healthy fry question-comment

[seiji64]

Ted emphasized 2 basic things: water quality & good food density.
Water quality is particularly important in the first 2 weeks of the fry's life. He recommended small water changes as often as possible but at least every 2-3 days. But to be mindful that young fry are much more sensitive to pH & temp changes. So make sure the parameters of the water you are adding/changing match and do small changes at first. As they get older, you can change more of the water out: 25/50% in 1-4 wk range, 50/75% after that.

By food density he meant the amount of food that is near enough for the fry to see & eat. You need to find the balance of maximizing food density while minimizing food waste. He sometimes uses "targeted feedings" with syringes, tubing and pipettes, placing the food close to the fry.

He recommended using a dedicated fry tank and lowering the water level (down to an inch even for surface inclined fry) to maximize food density. Then do several cycles of just adding an inch of water (you can use water from the parents main tank), then lower the water level again and start the cycle over.

Another way was to use a DIY modded, in tank, refugium/breeder thing, that I'll try to describe. Sides and bottom of clear plastic container had no holes or vents before modding. It looked like the containers they use in fish stores to hold fish before bagging, maybe a little bigger(?). He drilled one hole in the bottom and pushed the tube of a basic sponge bubble filter through it. The tube was inside the breeder/container, the sponge was underneath in the main tank. He then drilled a bulkhead near the top in the side of the container and lodged some fine netting (he cut a piece off of a media filter bag) between the bulkhead pieces to allow for outflow. It was an excellent mod. Hope that helps...

Doug

[eleontie]

Did your kribs fry ate non-live food ?
I can not fool my bolivian rams fry into eating anything but live things. I have microworms which are fine, but if I do not time well the cultures I do not have what to feed them.
Baby brine shrimp are a hassle to hatch and harvest ... I could use some advice if anyone has how to culture them...

Eugen

[ddavila06]

i don't use anything alive, except for maybe a few extra small crickets. i used frozen brine shrimp and blood worms when i had the kribs. since they were not born at my house but at my mom's. i told her to drop a cube of brine and blood worm every other day and i did byweekly water changes...i guess the fry ate microstuff from the ground?? maybe the parents ate and feed them the chew up stuff?

[sherrymitchell]

Dave at Centreville has the Cyclopeeze, frozen. A brick of the stuff goes for $13 and will last FOREVER. You can also feed freshly hatched baby brine shrimp. I thought it was going to be a hassle to hatch my own, but I bought a little vial of eggs and hatched them in a tall pasta jar. It was so easy and the baby guppies went NUTS for them....

I also grind up micro pellets and flake food and feed that when I'm between hatches of live food. And there's frozen baby brine shrimp too.

[ddavila06]

so basicly i wasn't doing so bad after all, im very interested in those cyclopeeze things since it seems to be a very nutritional source. too bad i missed the meeting yesterday, but we all made some sort of a conclusion, kool thanks

[marge618]

Damian,

I thought you were going to the CCA meeting yesterday? That was the topic of the talk given by Ted Judy. Sean is right, and there are other's depending on the size of the fry and the work you are willing to put in. Might want to post this question over on CCA.

Rob

Ditto. Also, when you go to CCA look for any posts about the meeting you missed. Much of the presentation might be accessed through ACA as well.

Good luck.

[sherrymitchell]

One thing about the cyclopeeze, is that it was a little too big for my baby guppies in the first week or two of their lives. I stuck with hatched baby brine shrimp and ground up fish food. Now that they are older, they can fit the cyclopeeze in their mouthgs and I feed that too. Of course, baby guppies are really small, and your fry may be bigger, but I thought I'd mention it.....

[krisw]

For some small fish, like the I. werneri you have Damian, you need to feed them powdered food, or even green water (algae) to get them up to baby brine shrimp. Or, have plenty of established mosses with infusoria.

[ddavila06]

For some small fish, like the I. werneri you have Damian, you need to feed them powdered food, or even green water (algae) to get them up to baby brine shrimp. Or, have plenty of established mosses with infusoria.

luckily, those came larger that the furcatas, at almost one inch they have no problem eating the granules and the baby new life spectrum. the furcatas are like a cm and half in lenght and so far i been doing the baby new life and the freeze dried bloodworms. but thanks

[krisw]

Oh, I meant if your I. werneri ever have babies. Those fry are tiny!