How to not over-feed Baby Brine Shrimp to fry?

[Sasha]

I've read on this forum that one of the most common mistakes that newbies make with fry is that they over-feed them, thus causing water quality issues and subsequent health issues. However, I'm not clear on how one defines "over feeding" with young fry. I have approx 80 fry who have been free swimming for 13 days, and are approx 3/8 to 1/2 inch long (tip of nose to end of tail). They readily eat live Baby Brine Shrimp, which I introduce into the tank via a syringe.

The BBS quickly dissipate throughout the water column, and many end up on the tank floor. The fry will eat the BBS off of the floor but prefer to eat them while floating in the water column.

Given that my fry are still quite small, I am right now only hatching one batch of BBS per day (1 tsp of eggs). I collect small amounts of the hatched baby shrimp 4-5 times throughout the day from the batch and feed them immediately to the fry. After collecting a small amount of BBS, I continue to aerate the hatchery to keep the BBS "fresh." Each feeding consists of approx 1/2 to 3/4 inches of shrimp as measured in my syringe which is 1/4 inch wide (outside diameter).

I only have time for 1 large water change per day, and up to this point I have changed 50% of the water each day, all at once. I do use a turkey baster to baste out uneaten adult food and poop from the bottom of the tank at least a couple times a day. However, the small BBS that end up at the bottom of the tank are difficult to suck up out of the water.

How does one gauge how much to feed? And how often? I want to grow out healthy and vibrant fish with nice full bellies, but don't want to overfeed.

Thanks!

[John_Nicholson]

LOL......I feed tons of BBS. As long as you keep up your water changes you are fine. It is not the over feeding of BBS but the under changing of water that will lead to problems.

-john

[Sasha]

Thanks, John! Do you think 50% per day is ok for now? I'm thinking I'll eventually move to 30% AM plus 30% PM changes, but I need to make sure I have enough aged/circulated/heated water to be prepared to do those changes.

[smsimcik]

I haven't raised as many discus fry as John LOL, but I usually do at least 80-90% water changes per day with a wipe down of all the glass surfaces with a paper towel. Also, squeeze out your sponge filters regularlly if you use them. Sponges trap tons of dead BBS.
The babies will be healthier and happier with larger water changes. Since it doesn't take that much longer to do the larger water changes, just go ahead and do them. The babies will grow faster and you will have a lot less problems with flukes or other pathogens. Just my $.02

[Sasha]

Thank you for your advice. I'll see how much water I can prepare (aerate to stabilize PH and heat to proper temp) to enable the increased water changes. I use RO and well water (the latter I get from an outdoor faucet), so my water changes take advance prep through filled bins that I age.

So if I do an 80% change, is it ok if I do it just once a day? Or is it better to do 2 smaller water changes?

[nc0gnet0]

Well, if your feeding an amount which results in alot of uneaten food on the bottom of the tank floor, then it is preferable to do multiple water changes removing any uneaten food. What you are trying to avoid is uneaten food laying on the floor and/or getting sucked into the sponge filter, then partially spoiling and possibly being eaten or just leading to bad water conditions.

I would avoid feeding too much if you knew you werent going to be able to perform a water change for 10 hours+ However, if your capable of performing multiple water changes then as John says, it is hard to feed too much.

[smsimcik]

[QUOTE=Sasha;889974]Thank you for your advice. I'll see how much water I can prepare (aerate to stabilize PH and heat to proper temp) to enable the increased water changes. I use RO and well water (the latter I get from an outdoor faucet), so my water changes take advance prep through filled bins that I age.

So if I do an 80% change, is it ok if I do it just once a day? Or is it better to do 2 smaller water changes?[/QUOTE


I don't think it makes much difference whether you do 1 large change or 2 smaller changes each day. Just don't leave alot of uneaten bbs lying around for several hours.

[Sasha]

Thanks so much to all. I really would be so lost without this Forum!

One additional question: do you all test for parameters to know if you are keeping up with the water changes enough, since I'm sure the bioload on the tank is based on many variables (number of fry, size of tank, size/number/types of filters, etc)? And if so, do you regularly test for ALL parameters (PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) or do you look for one parameter as the initial "warning sign" that things aren't great?