A thing I hoped but secretly never thought I'd actually see: ATTACHMENT!!!

[Rolla P]

It's all down to water quality...Every time. At 4 weeks the fry are larger, eating more and pooping more but it they don't get more WC the dread 4 week syndrome attacks.

Sorry for the short response, but I only have a minute before being log out. Liz and Dan has already answer the major problems. I can add only one other problem that a hobbyist had was his tank was clean but the breeding pair was dirty so he remove the fry in a few days that seem to work. Maybe he should of cleaned up the pair first.

Cliff

So often times it's a maintenance thing chalked up to the "4 week syndrome" and opposed to an actual parasite/pathogen?

Question; is 4 week syndrome sometimes as a result of gill fluke infestation? The young fry pick up flukes feeding off the bottom of tanks where the adults carry flukes but are able to tolerate them. The fry succumb as the flukes mature and large quantities of fry die off as a result??

I thought temp kept gill flukes at bay. It's a topic that I definitely have to look into more.

That aside day 14 update: BBS in the tank and I haven't wiped the outside glass in a few days but hopefully you can still see the changes.

[Rolla P]

So I went to give the female her feed of fdAbw, turned around and saw this new development for the first time.

https://i.imgur.com/BwLQOfF.mp4

[LizStreithorst]

Super duper excellent. Those look like healthy well cared for babies.

The 4 week syndrome is a product of parasite ridden parents often coupled with inadequate maintence. In the best of all possible worlds the parents would have been wormed, treated for hex, and treated for flukes prior to breeding and tank maintence would be perfect.

[Rolla P]

Thanks again Liz for the info.

I have a little bit of an emergency. The female seems to be in some discomfort with the babies picking at her. Is it time to remove her? It's exactly 2 weeks since they went free swimming?

[LizStreithorst]

Yes. Remove her. She'll likely eat the kids otherwise. Your babies are doing exceptionally well. They'll do fine without mom.

[Iminit]

Wow great video! They are hungry little fish!! Thanks for starting this thread. This has been very educational. What you’ve done is great and the help is outstanding.

[Rolla P]

Yes. Remove her. She'll likely eat the kids otherwise. Your babies are doing exceptionally well. They'll do fine without mom.

It's really weird experience and I was very apprehensive about the move, but she was being chased by the fry lol.

Wow great video! They are hungry little fish!! Thanks for starting this thread. This has been very educational. What you’ve done is great and the help is outstanding.

Thanks you Iminit.

And I agree the help has been outstanding. The babies are definitely being raised via a community effort.

[CliffsDiscus]

You should be on the beefheart schedule and increase waterchanges.

Cliff

[Rolla P]

I tried measuring their growth today but that's difficult because A: They don't pose and B: the tank is a bow front so the measurement isn't accurate with curved glass. But I got a measurement of 2.2CM on average.

I'm not sure where that puts me in terms of progress in 18 days. I've read that they should grow by at least 1 inch per month and if that's true I have 10 days to get an additional 3.4 MM. I did a combination of recording and basically following them around the front glass with a tape measure.

blurry screen grab

You should be on the beefheart schedule and increase waterchanges.

Cliff

They're in a 180 bow front filled to 70% capacity so 126L or 33gal. They get over 100% changed via 2 daily water changes of 50-60%

As for the beef heart... I'm just not a fan of it and I'm wondering if FDABW which is almost as high in protein will suffice?

[Rolla P]

Day 19

[Second Hand Pat]

Day 19

They look great
Pat

[Rolla P]

They look great
Pat

Hi Pat and thank you.

I am trying my best to grow them out but I'm noticing slight variations in size. Is that a natural occurrence at this stage and if so what would be the cause?

Thanks.

[Rolla P]

Unfortunately I've noticed that the second spawn from a different pair aren't growing at the same pace?

Same dual sponge filtrater seeded from the same canister filter. Same temp. Same WC schedule. Same food (BBS) and same number of feeds but unfortunately, they haven't grown at the same rate? They're on day 9 of free swimming but in comparison much smaller. I have seen some (6 or so) remain at the same size and look closer to first free swimming.

Is this natural or am I a fault somewhere?

[Second Hand Pat]

Unfortunately I've noticed that the second spawn from a different pair aren't growing at the same pace?

Same dual sponge filtrater seeded from the same canister filter. Same temp. Same WC schedule. Same food (BBS) and same number of feeds but unfortunately, they haven't grown at the same rate? They're on day 9 of free swimming but in comparison much smaller. I have seen some (6 or so) remain at the same size and look closer to first free swimming.

Is this natural or am I a fault somewhere?

So strains grow slower then others. What's the strain of the second pair?
Pat

[Rolla P]

So strains grow slower then others. What's the strain of the second pair?
Pat

Same strain "BD" but a different pair that spawned 12 days later.