brian
New Member
Posts: 2 
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Post by brian on May 9, 2017 19:54:14 GMT -6
1st time raising a tank full of fry. Very exciting. I've got 2 questions, how do you do water changes without sucking up the fry? I bought a very small python but still manage to suck up some every time. Also, has anyone used Nutrmar Prawn Roe to feed the fry? Thanks
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Post by Mark~N on May 10, 2017 13:04:52 GMT -6
hey Brian. great on fry raising. make sure your tank is always full to top. makes it's easier since fry are usually at the surface.I use a 1/4 inch tubing for syphoning. kink it with your fingers as you go along the bottom .make sure you have a white bucket to syphon into. makes it easier to see and shrimp net and cup a fry that gets sucked up.depending what your fry are.most will do fine on 5 to 50 micron GP's and are an easy and great first food.
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Post by rainbowbratt on May 10, 2017 17:53:44 GMT -6
Hey, Brian. I just ordered some more of that nutramar ova prawn roe. It is great for a 2nd or 3rd food, depending on the species. It's a little bigger than freshly hatched brine shrimp, but smaller than daphnia. The fry love it. And ditto to what Mark said.  |
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brian
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by brian on May 10, 2017 21:02:28 GMT -6
Thanks guys, I had about 45-50 now 25-30 Parva fry. From Marcel via Gary in a 10 gallon tank. I now know how to siphon, thanks. I'm just worried about feeding them something I haven't read about. I can't get live BBS so I tried frozen. Don't know if that went well. My prawn eggs look very small. I know my adult fish love them and they are small. Just trying to get these little guys bigger.
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Post by rainbowbratt on May 10, 2017 22:08:08 GMT -6
Feeding 3-4 times per day the smaller foods should help.....watch them and make sure you see full bellies. If the food is colorful, it will show through when they are this small. Some small leaved plants like guppy grass and hornwort help lend to more infusoria, and more surface for the fry to scavenge--but it can be difficult to visualize all the fry with floating plants in their tank or hatching container.
You can also use crushed flake--mortar and pestle or coffee grinder is real handy. I use a mix of Xtreme pellet foods(the cichlid peewee and the big 5mm monster pellets) that I grind up and sift through a coffee plastic coffee filter(about 50 micron size) to get them from that in between stage where they have out grown the smallest golden pearls, and similar powdered foods like asazanthin powder, krill fines, etc. Those Xtreme monster pellets are power food for sure, but will not grind down to a real fine powder.
You can also try liquid reef food preparations. I have those too. I sometimes forget to utilize all the different foods I have on hand during certain hatches, but always try to provide a good variety. If you look in the articles section, Mark wrote a nice tutorial about how he makes his own fry foods for threadfins....this recipe is also good for rainbowfish fry. Watch the videos about how to feed the preparations, the visuals are helpful.
When you have losses like that in the beginning, a lot of times it is because they are not getting enough food. Either because it is too large, or not fed frequently enoug. We never have 100% success, but shooting for 80-90% is a good goal. That being said, we all started somewhere, and so far your results don't sound too bad.
Oh, and vinegar eels are very good the 1st couple weeks. There's a tutorial on culturing those in the articles section too. If you want a starter culture, let me know. It's a bit late for these fry, but if you are going to raise more down the road, vinegar eels are good to have on hand. I've really noticed a good benefit when I focus and remember to feed vinegar eels once or twice a day in addition to the other foods for the 1st couple weeks. Not just immediate results, but overall higher growth rates a month to two months down the road. Must give them a good head start versus just feeding the powders.
hope that helps
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