Is there any ways to make a fish fry grow bigger and faster?

[Aquanoob]

This is the situation, I have 18 German Blue Ram fry which is about 2 months plus old. They are growing but they are still so tiny that even the 2 weeks old guppy fry is bigger than them. I believe this is the difference between egg-laying fish and livebearer. I am feeding them microworm and occasional baby brine shrimp, as they simply don't take fry powder food, and that is also why I lost some through unclean water due to uneaten food. They are house in a guppy tank with floating hornwort.

My question is that is there any super fry food that will make them grow bigger and faster? Some people suggested Tubifex worm but I think they will contain internal parasite and bacteria, so I never feed them. Then I read that a regular changer of water will help, I don't quite understand the reason behind. Then some suggested using a bigger tank for the fry will allow them to grow up faster, ok, I read of the reason before. So is there any proven ways to allow the fry to grow fast, big in a short time?

On the same note, I have Kribs fry that will eat anything and they are growing very fast. They will take flakes, pellets, bbs, microworm, fry powder food, anything that I put into the water will be gone in a flash.

[lucasjiang]

Normally for fries i ensure that water quality is good, through weekly water changes and sponge filters, regular feedings (i try to do it twice a day), feeding a wide variety of food, and feeding food high in protein. This will ensure that your fry are healthy, and the extra protein helps them to grow faster.

[stormhawk]

Regular water change, feed with high protein foods will get them bigger faster. Microworms as a main diet is not sufficient for nutrition. You need to feed BBS along with Moina if you can find it, then switch to worms when they are able to ingest them. A mix of tubifex and grindal worms will do, or gut-loaded grindal worms would be good if you don't like tubifex worms. When you change water, you reduce nitrates etc in the tank, and bring in new minerals etc present in the water. Bigger tanks also give them more space to grow.

Ram fry typically are not fussy about food. Have you tried feeding them with powdered food?

Perhaps you can raise them with your next batch of Krib fry. They might be able to "learn" from the Krib fry on what is good as food, if they are not willing to take dry foods at first.

[Emokidz]

Tubifex works wonders for me. So does BBS. Daphnia for fry, but it soon becomes insufficient when the fry reach guppy fry size or larger. Alternatively, you could try frozen daphnia and bbs if you can't get hold of live foods regularly. But try to give them occassional treats of live food.

[Aquanoob]

Stormhawk, yes, I tried feeling the ram fry with powder food before I switch to pure live food. They will not eat, maybe some brave one will nib at it but the rest never touch it as all. That is why I get the microwrm culture from a member here and started feeling them. I can get readily bbs at my side in the north from Y618 and it is an occasional treat for the ram and krib fry. But where can I get Moina? I google it as it look almost the same as the bbs in colour and size? I think I will move them to a bigger tank and try out whether they grow faster and bigger.

[stormhawk]

Y618 also stocks Moina I think. It's been a few years since I last visited that store but I remember they had both BBS and Moina. You have to ask the uncle for "ang boon" because Moina or Daphnia, they don't understand. You must make the BBS or Moina the main stay of their diet. Microworm contains insufficient protein for them to grow, since their nutritional content is not exactly high.

BBS and Moina are similar in size but different in shape if you look closely. Good part about Moina is that they can stay alive in your fry tank for days, as compared to BBS, which die in freshwater in a short period of time. Even for BBS, they lose nutritional value each hour as they molt into bigger instars. They are best used when newly hatched. Once the fry start eating high protein foods like worms, they will grow quickly. A varied diet is best for optimum fry growth.

If they don't take powdered food, you can try to feed the powdered food to grindal worms, and feed the worms to your fry. Takes some practice to culture them but fairly easy once you get the hang of it. I keep a tub of green water going to feed my Moina since 50 cents can last about 3 days if you're diligent enough in removing the dead ones.

[Aquanoob]

Thanks Stormhawk, you are very helpful. I will try to get the moina and bbs often to feed the fry and hopefully they can grow up fast. In fact I just lost one yesterday night, now only left 17 fry.

[tetrakid]

When I had fry before (long ago), I have ever used egg yolk too. I always mix a pinch of it in a cup of water and stir it until it is well dispersed (no more lumps) before I drip them into the fry tank carefully with a small dropper.

[stormhawk]

Aqua, if you can, get some small snails, preferably young ramshorn or MTS, and place them in the nursery tank. They will take care of uneaten food and contribute to infusoria growth.

[mobile2007]

Hmm, i visited Y618 quite often and i dont see them selling monia ( boon) at all.

I used to brew bbs everyday for my apisto fry and the growth rate are good and even. But, you have to get used to hatching bbs. For me, after some practise, i dont really find that much of hassle.

Of course, feeding microworms will be easier, but again you have to culture them.

[stormhawk]

Weird, maybe they don't get supply anymore. Last time I bought boon either from 618 or the old Go Nature at 932? I think.

Problem with BBS is the leftover egg shells, which will get into the tanks every now and then. Any fry that choke on the shells will die. That's why I prefer using Moina aka "boon".

[mobile2007]

Well, maybe they run out of "boon" pretty fast.

Egg shells is a headache, but after few round of hatching, i am quite good at getting the bbs without shell ( using those DIY soda bottle ) .

Weird, maybe they don't get supply anymore. Last time I bought boon either from 618 or the old Go Nature at 932? I think.

Problem with BBS is the leftover egg shells, which will get into the tanks every now and then. Any fry that choke on the shells will die. That's why I prefer using Moina aka "boon".

[doppelbanddwarf]

I remember Y618 and Aquastar do stock "boon". I have not really taken notice the last few times I went to Y618 and has been a lot time since I been to Aquastar. Go Nature has closed down for about 2-3 years already.

OT a bit here, has anyone used the BBS dish hatchery? I've not used it for a long time and forgotten roughly how many teaspoons of salt to use. My past few attempts to hatch bbs with different small bottles of brineshrimp egg have all failed.

[mobile2007]

2 big tablespoon,take note it's tablespoon , not teaspoon...use those rough/coarse salt from Y618 or LFS.

The issue with those dish hatchery, very low hatch rate.

I remember Y618 and Aquastar do stock "boon". I have not really taken notice the last few times I went to Y618 and has been a lot time since I been to Aquastar. Go Nature has closed down for about 2-3 years already.

OT a bit here, has anyone used the BBS dish hatchery? I've not used it for a long time and forgotten roughly how many teaspoons of salt to use. My past few attempts to hatch bbs with different small bottles of brineshrimp egg have all failed.

[doppelbanddwarf]

I must have used teaspoon! Thanks a lot. The thing I like about the dish hatchery is I would not introduce egg shells or saltwater into the fry tank. And its convenient should my family have to help me with the feeding.

[mobile2007]

forget to mention, many bbs eggs sold in lfs have very bad hatch rate.

[stormhawk]

Often, the LFS do not know how to package and store the eggs properly. They should be stored in airtight containers and in cool temperatures. Ronnie taught me how to store them in the vegetable compartment in the fridge, so that they remain "fresh" for months. Typical practice at the LFS is to buy a 1 pound can or two of eggs and re-package the eggs in small "sng buay" containers that come with screw lids and not very airtight to begin with.

My gf once bought for me a vial of San Francisco Bay Brand brine shrimp eggs from this marine LFS at Sin Ming Plaza? The hatch rate was fairly decent but the resultant BBS were quite pale in color.

The disc hatchery has low hatch rates because it does not utilise aeration. To get better hatches, you can try to rig up a small airstone to run into the hatchery. Some form of aeration or water agitation will help.

[bernie]

Sorry if I OT.
Some fries remains small as compared to its siblings needs to be culled ?
What will be their lifespan compared to growing normally ones ?
If the food we feed them are almost equal , poor growth is a gene issue ?

[stormhawk]

Stunted fry can be kept around if there is space. If they show obvious deformities like kinked spines, then culling might be a good idea.

In every batch of fry, one or two will be runts. You can separate these into another tank and feed them as you normally would. Given enough space and less competition for food, some runts can grow a little bigger. I have a runt in my batch of killie fry but it is growing, albeit slowly. No signs of deformities so I'm keeping it around.

As for lifespan, it's hard to say. If conditions are right and food is available constantly, they should stay alive for a good period of time. Poor growth is usually due to competition from their siblings for food. One will dominate the rest and eat the most food, hence it grows fastest. This is normal for most fish, since at times, the weaker ones get cannibalised by their siblings.

[mobile2007]

So far, the best bbs eggs that i used was from brineshrimpdirect. Grade A only ( approx 80% ), yet i always get very satisfied result.

Humidity is a critical factor in storing bbs eggs. Once the can is opened, you need to keep it in a low humidity place. Example, your digital camera dry cabinet, your lower compartment of fridge , your wine cabinet. I used to keep some bbs eggs for 1.5 years in my fridge, yet it still able to give pretty good hatch... Remember, DRY and cool storage...