Yes I did. I pretty much followed what Joyce said as if it was a cookbook. That batch is now almost three months old and doing great (and a lot of fun to watch).
I have had three more batches and experimented by being a little lax and not following every detail that she said to do. Bad idea. Short cuts don't work. One was a total failure (all died in 24 hours), One all died in a week, and one had a major loss, but I still have a handful of survivors that are now 2 months old.
Bottom line .... do what she says!
Here is what I learned from the experiments.
1) MUST have rotifers. Other food that I purchased that advertised being able to replace rotifers did not work. MUST have
micro algae to feed the rotifers. High SG kills the rotifers. Try to keep the rotifer tank at 1.014 (if the babies are at 1.021)
2) A quick change in temperature or SG will kill instantly.
3) Vigerous cleaning or a loud noise (like dropping the lid shut) can kill instantly (shock).
4) Nitrate, Nitrite, and PH are not as important and they can survive suprising off levels. I found that you can skimp on water changes, as long as you vacumn the junk off the bottom.
5) Once they morph and you get the tank cycled (biolgoical filtration with a
sponge filter) you can pretty much just let it go. I have killed more youngsters during cleaning and water changes than I would like to admit.
