Variances in sizes of fry

[RyanH]

My fry are about 9 days free swimming now. Surprisingly, their sizes are beginning to vary significantly. A few of the smaller ones have obvious deformaties and will need to be culled. However, the sizes of even the seemingly health ones are beginning to vary greatly. Is this cause for concern? Will they catch up or are these future culls as well?

thanks!
-Ryan

[brewmaster15]

Hi Ryan,
are you feeding enough supplimental food in addition to the parents slime coat?

also.. whats the number of fry and the tank size?

-al

[Carol_Roberts]

No they don't catch up. I don't think they are getting enough food either. . . .

[RyanH]

Hey Al,

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have them in a 45 tall but I have the water drained down about 1/3 of the way so there is probably about 30 gallons in the tank.

I have two Hydrosponge IV's in the tank, it is of course barebottom and the spawning pot has been removed to help discourage the parents from breeding again and to help keep the tank cleaner.

There are between 35-40 fry in total I would guess.

I do 40% daily water changes.

The fry were a bit slow in going on bbs but the last couple of days most of them seem to be really taking a liking to it. But for the first week, try as I might, most would only eat from their parents. I would try to feed them bbs several times a day with very little luck. I was just crossing my fingers that they were getting enough nutrients from mom and dad to stay healthy until they went on bbs. Hopefully now that they are starting to take it they will get to growing!

Next time I want to try golden pearls in addition to bbs.

thanks
-Ryan

[RyanH]

That's disappointing news Carol. :(

I intend to separate this pair for a couple of weeks with a divider after this group goes to their own tank. I am concerned about the female as she looks a bit skinny and lethargic. I want to fatten her up and give her a break before I let her go at it again.

I intend to do things alot differently next time, when I let them breed again.

[brewmaster15]

Ryan,
Usually at that age they will readily take BBS.. their bellies will get pink and full on it and they will eagerly eat it. The key is you need to hatch them out fresh or freeze them fresh and thaw. Use a turkey baster to blow the BBS right onto the school while it feeds on mom and dad.


also.. they'll take powdered krill (jehmco) and crushed hikari discus red.

the more you can feed them the better.

hth,
al

[RyanH]

I have been using a small turkey baster and have been doing just that. Its been frustrating because for the first week they hardly touched it no matter how often I gave it to them or where I squirted it. I'm honestly not sure what I could have done differently. I followed all of the advice that I received here and I couldn't make it work this time. But I'm a stubborn SOB and I won't give up. :)

[brewmaster15]

Okay Stubborn SOB! :) maybe you are not using enough BBS in that baster? when I do it ( and this is definetly not the only way to do this)

I keep my bBS in a 1 gal bowl.. I then transfer a bunch to a coffee filter and rinse.... resuspend in 1/4 cup of fresh water... You want a ton of BBS ..far more than they'll eat.. BBS are cheap.. don't skimp.. Then I draw this up in the baster and apply it to the school of fish. Once they are agressively eating you can cut back.. The BBS will live 6-8 hours in fresh water... more than enough time to remove any with a water change. I usually do 50% 2-3 X a day with fry.

It might help...might not.. ::) :)

-al

[RyanH]

Brew, you are probably right. I don't think I have been using enough bbs. I only had a few grams of eggs in the house and I have been waiting for another shipment to come in so I've been stingy with the amounts. I didn't think about that being the issue but now that you mention it, it makes sense. This could very well have been my problem.

Thanks for the advice, I'll definately give your method a try. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

[Willie]

Once they attach, you can fill the tank back up. Fries put out an amazing amount of ammonia, even though it doesn't look like it. Keep the tank bottom clean and make regular water changes.

Willie

[RyanH]

thanks Willie,

I would really like to get some more mechanical filtration going in the tank and filling it would mean I could turn my Aquaclear back on. I have a filtermax prefilter so I don't think I would have to worry about the fry getting sucked up or anything.