I moved all of the red ears out of the tank except the male last week.
The red ear fry started swimming early friday morning 5/30. I tried to take pictures of them but i just cant get the camera to focus on them in the 60 gallon aquarium. The 100 gallon aquarium i had the bluegill fry in has the back painted black which helped a lot.
The one thing i though was weird is that it seemed like all the fry left the nest but then i saw more eggs over on the far side of the tank in a much smaller nest. I didnt notice the other nest before. I dont know if the male could have moved the eggs or if that was just another nest from a different male and female i didnt notice before.
an additional point of interest is that once the male found the other eggs, he guarded that nest too and would fan the other nest's eggs
I have siphoned off 70% of the aquarium water to the green water tank 3 times now. Each time i refilled the aquarium with fresh water from my outdoor aquaponics system. Each time it siphoned thousands of fry into the green water tank but the 60 gallon aquarium still has wall to wall red ear fry. I read on this forum where people say that red ears wont take over a pond like blue gill but if that is the case it's not because they produce less eggs. at least that is my humble small sample size of experience.
I have an aerator in the greenwater ibc and the algae bloom is still healthy. This is my best chance of having fry grow large enough to eat commercial feed.
I add a teaspoon of spirulina powder to the 60 gallon tank 2-3 times a day. I dont know if the fry can even eat the spirulina but if they cant the fish tank fry will be dead in the next couple of days. If i still see fry swimming around by thursday or friday i will assume they are eating and i will move the male out of the tank and continue to try to grow the aquarium fry.
brian
