Fry won't eat BBS!

[goldenmunky]

Hello folks, my frys have been more than 7 days old and whenever I add the frozen bbs in the water, all they do is look at it or go to it's mother. I believe it's the reason why the frys are slowely doing, the brood is dying :( But trying them with some ick and bacteria problem.

Need suggestions plz!

btw hatching live BBS atm while we speak.

[Aquatic_Design]

How often and are you doing WC? It sounds like it may be a problem with your water quality.
JMO
Donna :)

[Carol_Roberts]

Are you feeding frozen brine shrimp or frozen baby brineshrimp? IF frozen baby brineshrimp where do you get them?

[nokoto]

Hey carol

I got frozen bbs too...

I got some to mix with live bbs and there web site www.sfbb.com

Hope that helps

Wayne

[Carol_Roberts]

Thanks, Wayne ;D

[shamsoo]

IMO fry needs something moving so they can chase it and eat it

[RyanH]

This is a topic that is of great interest to me as I will be trying over the next couple of days to get my fry to go on bbs. This is my first time doing this and if anyone has any little tricks or experiences they could share that could assist us in getting our fry to go for this new food source, I would certainly appreciate the feedback. I'm sure Goldenmonkey would as well!!

I hatched out a batch last night and I am using a large eye dropper to squirt the bbs as close to the fry as I can without the parents completely freaking out on me. Basically I have been squirting a bit above the parents and letting the bbs rain down on them. The fry may be a bit young yet but according to everything I have read, they should be ready to go on bbs within the next couple of days.

Again, any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time!

[Discusgeo]

If that doesn't work you need to try the Golden Pearls either of the 2 sizes.

200-300 microns or the 300-500 micron size.

The larger the micron number, the larger the particle size. A newly hatched brine shrimp is about 400 microns)


Golden Pearls have tiny air pockets that keep the feed particles in the water column, not on the bottom of the tank. Golden Pearls mimic live brine shrimp nauplii.

Ingredients: Brine shrimp, squid, shrimp and fish protein, animal protein, purified fish oils, phospholipids, astaxanthin, vitamins and protected minerals, antioxidants, and immunostimulants.

George

[RyanH]

Discusgeo,

I am interested in trying your product but Shamsoo has a valid point, it makes sense that something that is alive and moving around would be more attractive to fry than something non-living and not moving regardless of the nutritional value.

So wouldn't it be easier to transition fry from their parents slime coat to other types of foods by getting them to eat live bbs first, and then move them to other types of foods like golden pearls?

again, any input would be appreciated.

[goldenmunky]

Hey folks! Thanks for the advices! Here is my story :P

Carol, I bought my frozen baby brine shrimp at my local fish store.

First time, they didn't even try eating the frozen brine shrimp so I said screw this, gonna go hatch them myself.

So what I did was hatch those puppies, 24 hours later, I dumped it all in the tank and see if they go for it, and the good news is, they all went for it and their stomachs is just filled with shrimp, I can tell by the orange color in their stomachs :) The mom looked happy after that since she won't have them pec at her 24 hours, anyways the bad news is, they are all over the bottom but the good thing is that the fry learned to eat from the bottom :) Then, the next day, I tried the frozen bbs to see if they accept it and guess what? They finally did :) I guess they finally got the taste of the bbs so they go after them.

So it's good now, I've been doing 20% water changes every morning to clean out the dead baby brine and feeding them frozen till the live ones are done :)

[RyanH]

That's fantastic news!!

great job! So you basically just dumped a huge amount of bbs into your tank all at once and they just went for them huh? Hopefully it will be that easy for me.

I think my fry may be a bit young yet. They have been free swimming for about 4 days now. I'll keep trying to feed them every chance I get until they start eating. Your right though, those bbs make a mess of the tank. I just did at least a 50 % water change and they are still everywhere.

[Discusgeo]

Ryan I always let my parent Discus feed their fry on the sides as I too want them to get the slime coat in their stomach. I am just stating that if for some reason your babies don't feed off the parents and they won't eat live BBS then you need to get something in there stomachs before they die on you. I too start out my Baby Discus with BBS that I hatch. But as they get older I start to add food with more nutritional values. That's when I start using the Golden Pearls and as they get even older I start them on Frozen foods. I have been lucky I guess as all my fry have always found the sides of the parents to feed from. But as I said earlier Golden Pearls have tiny air pockets that keep the feed particles in the water column, not on the bottom of the tank. Golden Pearls mimic live brine shrimp nauplii.
And then they get the added nutrients Brine shrimp, squid, shrimp and fish protein, animal protein, purified fish oils, phospholipids, astaxanthin, vitamins and protected minerals, antioxidants, and immunostimulants.
Don't forget that as soon as a Brine Shrimp hatches it starts using up it's own egg sack that it feeds off. When people see their BBS dying it's because there is nothing there for them to eat and the value of the BBS is no longer that great for your baby's either. If you don't provide some nutrition for the BBS at hatching or you don't feed them right away or freeze them what good are they dead. This is why I feed Golden Pearls and make a mixture of Selcon for the BBS. Selco is food for the BBS to feed from until you feed them to your Discus.

[Murphy]

Okay, dumb question what are Golden Pearls?

[shamsoo]

it is in the reply 7 and 11

George, as you said it has air pocket and they suspend in water column but mine floats on surface, and if soak them they sink down

[chuck]

Ryan,
You might find this easier to use when feeding bbs to fry.
you attach a small piece of airline tubing(1/2inch) to a dose syringe then attached a piece if clear plastic tubing to the other side of the airline tube( the kind they use for air stones on under gravel filters ,you can pick up this tubing at any LFS) . you can now suck up the bbs and squirt it near the parents without getting your hands in the water. The clear plastic tube doesn't seem to spook the parents and you can get the bbs right along side where the fry are. also this method allows you to keep the water cleaner by not having to dump large amounts of bbs into the tank. IMO it's best to let the fry feed on the parents only for about 5 days then you can fed bbs for another 4 by the 9-10 day the fry will take crushed flake and frozen ONF1.
chuck

[Divantie]

The Golden Pearls! You've seen a ship with golden sails, that's crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that Hell inself spat him back out. Now that the Golden Pearls ;D ;D ;D ;D

[RyanH]

My fry are now 8 days free swimming and I still can't get them to go for the bbs. I will see one pick at them a bit but nothing substantial. If they don't start soon I'm worried that I am going to lose them. :'(

[RyanH]

... and Divantie, just where the hell did that come from? :)

[goldenmunky]

Don't need to worry Ryan :P I started to feed BBS to my fry when they were almost 14 days at freeswimming hehe. Don't need to worry that much because they can eat from the parent's slimecoat.