Werneri - first fry food made simple

 
I don't know about anyone else but, cultures for tiny fry have not been my best success in fact the worse. Many of us have raised werneri fry to some degree with good success. But how about great success?. Possible?.I have been concocting a commercial type feed for a long time for these inparticular.And finally can say with confidence.. Yeah,I got this. Of course with a lot of input from a few who have been trying it also. It doesn't mean anything unless someone else had similar results. As we all know werneri fry are very tiny with small mouths even as adults. Green water ,Paramecium works well for most. I have tried both but wasn't rally getting the results I was hoping for.40 eggs picked and hatched after about 2-3 weeks I would see a doz fry left. Below 50% not good. Nothing to do with my raising techniques.Yes they throw a ton of eggs and you can always just pick a few hundred eggs in any given week. At least with mine. Still I was looking for 80-100% survival rate.Am i there?. I think I am..Firstly. I am by no means looking for bragging rights.Okay,maybe a little?.. Just frustrated I kept losing so many with no concrete answer as to why. But most of that problem is getting them to eat right away.So,the mission began. I like many like to know exactly what my fry are getting from what they eat. It isn't just about getting them to eat. It is what they are benefiting from the food you give that will make them thrive through those crucial first weeks and get them faster to BBS.That is the goal.Nature is very hard to replicate as we know.So aren't the many foods it produces microscopic and other.So, if I was going to replicate a green water that was not too thick and hangs in suspension. I needed the right stuff..
I finally settled on 3 main ingredients.And 2 alternates

1 - sera-micron
2 - boyd enterprises freshwater vita-chem
3 - spirulina powder
4 - Alternates - Continumm aquatics micro-blast,. (invertebrate filter feeder food)
And 5-50 micron gp's. (brine shrimp direct) my choice.





 All is readily available to most hobbyists, shouldn't be to hard to find..
Now lets make a quick batch!
I am using a 1oz plastic dispenser as my primary feeding bottle.

STEP-1 - Fill bottle with warm water 1/3.

STEP-2 - Add 1/4 tsp. Spirulina. Shake vigorously for a few minutes.

STEP-3 - Add 1/4 tsp. Sera micron. (Important). Shake vigorously again for a few minutes. You want to try and break down as much as the concoction as possible.
STEP-4 - Add 1/2 tsp. vita-chem. Shake again.

STEP-5 - Fill bottle up warm water almost to top.Leaving room for shaking.

 Shake again put in fridge.. Even though the vita-chem is yellowish  the mixture will still look green.Shake every time when using and dispense as drops on surface scattered around tank.( DO NOT POUR DIRECTLY ON FRY). It is cold and will kill them. Let warm in hand by shaking and holding tight for a few minutes before hand.)
I use 4 drops over a 10 minute period twice. depending on amount of fry. Lets say this works for 40 fry. 3 times a day.I find you dont want the water to always be green. That means too much overfeeding and could lead to deaths.If it clears up during the day that's ok.You want to see the fry and their bellies to know they are eating.
Now the Continuum micro-blast and gp's. . take a 1/4 tsp. gp's. Mix in 40 drops vita-chem. Or micro-blast. and 1/2 tsp. warm water and again ,shake vigorously.. I feed that a few times a week also. Except the delivery method is through a pipette.

The micro-blast - Add 10 drops to the mixture.. a few drops per water change also.
I hang a clump of java moss over the edge of the tank and drip feed on that.

It builds up a lot of things for them to feed on when your not there. One last note. I use Spawn-aid in all my fry tanks during water changes. Gives added micro vitamins they can absorb.
In Conclusion- There is no way you cannot raise a tank full of werneri now provided you do all the other right things. If you had difficulty in the past. I can assure you this will help tremendously.Keep your temp at 80 degrees and bubble slowly but, not to slow. You still want to keep the concoction moving.vacuum off excess waste during small water changes.Keep tank full to top at all times. I am hoping if enough people try this we may be helping these little jems stay in great healthy numbers in the hobby. Especially when new strains arrive.I attached a video to see what feeding looks like delivered.
It will change from time to time depending on your mixture.