feeding?

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ok ive been doing some research and had most of my questions answered on raising fry. but im still confused on a few things,

1. How often do fry need to be fed?
2. will they eat right away? (none are stillbornes or anything like that)
3. im trying the powdered flake method of feeding them for now but how would i go about feeding them egg yolk?
4. about how long until they are too big for the breeding net? (so i know when i need to have a bigger tank by)

I'm not yet sure of the species but im thinking they are dalmation mollies and there are 27 alive and pretty active

:help:

[Fishguy2727]

I would put them in the net as soon as you can catch them. I fed my baby convict and baby platies Hikari Guppy Food, then crushed TetraMin Pro Crisps. I would recommend this, rather than messing with fry foods or yolk, both of which can end up feeding the filters much more than the fish, just end up as a big mess of low water quality, which can end up killing the fry.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

thay hve been in the net since yesterday, will petsmart or something sell food specialy made for fry? and do they eat right away? they have been alive for about 24 hours now

[Drumachine09]

thay hve been in the net since yesterday, will petsmart or something sell food specialy made for fry? and do they eat right away? they have been alive for about 24 hours now


They sell a liquid fry food, but i am not sure how that really works. When my guppies pop, i dont bother to put them in a net, i just feed the flake food like normal. They either learn to eat, or get eaten.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

well i want to try to keep as many alive as i can, so i guess i'll just keep feeding them crushed flakes and stop by the lfs and see what they have in the way of fry food. i really just wanted to make sure i wasnt doing anything dumb that would kill em

[Drumachine09]

well i want to try to keep as many alive as i can, so i guess i'll just keep feeding them crushed flakes and stop by the lfs and see what they have in the way of fry food. i really just wanted to make sure i wasnt doing anything dumb that would kill em

If you want to keep as many as possible, you could just do crushed flakes. The majority of people here have had GREAT luck with just crushed flake. Some of the specialized fry food isnt really that great.

You could make a couple bucks if you sell of your babies if you grow them out. My lfss take them for 50 cents a peice!

[~Erik3.8.07~]

that was the plan, is was gonna keep as many as i had room for and then sell the rest

[Drumachine09]

that was the plan, is was gonna keep as many as i had room for and then sell the rest

Noice:28:

So, any idea what they are yet?

[~Erik3.8.07~]

not a clue, none of my fish looked or acted like they were pregnant and they were born while we were out buying 3 red wag platies. I came home and saw one little baby swimming right in the middle of the tank and was like "OMG DAD COME LOOK! I HAVE BABIES!!!"

maybe if i get a pic up somebody could help identify them?

[Drumachine09]

not a clue, none of my fish looked or acted like they were pregnant and they were born while we were out buying 3 red wag platies. I came home and saw one little baby swimming right in the middle of the tank and was like "OMG DAD COME LOOK! I HAVE BABIES!!!"

maybe if i get a pic up somebody could help identify them?


Yeah, a pic would help alot. I havent had mollies or platys before, but im fairly confident i could identify them. And if i cant, someone else around here surley can.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

k i'll go try and get a pic now then:c3:

[~Erik3.8.07~]

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m25/AMN_Shoot_To-Thrill/Picture003-1.jpg

sry its the best i could get it (not the best camer for underwater) i have no idea if what kinda fry they are

[Drumachine09]

sry its the best i could get it (not the best camer for underwater) i have no idea if what kinda fry they are


I know EXACTLY what they are......baby fish......

I cant tell from the pic. I would just say let them grow a little and you will then be able to tell.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

LOL. . . im gonna do a little looking around online and see if i can find a pic that match my fry.

[Drumachine09]

LOL. . . im gonna do a little looking around online and see if i can find a pic that match my fry.


Sounds like a plan ;)

[gm72]

Impossible to tell at some ages. All of my swordtail fry are still females, no elongated gonopodiums yet.

I'll guess your fry are...platys.

[Drumachine09]

Impossible to tell at some ages. All of my swordtail fry are still females, no elongated gonopodiums yet.

I'll guess your fry are...platys.



Ill guess..........Baby oscars :P

This is a bit off topic, but "elongated gonopodiums" is the "sword tail" in question, correct?

[gm72]

Yes, Drum. That's right. All swordtails are born female. Not sure what causes them to turn into males, but the males have the long gonopodium (sword tail).

[Fishguy2727]

Where did you hear they are all female?

[genitor]

Yeah he is correct. They are all born females and then some changes to male. I remember reading that somewhere. I once raised 20 swordtail fry and only 3 were male. The last one actually changed when the fish was about 2 inches already.


The fry above look orangish so I guess they are platies since there are no orange mollies.

[gm72]

Here's some reliable information. I have read the same information on multiple site apart from that linked below.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile27.html

[dev]

For all of the common livebearers I reccomend feeding with live artemia (brine shrimp). They will not contaminate the water as they usually stay alive until eaten, and will keep the fry very happy as they hunt them down. The fry will mature much faster than with freeze dried fry food or even artemia eggs without shell.

I also reccomend keeping the fry in a seperate tank (something like a 10 gallon will do nicely). This will also help increase growth and reduce the number of deaths.

I think the easiest way to hatch artemia is by using an in-tank hatcher like the Oscar Industries' Hatch'N Feeder.

One of these will give your fry a constant supply of live food even when you are not there to feed them.

All you need is:

Hatcher
Good quality artemia eggs
Salt (table salt will that has not been iozoned will do)
Air pump

I noticed there is a nice article in the AC library on hatching artemia.

[gm72]

Good information, dev. I have not reared oscars but all of my livebearer attempts were fed successfully with finely crushed flake foods.

Definitely agreed with keeping the fry in a separate tank. Good idea.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ya im workin on the second tank. My gf's sister might be giving me a tank for free or for very cheap. not sure of the size but it had two oscars in it so its gotta be pretty big. cant wait till i get it:19:

[gm72]

That's great news! Are you going to do a fishless cycle? Please say yes?

[dev]

Oh, I'm not breeding Oscars (allthough they can be fed with artemia aswell) it's just the name of the company who makes the Hatch'N Feeder in-tank artemia hatcher. A very handy device that allows you to hatch artemia inside a freshwater tank.

You can of course feed with crushed flake food or unshelled artemia eggs or one of those ready made fry foods, and in most cases they will be just fine.

Still, they really will grow a lot faster with live food. To illustrate the difference my latest class of P. reticualata and X. hellerii have both reached a whooping 1.5 cm in just one week. My mother in law keeps hers in fry boxes inside the main tank and feeds with Tetra fry food. Her little guppies need at least a month to reach the same size.

edit> I added a picture of my setup for fry from livebearers. It's a 10 gallon tank with a Fluval 2+ set to its lowest setting (for smaller fry i use an air driven filter instead), a Hatc'N Feeder, 50w heater, no substrate makes cleaning easier and a Eheim Air 200 for the hatcher and air stone (very few plants and low surface movement may require oxygenation).

[gm72]

Agreed that live food is a better choice.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

That's great news! Are you going to do a fishless cycle? Please say yes?

of course ive definetly learned from past mistakes, fishless cycle is better. I just need to find some pure ammonia. not 1 pet store around here have it.

[gm72]

Great that you are doing a fishless cycle. A pet store won't sell it, you will however find pure ammonia at a dollar store or independent general store.