Automatic Feeder

When I bought my tank, I got with it an automatic feeder. As I like to watch my fish when feeding and use the time to see if all are present and well, the automatic feeder got assigned to the cupboard. But when we decided to go on holiday, I realised this could be very useful tool to feed the fish. So a week before we went on holiday I set it up to feed the fish every 12 hours, so that they could get used to it.

The automatic feeder consists of two parts, one that controls the motor and the timings of when to feed the fish; and the other is a compartment where the food goes into. This compartment has an adjustable gap where the food falls out of when the motor rotates the compartment. Getting the right size of the gap took some time as too big and the fish get overfed and too small and the food does not come out. After a bit of trial and error, I found that the granules worked best for feeding, as the flakes kept getting stuck when a bit of moisture got into the compartment.

The first time we went on holiday, the feeder worked fine and the fish looked well fed on our return. But just before we went on our second holiday, the baby Mollies arrived and this meant that the feeder would only feed adult fish and not the babies as they were in the breeding trap. So for that holiday I had to get external help to come and feed both the adult and baby fish. I have since used it again with success and unless I need babies to be fed, I will use this when going on a holiday.

Box the Juwel automatic feeder came in

Automatic feeder installed on the lid of the tank

Babies Update

We now have 6 baby Platties in the breeding trap and there are still 7 swimming around the tank. I have decided not to try and catch every one of the babies, as the tank is starting to get full, so I have decided to let nature take its course. Seems nature is already having an effect and the Siamese fighter is not well and appears to have Dropsy. I cannot tell if it is from eating all the baby fish or from some infection.

Out With The Old, In With The New

While L was feeding the fish this morning, she noticed a few new babies swimming around the bottom. When I got home tonight, I was able to catch 3 of the 4 that I saw. They look different to the baby Mollies, and I suspect they are Platties. So I had to fish out the breeding trap which had just been put away. Luckily I am acquiring new fish without paying a penny :-)

Two of the three waiting to go into the breeding trap

By the look of the Siamese Fighter's stomach, someone has had their Xmas dinner early

Freed Babies

Today I decided that the baby Mollies were getting too big for the breeding trap and decided to release them into the tank. I gave them a quick feed and half an hour later released them. Just after I released them, I dropped some frozen bloodworms into the tank to distract the other fish from the presence of the babies. Mommy molly still found them and reminded them who ruled the tank, but so far they seem to be settling in.

Bigger Babies

Since my last post, the babies have grown considerably. Some are bigger than others. Not sure if this indicates sex, as I have noticed that the female adults are bigger than the males, or the bigger ones are those that are just quicker at getting the food. I am thinking of releasing the babies into the tank in a week or two, as the breeding trap is starting to get a bit crowded and the baby Mollies are nearly as big as the smallest Cardinal Tetra.

7 of the 8 wanting their food

Siamese Fighter watching his meal get bigger

Mom sucking the babies food through the gaps

Holiday

Over the last few weeks L and I have been away on holiday, which has led to a lack of blog posts. One of the dilemmas we had was how the baby Mollies were going to be fed as the automatic feeder would either not give them any food or empty all the food into the breeding trap. Luckily I was able to get a friend of mine to come in once a day and give them all their daily feed. It worked well and all the babies are much bigger now. We only lost a Danio, which was looking old before we went away. I was surprised to see how much algae had grown on the glass, so will be doing a bit of cleaning up this weekend.

Babies Update

The 5 baby Mollies I caught last night all survived in my temporary safe haven I created with the the jug. I was able to transfer them successfully to the Marina Floating Fish Hatchery (breeding trap) I bought. I was able to catch another 3 babies and noticed that there is still one more swimming in the tank. So it was a total of 9. The last one is hiding amongst the plants and after several attempts I decided to leave it as I was worried that I might knock the breeding trap and let the rest of the babies out. So unless it happens to swim over to the other side of the tank, I will leave it alone.

Box the breeding trap came in

Breeding trap floating in the corner of the tank

with 4 visible babies

Exciting News

As I started cleaning the tank tonight, I noticed something small dart away from my hand. Curious, I looked around the tank and found a baby Molly. I called L to come have a look. Together we found another. I decided to catch them to prevent them from getting eaten. As I was trying to catch them L was finding more and more. In total we found 8 of them. I was able to catch 5 of them and put them in a white plastic jug, which I am floating in the water to keep the jug's water temperature as close as possible to that of the tank. I have added a Java fern leaf to give them somewhere to hide under. Tomorrow I am going to buy a breeding trap to put the 5 babies in. Hopefully a few will survive.

3 of the 5 Mollies

Strange thing is that the male Molly has been dead now for a month. An interesting fact about female Mollies is that they can store sperm for a few months, allowing them to breed without the help of a male.