No problem I love sharing ideas... I made an incubator like the ones used for full sizes cichlids eggs by breeders.. as an alternative to letting them mouth breed (they hold the eggs in their mouths) from what I've seen their eggs are 5-10 times larger than what I'm working with. Dwafs as you know lay eggs and protect them but I was having troubles with the parents eating the eggs or wiggler's after hatch. As I'm trying to be productive and proactive in securing hatches I saw a need to artificially incubate them at the time. I was also operating under belief that mold was an issue which the incubator negates with movement of eggs.
Now I've streamlined my process a bit.. I don't use the incubator often. I now let the parents keep them clean for 24 hrs then remove the matrix they laid on and wait for hatch. Afterwords it will be 3-4 days until free swimming so I suck them up with a dropper and deposit them in the tube. This is to keep them nice and safe, free of debris in the tank which dirty or stick to them. Every 8-12 hrs I use a dropper to blow them around on the tube, one can also suck out particles.. the tube is an extra gravel cleaning tube... I placed a square of filter fabric over the bottom and secure tightly with a rubber band. It's set inside a pop bottle with the top cut off so it doesn't tip and also won't contact the fabric on the bottom of the cylinder or not in a way to effect fry. The pop bottle and tube are useful if you don't want to move parents.. the pop bottle protects the tub or the incubator so the parents won't eat the fry right through the fabric on the bottom of the tube.. it happened once... Then very mad then pop bottle..
Once they are free swimming in the tube I take a pic or get to visually document release of the cloud.. it's very satisfying..
Now the incubator is different I cut the tube about 6-8inch.. I like to reach the bottom with my sucker... A light filter material is placed on the bottom and banded.. the filter cloth should be stretched but not as tight as possible if you tap it with your finger you want to it flex mildly but tighten up again as u release. Next you use a slightly thicker material.. I cut a thin section out of a sock.. ya... It was washed... And you stretch that around the top. Then I secure the snorkel piece which normally attached the cleaning tube to the syphoned hose over the top to hold that fabric. I also added a longer tube to the top. Next you place an airline down inside the top tune and adjust bubbles.. now the function.. the bubbles out the top influnce the top fabric which because thicker pulls back and forth. This draws water up through the bottom fabric and back. The two membranes beat like a drum and bounce the eggs..
Ok so here's a little extra.. a video I uploaded a bit ago which shows my incubator in action. Please enjoy
-Erik
