are very common in most pet shops. They are usually on the counter in small containers.
Paul