An Ounce of Preparation is worth a Pound of Cure....

It is good to inculcate good habits and  many a times, good habits are from the good mentoring from our teachers at school or from some other elders at home. For example as I am preparing myself mentally and physically to start breeding again, I will make sure that all my utensils for breeding, my fishes and myself are all ready for the task ahead. As Singapore is in the tropic, I have to wait for the monsoon season to bring in the rain and cooler weather for breeding activities to happen. Meanwhile I start buying my few cans of brine shrimp eggs and if I have some older stocks still in the fridge, I would take it out to test hatching them.

 

Recently I received  a small bag of brine shrimp eggs. The hobbyist who gave it to me was hoping that I can hatch them as he tried without avail. The sad part is this hobbyist friend did not do his pre spawn preparation..he did not experiement to see whether he can hatch this bag of brine shrimp eggs nor did he experiment feeding the eggs to any of his bigger fishes.  So since he already spawned and fries are free swimming and fries need food..in desperation and since he couldn't hatch the eggs,  he fed them to two of his recent spawns...the young spawns all died.

On opening the bag, I smelled very strong bleach and since it is decap eggs, I figure that the eggs were all bubbled in bleach solution and once the outer shell of the egg were burnt off, the eggs were sieved out and dried before being pack for sale. Feeding the eggs without curing the bleach would kill any fries and even older fishes. To counter the bleach problem, I used vinegar and bubbled the eggs in it for 20 minutes to remove the bleach and  followed by washing under tap water. On the bag, instructions did mentioned no hatching required but  I tried hatching the eggs... it will not hatch and I deduced that the bleach solution used to decap the eggs is extremely strong and the eggs are just not hatcheable. Since I did cure the eggs,  I fed them successfully without mishap to some of my fishes.


Sometimes being senior in age and experiences, these are life learning experiences that I share with fellow hobbyists hoping that less will make mistakes that can be avoided and that irregardless of what endeavours we undertake, it is good to have good discipline and always think and plan ahead. Looking forward to breeding season again and it is much ado about planning...


A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door...
Confucius