Hi guys,
I would like to seek those with experience to share how they raise tiny fry that are too small for bbs as first food. I had tried species like Leptolebias minimus & Simp. costai. With big help from Mr Ronnie, I got my share of paramecium culture. Other than that, tried using vinegar eel & micro worm. So far, their growth rate is way too slow before I can start giving them bbs. Had lost half of the initial population. What can I do to increase their chance of survival? Understand that those big fry which can take bbs as first food are much easier & won't lost as many fry as long as they are able to eat. Had noticed that most of the tiny fry seems to ignore micro worm & vinegar eel or maybe they can't focus on them? Each time they darted forward they miss the worm.
Please share your experience with me. With what I've encounter, if each time I receive 40 eggs, by doing a simple calculation, say 30 hatch, after 2 weeks, I'll be left with 15 & by the time whatever made it to adulthood, don't think I'll get much chance to form any pairs.
Hi Gan,
I've manage to raise about 90% of the fry of Fundulosoma thierryi and Leptolebias fractifasciatus from the hatch.
I only feed them with paramecium culture. Feed them twice a day for the first week and do not introduce any other fiid source as this may foul the water.
Do not be too worried and believe me '"underfeed is always than overfeed'
:wink:
Au SL
Au,
How 'rich' is ur paramecium per feeding? Maybe mine is not as concentrated. I'm using the long neck bottle method same for vinegar eel harvesting. I believe I've done what is needed but those fry that don't try hard enough to eat 'something' will eventually wasted away. Maybe I should pay more attention on the paramecium culture.
I use a big glass turkey baster and feed with the culture water. Why take the trouble to harvest!
If you want a full bloom of the culture, throw in a piece of boiled cabbage and add in boiled tap water(make sure that the water is leave to cool down before addit it to the culture or the micro-organism will die. Boiling the tap water will kill other micro-organism living in the tap water). Within the next 3 days, the culture will mature and using a torcjlight shining at the culture will show a huge colony on micro-organism swimming in the water column.
Trust me that culture water will not foul the water of the raising tray. :wink:
This method is simple and it works very well for me.
Au SL
Hello
F. theirryi can take bbs on hatching (trust me).
I do not bother too much with infusoria cultures. I recently put my N. luekei under the microscope and watched them ingest and spit out the Paramecium... so much for that. 1 week later they are still around in a shallow tub crammed with Java moss. They are eating something... damned if I know what. Als we just had a cold snap and I may of lost those fry.:-(
I did witness the young N. janpapi fry eat small worms though.
For tiny fry I like to take a 2 L tub, stuff it with Java moss from an old tank and then add about 10 fry to it. This seesm to work. Never try to raise a large number of tiny fry. It is the easiest way to fail. I suggest you divide your brood into lots of ten fry and add lots of Java moss.
For what it is worth, I add some Liquifry (when I can find it) to the tubs directly onto the Java moss. This seems to increase the odds of success.
Keep well
That seems to explain why, I have about 20 fry in each container. Somehow, now that the weaker had died off to a 'comfortable' numbers for the survivors, they seems to have become stronger!
Gan, I have zero experience with tiny fry but let me tell you a story.
About 2 years ago when I had many species of Killies, I use to leave trays with water and moss all over the house. I was hatching eggs every week then so it was important to me that I have many trays with old water and plenty of infusoria.
One day, I checked on one tray which had been lying around for about 3 weeks. To my surprise, I found about 18 Aphyosemion australe fry inside. They must have hatched from eggs which came with the Java Moss. I was careless with the moss then; I often transfer them from one tank to another. The point of the story is that the 18 fry survived inspite of no feeding. Fry need very little food to get by.
Loh K L
KL,
I believe in what you said about australes. They are one of the easiest to raise. Back then, a few fry will hatch in their parents tank without me noticing them till when found, can be as big as 5mm! It's back to the same old theory: The more attention you pay to the fry(feeding, water change), the higher mortalty it seems.
So I should conclude: Aged water with moss, don't over feed & 10 fry per tub is the way to go. Some species just seems to be hell difficult though.
Tgenade: Would a dissecting microscope or hand lens type work well for those purposes?
Dear NoName, unless the fry are contained in a small enough vessel to minimize their movement, a dissecting scope won't help much... the fry are simply all over the place.Originally Posted by nonamethefish
Having greater than x20 objectives will enhance the observation experience, otherwise, what you see is still not clear enough. HTH
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
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