What’s A Mop?

I am constantly talking about my mops… I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve learned over the last 8 months in the Rainbow Business…

Have you raised any bows? Or any fish?

The easiest way to do it is to have a 10 gallon bare bottom tank with either a sponge filter, or just an airstone… I use a rubber band to decrease the
airflow, you can use a valve. The bubbles can’t make big waves, or the fry won’t survive.

Temp at 82-86 degrees F

If you’re setting up a new aquarium just for this… Aged water is best… If you don’t have any, or any RO water, just treat the water with stress coat or prime. Also… Take a little gladware container or tupperware or something and fill it full of gravel from a well established tank. Place it in a corner of the tank.

Just drop the mop into the tank, you’ll have fry soon.

You REALLY have to look for the fry. I raise angels, and the bows are SO much smaller than the angels.

Once you see fry… You need to feed them. When I sell a mop, I enclose a vinegar eel starter.
Do you know how to raise vinegar eels? More on that to follow… For now… when you get fry… use a pipett and fill it (including the bulb) 3/4 of the way with tank water, then 1/4 of the way with the vinegar eel solution. I feed in the morning, and in the evening. Or you can use golden pearls… or microworms… After they hatch and start growing… in about a week you can start adding baby brine shrimp to the tank with the vinegar eels… Then in 4 or 5 weeks you can start adding pulverized flakes… Always feed in the same place… and if you don’t think they’re eating… use a spotlight to feed them… Turn off the tank lights and use a flashlight. The fish will come to the light and you can drop in the eels from there.

You can also use green water, or if you have a well planted tank… the fry can munch off the little microscopic creatures that live there.

There’s some great info on the forum Bowheads.org If you go there… search for my posts… I just started raising fry… well my first mops hatched June 8th… so that’s around the time of the posts that will walk you through it.

There are always a ton of eggs on the mops I send out. Some are already eyed up when they’re shipped out. They are really hard to see the first time. The best way to see them is to wring out the mop and lay it on a paper towel on the kitchen table (or anywhere well lit) and just kind of pick up some strands and look for the eggs… They look like a drop of water, but really really small. Here’s the giant thread that everybody helped me on, when I got my first mops…

Let’s see… Roan had a good link to raising vinegar eels… Don’t refrigerate them. http://bowheads.org/aquafacts/forums/wiki/index.php/Vinegar_Eels  That’s a good one for harvesting… Put a slice of apple in the bottom of the bottle too… Now for raising… you need a container… I use the big gatorade jug… like a gallon? Or you could use a 64 oz. Juice bottle… Drill some REALLY small holes in the lid… or just lay the cap on, instead of screwing it on. Mix together 50% Apple cider vinegar or malt vinegar (No distilled White vinegar) and 50% water… Mix that good in the container you’re going to use… then add the culture. Drop in a couple slices of apple and you’re good to go. Then for harvesting… I set up 4 Corona bottles like in the link, and then use a different bottle each time I feed… Just topping off the bottles with fresh water. One good squeeze and suck with one of those droppers will feed the fry. There’ll be tons of eels in there. Once every 2 weeks I dump the beer bottles back into the culture and mix up some new vinegar and water to fill the bottles, and add the culture and start over… That way the main culture continues to grow. And if there was ever a problem, I actually have 3 main cultures now, in different bottles, in case something happened to one of them. Just remember… the fry are TINY!!! you may have to get down and look up towards the light to see them… Or cover the back of your aquarium with something white or black so you can see them. You’ll be tickled when they start swimming. It’s super cool and super addictive!