2 week old fry

[Pat_in_NC]

After numerous attempts just to get to the wriggler stage (15-20 spawns with two pairs) I finally tried April and Cary's suggestion of Maroxy and Bam (sorry Emeril) I got about 60-80 wrigglers from a small spawn (only 3-4 unfertilized eggs that I could see). Even more surprising is that I had to go out of town for a few days just after hatching and I came back to free swimming fry attaching on the parents nicely. The mother got a bit anxious after 1 week so I removed her and the remaining 40 or so fry have been doing great (I have lost only 2 that I know of since the first week--egg shell?). Since I didn't treat the parents for flukes beforehand--I have been treating with Prazi as a precaution since week 1 (similar to the 21 day treatment). The babies have been eating live bbs voraciously since day 6 and recently they have started to try to eat the blackworms (quite comical to see), and crushed flake food. I do 2 40-50% wc a day as well. Here is a pic of the young family--I had to use a flash so the colors are a bit off. I was hoping to leave dad for another week and then remove him to the community tank for a rest. Anything I should be watching out for at this point? Should I keep up the prazi treatment for the full 21 days?

Thanks for all the help guys (and gals)!

Pat

[chirohorn]

Congrats! The fry look to be doing good.

[Kagan]

I think they look good. You are on the right way. One thing is important now. Watch the dad well. Maintain the water quality high. Good luck. And post more images as time goes on.

Kagan

[Simon2000]

Congrats on fry, how are they doing. Make sure you feed em up they should be stunning when they are little larger.

Post more pics as progress continues,

good luck

[Gnome]

wow thta's so big for a 2 week old fry so what is your gh for growing the fry?
Gnome.

[Pat_in_NC]

The fry are still doing well (2.5 weeks free swimming). Gnome I don't know my exact KH but I am using a mix of 2/3 RO with 1/3 carbon-filtered, aged tap. This is the same mix I used with the breeders and gave me a conductivity of about 90 uS. Since the fry have been free swimming I have been adding RO Right (1-2 tsp per 10 gal RO water) to bring the mineral content back up for fry. The reason I have been continuing the RO water is that I have chloramines and this is the only way available to me to keep the nitrates low. I usually do 2-50% water changes a day.

Pat

[wo]

Pat:

Nice picture of the parent and fries. You must feed the fries well. My fries are only small.

WoW! Pat.....

They're looking really good :thumbsup:

Congrats ;)

Beth

[DavidH]

Pat,
I'm about to go to chloramines next month. Any ideas?
I have a RO/DI unit, just using the RO now with RO right.
Having trouble maintaining pH levels.
If you are using tap with your RO, what about the ammonia?
Are you using anything to remove it?

thx Dave

[Pat_in_NC]

Dear David,

I have a 100 gal holding bin with a heater and airstones and which has a cycled fluval filter (204) attached. The water line into the bin has a 2-stage activated carbon filter and sediment filter attached. The carbon removes the chlorine and the ammonia gets reduced to nitrate by the biological action of the fluval filter. The only problem is that it takes 24 hours to get rid of all the ammonia and nitrite so it does limit my wc capacity. I recently have put a booster pump and 100 gpd filter on my RO unit (my unit does get rid of 95% of ammonia--not all units do-check yours) and that has helped--I add the RO water to the storage bin to stretch my amounts of good water by about 30-40 gallons per day (enough for one more tank!). I use the aged, nitrified tap though because it has ions that help buffer pH swings which RO right doesn't. For the breeding pair I use 2/3 RO and 1/3 aged tap. For the fry I use 2/3 RO with 2tsp RO Right per 10g and1/3 aged tap. For all my other tanks I use aged tap and then RO water to stretch.

The major piece of advice I have is 1) get a cycled cannister filter going with long hoses to attach to the bottom of your holding bin (you don't want it losing syphon every wc) 2) get a carbon (activated or carbon block) filter to remove chlorine component of chloramine going into your storage bin. 3) until you have your filter ready I would suggest you use Prime or Amquel to soak up the excess ammonia. 4) I would measure the ammonia carefully with a Tetra Ammonia test kit--these will detect ammonia in chloramine treated tap and I have used it to help determine the correct dose of Prime to add to bring it to near zero. You need to follow what is happening to the ammonia in your system when they switch over. 5) Finally read over the Chloramine archived information in the water works section--there is a lot of useful information there.


Good luck,

Pat

[DavidH]

Thanks Pat, what about the Maroxy. I've had a few spawns but real low yields. How are you using the Maroxy.

Thx again Dave

[DavidH]

Pat I have a 100 gpd ro system. Where did you get your booster pump and was the increase much better.
I guess I'm getting about 60 gal a day now.

Dave

[Pat_in_NC]

Hi David,

I used one dose of Maroxy a few hours after fertilization using the dose recommended on the bottle. Didn't do any redosing--continued daily vaccuming of debris and 10-20% wc until the babies were 2-3 days free swimming and firmly attached to the parents. Then I increased the wc % and did it twice a day by 6 days free swimming when I started feeding bbs (you need the extra wc to keep the water quality up when feeding bbs I believe).

I got the booster pump from Randal (he is a moderator in the water works section). Send him an IM and I'm sure he'll set you up. It has had a dramatic increase in output--haven't measured it precisely but I was getting about 60 gpd with cold water on 100gp membranes and I believe it is about twice that with the pump--maybe slightly more. Also it reduces your waste water so it should pay for itself in lower water consumption over time.

Good luck,

Pat

Dave,
Is Charlotte going onto chloramines as well? I sure hope not!

Brad

[DavidH]

I don't think so Brad, it's just PWC here! Though you might want to give them a call.

Dave