Food for 3 week old Fry

[Riche_guy]

I was wondering what food to give to 3 week old fry. I just took them away from the parents. I have been giving them crushed Tetra Color bits. They seem to like it. Was wondering what else. I guess another choice would be frozen baby brine shrimp. Any other suggestions. Their mouth are so small...

[bronzie8]

If you could get some live brine shrimp going that would be good for them and easy to eat. Also micro worms, golden pearls and when they get bigger grindal worms and white worms. Love to see some pics.

[Riche_guy]

If you could get some live brine shrimp going that would be good for them and easy to eat. Also micro worms, golden pearls and when they get bigger grindal worms and white worms. Love to see some pics.

Trying not to go live with the shrimp

[TURQ64]

Not raising fry on bbs is about impossible. I'm an old fart, have tried about everything, including those mentioned and many more. Until they can graze on the bottom, the amount of benefical goodies the brine shrimp yield to the fry is pretty hard to replicate. Movement triggers feeding response, and besides, it's easy. Best of luck. Gary

[chaoslite]

Freeze Dried Black Worms cut up Frozen beef Heart and ground up Super Beef Heart Flake are what I fed mine. They loved it all. And all of it can be found through Sponsors here. I will post some links for you.

Mishka

[chaoslite]

I am not sure why you do not want to feed the live BBS but you can get this:

IGO Pro http://www.igopro-online.com/Ocean-Nutrition-Instant-Baby-Brine-Shrimp-20g-p/onbbs20g.htm
Aquatic Suppliers http://www.aquaticsuppliers.com/Freeze-dried-foods_c2.htm (This is Al From Simply)

Inland Empire Discus http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?96864-Super-BEEF-HEART-WITH-PRO-GROWTH-UPDATE

HTH

Mishka

[Riche_guy]

I am not sure why you do not want to feed the live BBS but you can get this:

IGO Pro http://www.igopro-online.com/Ocean-Nutrition-Instant-Baby-Brine-Shrimp-20g-p/onbbs20g.htm
Aquatic Suppliers http://www.aquaticsuppliers.com/Freeze-dried-foods_c2.htm (This is Al From Simply)

Inland Empire Discus http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?96864-Super-BEEF-HEART-WITH-PRO-GROWTH-UPDATE

HTH

Mishka

Didn't want to do set up for brine shrimp because I have 5 aquariums on the go including small red cherry shrimp tank. The wife is getting upset with all this stuff as it is and i am running out of space.. Thanks Mishka for the links..

[zimmjeff]

be very carefull if you are going to use the instant stuff. it makes a very big mess in your tank and is very expensive. my angels liked it but sure made a mess.

[Riche_guy]

be very carefull if you are going to use the instant stuff. it makes a very big mess in your tank and is very expensive. my angels liked it but sure made a mess.

Having thought it through, I think I will go with the live BS if its better for the fry. Will do that pop bottle setup thingy.....

[JenTN]

in the meantime, you can also use fdbw ground up in a coffe grinder pre soaked before fed, hikari first bites, flake food ran thru coffe grinder, and frozen cyclops. I had a bad batch of bbs eggs and my current batch of fry didnt get bbs. I guess I was lucky, they stayed on the parents for around 3 wks and then went straight to those foods and frozen bbs. I think because it was a fairly large spawn they followed the more aggressive siblings. Also I practically had them swimming in food for the first few weeks.

[Riche_guy]

in the meantime, you can also use fdbw ground up in a coffe grinder pre soaked before fed, hikari first bites, flake food ran thru coffe grinder, and frozen cyclops. I had a bad batch of bbs eggs and my current batch of fry didnt get bbs. I guess I was lucky, they stayed on the parents for around 3 wks and then went straight to those foods and frozen bbs. I think because it was a fairly large spawn they followed the more aggressive siblings. Also I practically had them swimming in food for the first few weeks.

Giving them smashed up colour bits and also the Hikari first bites which is like a powder. My local fish place freezer broke down so they moved there foods all over to different inlaws. So when I went yesterday most of the stuff wasn't there...

[JenTN]

Giving them smashed up colour bits and also the Hikari first bites which is like a powder. My local fish place freezer broke down so they moved there foods all over to different inlaws. So when I went yesterday most of the stuff wasn't there...

Ah ok. Coffee grinders are cheap and I found its better than smashing for me...I could get the bits and flakes to a powder like the first bites. Put it around the fry with a turkey baster.

[TURQ64]

Having thought it through, I think I will go with the live BS if its better for the fry. Will do that pop bottle setup thingy.....
This is the accepted practice, and has been since the dawn of aquariums..All of this other info is nice, but I'm putting 51 years of experience behind this..How about the rest of you???....
My method is antique, and effective. Any one gallon container will do. Add 5 tbsp. rock salt or equiv., hard dechlorinated water, an air line, and depending on the amount of fry, 1 to 2 teaspoons of bbs eggs. Place near light, and 24 hrs. later, Voila!..shrimp

[JenTN]

This is the accepted practice, and has been since the dawn of aquariums..All of this other info is nice, but I'm putting 51 years of experience behind this..How about the rest of you???....
My method is antique, and effective. Any one gallon container will do. Add 5 tbsp. rock salt or equiv., hard dechlorinated water, an air line, and depending on the amount of fry, 1 to 2 teaspoons of bbs eggs. Place near light, and 24 hrs. later, Voila!..shrimp

I wasnt arguing ur method Gary, Im a total noob :-) I was just giving info til he gets the bbs hatched. I was forced to do it cause my eggs failed to hatch. I agree, live bbs is best.

[JenTN]

This is the accepted practice, and has been since the dawn of aquariums..All of this other info is nice, but I'm putting 51 years of experience behind this..How about the rest of you???....
My method is antique, and effective. Any one gallon container will do. Add 5 tbsp. rock salt or equiv., hard dechlorinated water, an air line, and depending on the amount of fry, 1 to 2 teaspoons of bbs eggs. Place near light, and 24 hrs. later, Voila!..shrimp

Also, I am wondering..the eggs I used were part of a mix that included the salt mix. I used an air line, and added a light source and a heater, still nothing. Do you think the mix instead of adding my own salt was to blame? Just trying to figure out the variable that cause the failure for the next time. It was very, very frustrating and disheartening, also stressful as this was my first batch of fry. I was very worried about losing them all.

[TURQ64]

Just purchase bbs eggs with a high hatch rate (90% is my choice).. not affiliated, but price wise, try Brine Shrimp Direct....I've not had a failure in shrimp hatching since sometime in the early 70's...a friend who will remain namelss had a relative try hatching decapsulated bbs...Peee-yeeew! (decapsulated are the way to go if a hatch hasn't happened and you are in a strain)
Too many people lately have been feeding, or worse, pulling the fry way too soon. At least that's my take.

bbs are very easy to keep going, if you de-mystify the little buggars..good luck

[JenTN]

Just purchase bbs eggs with a high hatch rate (90% is my choice).. not affiliated, but price wise, try Brine Shrimp Direct....I've not had a failure in shrimp hatching since sometime in the early 70's...a friend who will remain namelss had a relative try hatching decapsulated bbs...Peee-yeeew!

bbs are very easy to keep going, if you de-mystify the little buggars..good luck

Thanks...I will order online. The only ones my lfs carried were SFB brand and they said they hatch rate was around 75%...for me it was 0% lol. They said since SFB took over it has gone downhill :-(

[Riche_guy]

Thanks you guys for the help I can see this thread is turning into the brine shrimp is the better choice. Ok will do. Has anyone tried the upside down pop bottle BS setup??

[Riche_guy]

Ah ok. Coffee grinders are cheap and I found its better than smashing for me...I could get the bits and flakes to a powder like the first bites. Put it around the fry with a turkey baster.

I have one here, but the wife would MURDER me if I used it for fish food.... :argue:

[Second Hand Pat]

I have one here, but the wife would MURDER me if I used it for fish food.... :argue:

Buy her a new one :D

[JenTN]

Buy her a new one :D

+1 I just bought a cheap one for the sole purpose of fry food.

[deepflyball]

They should have been put on BBs there 4 th or 5th day of attachment. Jerry

[chaoslite]

Glad to see you are going with the live BBS.

Mishka

[TURQ64]

Buy her a new one :D

Heck, raffle HER off, and save a lot of cash, and use the same grinder....

[JenTN]

Heck, raffle HER off, and save a lot of cash, and use the same grinder....

Tee-hee. Have to say tho, divorce is mucho expensive- 1st hand experience

[TURQ64]

50.00 DYI divorce kits...leaves more fish money!

[Second Hand Pat]

50.00 DYI divorce kits...leaves more fish money!

Glad to see you "back in town" :D

[JenTN]

50.00 DYI divorce kits...leaves more fish money!

Lol

[JamesP]

I think just the opposite. Leave the fry with parents and don't even think about feeding bbs until at least a week. Take stay cleaner and the fry won't hurt parents and parents will supply enough slime. Best batch I ever raise was over 250 Tefe and I was in Hawaii when they attached and returned 10 days after free swimming and they were doing great. Parent were being fed live black worms by a neighbor girl.

They should have been put on BBs there 4 th or 5th day of attachment. Jerry

[Riche_guy]

I think just the opposite. Leave the fry with parents and don't even think about feeding bbs until at least a week. Take stay cleaner and the fry won't hurt parents and parents will supply enough slime. Best batch I ever raise was over 250 Tefe and I was in Hawaii when they attached and returned 10 days after free swimming and they were doing great. Parent were being fed live black worms by a neighbor girl.

I had to separate the young from the mom because with increase size came increase strength and they were starting to injure her. she has marks on the side of her body from being pick on.....

[JamesP]

I was referencing Deepflyball's post about feeding at 4-5 day. In your situation and their age I would use Non hatching Decap eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct. They work great and higher nutritional numbers than hatched baby brine because yolk is in tack. Just soak eggs in a glass of water for a few minutes and squirt through turkey baster over the fry. They will eat as it settles around them and will follow it to the bottom and continue grazing. Good luck.

[deepflyball]

Yoke is also in tack on BBs for the first 12 hours, thats why you have 2 batches going. After they start eatting the baby brime shrimp good. they can be pulled off mom and dad. I 2 have raised some large spawn or 2. 300/375. That pulls mom and dad down bad just in a couple weeks. I have a picture on Kennys site of won of my big fish that spawned a couple times this week in my main tank. SHE dropped 500-600 eggs each time. Jerry

[Riche_guy]

I set up this black box type BS hatcher with a clear fresh water pill bottle put on the top. The premise is that the newly hatched shrimps will swim from the dark box into the clear pill bottle that is is the light. The eggs came as a salt mix combination. It took awhile for the shrimp to hatch. I had one batch swim into the bottle and that was it. When I open the lid of the black box I see lots of eggs floating about. Not sure if this is a good contraption. Meanwhile I am feeding the fry crushed colour bits, Hikari first food and frozen BBS served with an eye dropper. Not sure they know what to do with the frozen shrimp.

[michal123]

I would recommend adding a vegetable based flake, pellet, or wafer food to their diet. Though protein does help them grow at a fairly fast rate. Also, blanched vegetables such as cucumber, romaine lettuce, and peas are good.
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Isabel De Los

[Riche_guy]

Well never got in the live BS. Tried it a few times and thought it was too long a process. I fed baby brine shrimp and they seem to like it. I did get a bacteria in the tank which destroyed at least 80% of the frys, but the rest are doing fine now and eating like pigs. Many have grown, but some remain small and under-developed. will look for another food source for variety...

[Longhorn2750]

I just buy the dry brine shrimp eggs and add my own salt. Make sure you use treated or aged water. I use the same aged water I use for my tanks in the brine shrimp hatchery (Coke bottles). The eggs should hatch in about 24 hours. I also use multiple bottles, at least three or four; just in case I have a poor hatch in one bottle so I have a continuous supply of shrimp. I do not add any additional light I just have the hatchery set up in my garage and I leave the light on. I also don’t use any additional heat because my garage is always quite warm living here in Houston, but I have notice higher yields of shrimp when the temp of the water in the hatchery is consistently around 78F. I don’t worry so much about it because I just keep up a cycle of freshly hatched shrimp.

[Riche_guy]

How do you separate the BS from the eggs for feeding? as well as the salt?

[Chicago Discus]

How do you separate the BS from the eggs for feeding? as well as the salt?

Stop the airflow wait 5 minutes and the egg shells will float syphone the brine from the bottom into a fine neat and rinse with dechlorniated water and feed...thats what I do....Josie

[Riche_guy]

what do you use to siphon them?

[Longhorn2750]

I syphon the Brine shrimp out with a turkey baster and filter them through a coffee filter or doubled up pantie hose. If you shine a bright light directly on the bottle the brine shrimp will swim to the light making it easier to syphon them out. Some people rinse the shrimp to get the salt off. I don’t see the point most of the salt in the solution (water) should have passed through the coffee filter. Plus if you are changing you water every day the small amount of salt should not do anything to your fish.

[Riche_guy]

once they are on the coffee filter how do you get them off?

[Longhorn2750]

You will see them in the bottom of the filter. The shrimp are kind of pinkish brown and will be moving. The egg shells and unhatched eggs will be darker brown, if you are careful syphoning them you should not have many shells or eggs. I just dump them in the tank after the filter has stopped dripping, just shake the filter off in the tank.

[John_Nicholson]

Here are some pics from an old thread.

-john

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?79412-Fry-BBS-saltwater-and-me....&highlight=

[Riche_guy]

Thanks a lot guys for your help and patience. Nice to see those pictures of tanks full of fry. It inspirational...... At least I can say is the fry started another growing spurt except for a few who seem to remain small...