A Rubecens fry

[Fishy]

Any help or tips on raising these little guys?

Right now I have 5 fry that were just spit out from a female in a 10g tank. I have some fry flake food for them, water temp is 76 F. I put a very small amount of this crushed flake in the tank but they have not eaten yet. They sit at the bottom moving a little once in awhile.

Suggestions? thx

[Vallisneria]

How old are the fry?

When i had my ruby red breeding group i would let the females hold untill they spit naturally, about 3 weeks. I would keep the fry in a 10g(my temp was 78*) and woudl feed them frozen BBS and freeze dried cyclops for the first bit. When they were a bit larger i added crushed flakes. I fed them 4-5 times a day and changed did water changes every 2 days or so. I woldnt' feed them much each time, just enough(there wasn't any left over). Doing this they grew quite quickly. As they got bigger i would add different foods. But i found that the BBS and the cyclops were great starter foods. It was tiny enough for them to eat right away.

Here is a couple pics of my fry when they were about 1 1/2"

peacock fry

This was one of the males that was fully colored up, he s only about 1 1/2"

colored male

another colored male

Not the best pics but gives you an idea of what mine looked like

Edit- Forgot to add a tip. When i fed my very young fry i would turn off the filter. That way the tiny food would stay close to the fry and not float around the tank. Once htey are a bit older its not needed but it does help for newly spit fry.

Edited January 3, 2005 by degrassi

[RD.]

If they still have yolk sacs don't feed them anything. (if they were spit prematurely) I would also crank up the temp to 80 F.

When they get big enough to eat crushed pellets, start feeding them a mix of New Life Spectrum along with cyclop-eeze When they get 5-7 months old stop feeding the CE (it's too high in fat for semi mature -mature fish) and continue with the NLS pellets. Good stuff.

Edited September 2, 2005 by RD.

[Fishy]

Yes they do have yolk sacs when they were first spit out, now only 1 has a sac and the others are starting to move around more. One made it to the top for the first time this morning. I think they are premature, as the female spit them out as she was getting bagged at chums. I lost 1 of them so I have 4 left at the moment.

Temp is 76 F, I turned it up a little to get to 78.

Is this fry food available at Gold's?

[RD.]

I believe that Gold's now carries Cyclop-Eeze, but not sure what else they have? I've also used Hikari "First Bites" for newborn fry. (which most LFS carry)

[Fishy]

oops, I meant Big Al's. I'm not in Calgary anymore.....lol

I'll give them a call.

[dunl]

If they still have yolk sacs don't feed them anything.

It's not necessary, but I have always fed my fry even when they have had egg sacs. I have found that they become stronger, and I have less losses when they are fed with their egg sacs.

[Fishy]

I have feed them a tiny bit of crushed flake already but have not seen them eat any as of yet. Only 1 has was seen swimming to the top for a short period, the rest remain on the bottom. Im going out today to get some Cyclop-Eeze.

[RD.]

Allan, the food has to be very fine for fry that size, very fine, or it won't fit in their mouths, and they will ignore it.

If the fish are quite premature, and have large yolk sacs, they may not eat anything? Just make sure not to foul the water with uneaten food. If fish spit when the fry are ready for solid food, or aren't 'stripped' too early, the fry shouldn't have yolk sacs.

Edited January 4, 2005 by RD.

[Vallisneria]

When my fry are spit 3-4 weeks(mine didn't have yolk sacs) they were able to eat the finer particles of cyclops. If yours are premature then maybe try hakari first bites or the frozen BBS.

I haven't seen cyclop eeze around here. The onyl cyclop product i have been able to find was at dad's fishroom. I think its Sera FD cyclops

[RD.]

Val - I ordered mine from BC.

Edited January 4, 2005 by RD.

[Vallisneria]

I"ve never used cyclops eeze so i'm not sure if it is finer. The sera FD cyclops is fairly fine and i've never seen the fry have problems eating it. There is the odd larger peice that they can' eat but most of it is quite "powdery". I used it as a food when feeding my L.ocellatus fry(not brand new fry but around as big as newly spit peacocks) and even with their tiny mouths they could eat most of it.

[RD.]

Sorry Val, I had a brain fart yesterday.

Yes, most African fry that are spit between 3-4 weeks should be able to handle Cyclop-Eeze without any difficulty.

I'll edit the above comment .....

[Fishy]

Im going out today to get some Cyclops to feed the fry. I have never seen them eat the fry bites I give them but they are a little bigger (1.5 cm) with no yolk sacs now. I turn off the filter when feeding, but they mainly stay at the bottom. I need food for them that will get to them. I also do 20-30% water changes about twice a week.

[Vallisneria]

I need food for them that will get to them.

At first i also had problems getting the food to the fry in a tank. I found that using a syringe(or the pipette that came with the test kits) work well. I would take a little capful of water and put a pinch of cyclops(or whatever i was feeding) in the water. I then sucked up the water/food into the syringe and then was able to feed the food right to the fry. I would squeeze the syringe right by the fry so teh "food cloud" as right next to them. I found by using the syringe i was able to get the food directly to the fry and make sure they were eating. It also cut back on the amount for food needed and helped keep the tnak cleaner.