Help, I have fry and no food!!

Blue Aquarius

The Black skirt tetra I bought a week ago spawned yesterday morning and this morning I saw at least one hatched fry. I have started an infusoria culture, but what can I feed them until it's ready? I was not expecting this and have never had to take care of any fry before. Both of my lfs said they do not carry any liquid fry food. The tank is planted but only a few weeks running! I heard about using egg yolk, so I will try that for now. Help!

mollies

for starters they will be ok the first few day as they will eat whats in the tank. Take some flake an crush it to a powder like form then take a small pinch of that, an put into your tank. You realy dont need any special liquid foods for them. Good luck with the new fry.

trit0n2003

with my newborn zerba fish or tetras i will use hikari first bites. for about a week or so, then with good growth ill start feeding them some baby brine shrimp

but ive seen people use hardboiled egg yolk mashed up and mixed with water also.

Blue Aquarius

Cool, thank you. I'll see if my lfs has the first bites today, but it's good to know I can use the egg yolk. I can see at least three fry now, this is exciting, I hope they all make it!!

trit0n2003

Ya good luck! You dont happen to have an extra tank to keep them in do you? That would maximize yourvsurvival rate, otherwise there is a big chance the parents or any other fish wil eat them :(
Posted via Mobile Device

Blue Aquarius

I have a 10 gal as well, but it has Goldfish in it at the moment and no heater. I'll look for a proper divider today at the lfs, my jerry-rigged one is not working very well... If I had the 29 gallon for longer than the month or so that I have had it, I might have been able to convince my husband to buy a bigger tank as a Christmas gift, but we only just bought this one... Otherwise I would try to move the other fish out. Keep sending me positive vibes!! Thanks!

trit0n2003

If you go to the shop get an in tank floating breeder and a syringe with some vacuum line.

Lee's Multi-Purpose 3-Way Breeders at PETCO

That is what I have used before I had extra tanks. When the fry are freshly hatched they are so small they will slip right through the little slits in the plastic. So what I did is use plastic wrap and tape and sealed it up. Then take the syringe and cut a piece of vacuum line and fit it on the end of it to make it easy to suck them up to put them in the breeder.

Do multiple partial water changes each day to keep it super clean since it doesn't have a filter. But you can keep it floating in the tank so it stays at the right temperature.

Place a little fake plant or something in there with the babies so they have a hiding place to feel safe. And once they get big enough to not slip through you can remove the plastic wrap so it till get some water flow. But still keep it clean by lifting it up above the water so the old water drains out the slits and it will refill with cleaner water when you put it back down.

Hope you can save a few babies :) I love raising up fry
Posted via Mobile Device

trit0n2003

Also if you do this, I noticed that if you do water changes On the main tanks water (while the plastic wrap is on the breeder) Don't imediately refill the breeder water. Wait until the temPeratures equalize so it's less stress and when it is equal do small water changes on the breeder at first because I've seen mine die cause the new water was toooooo different from the mature water that they are used to and killed them :(

Also Also, you can make the vacuum line piece as long as you want. But I made it as long as I could until it would have trouble keeping it's rigidity under water.

Blue Aquarius

I didn't see this until I had already gone to the store and come back. I bought a tank divider and a package of first bites. At the moment the fry are not free swimming yet, I read they won't be until at least day 6, it's day 3 now. Sometimes I can see them when I run a flash light over the gravel, but sometimes not. They are so tiny! I saw one on the side of the tank with the adults after I put the divider in and tried to scoop it out with a cup. It somehow disappeared and must have fallen back into the gravel so I'll have to keep a close eye in a couple of days to try and save it. I hope I can save a few babies, too.

Blue Aquarius

Day 5 and I count at least 4 fry (I suspect there may be more hidden). I think my infusoria culture might be ready as well. It was cloudy for a couple of days,, now it seems a bit clearer. This is exciting, I hope I can keep them alive! I put some of the first bites in today because the fry were chillin on top of the gravel, but I didn't see any of them go for it. Maybe they aren't quite ready for it yet. I read by day 6 they'll be free swimming, so we'll see.