[BIG BWALZ]

Hey again everybody! Back 4 more advice, this time about fry rearing. Have a few questions hopefully I can get some help with. I have a 55g yellow lab/assorted zebra tank from which I recently had 2 batches of fry come from. The 19 greshakeis are 16 days old, and the 9 labs are 11 days old giving me a grand total of 28 fry. I stripped both mothers of the fry (great how to vid on cichlidforum.tv also btw!), momma greahskei is doing wonderful now, but I lost the yellow a couple-few days after I put here back in the main tank unfortunately? After stripping her I put her back in the 10g, fed her and let her rest, and put her back in main tank a few hours later. She was a lil harder to strip also, as she was a bit smaller (1 1/2" maybe) and maybe it was just stressful to her? Anyway, advice so that doesnt happen again would be appreciated. I left the younger yellow fry in the net with some sand in the bottom for 3 days before I added released them with the slightly older zebra fry to let them catch up a lil.

Fry tank setup - 10g kit, Whisper 5-15g hob filter, sand, rocks, fake plants. I also have a fluval1, a tiny lil guy that suction cups on to the inside of the tank, should I use this also? I also keep 2 kuhli loaches in there, I know not the best tankmates, but they leave the fry alone, clean up well and I just think they are really neat.

Questions

1. How many fry, and for how long can I properly house in the 10g? I think I can breed my fish fairly often if I so decide.

2. What is suggested maintenance routine for fry tanks, I have just been doing same as 55g, weekly 25% water chg, etc?

3. How fast do the fry grow? I am feeding 3x day, a mix of crushed hikari cichlid gold, HBH supersoft spirulina pellets and tetra flake, all crushed and mixed together.

4. Do they need to fast one day/meal a week as their parents do to clear out their little stomachs?

5. Am I going to need a grow out tank as I hear some people talk about, or can I just move them from the 10g to the main tank, and if so, when? My "adult" fish are all 3" or under, but for my friends with larger tanks/fish who I am going to give them to, the rule is as soon as the babies cant fit in adults mouths correct? Or is there a better guideline/method?

6. And anything else u guys think I might need or want to know?

If anybody needs any more information from me please let me know, my stock list is in my profile, or under my tanks? Thank you very much for your time and information, I really love my fish now that I can enjoy them thanks to you all! I'd be hurting without this forum I am sure. Look forward to more great advice!!

 

[DNK]

In regards to your lfish dying, if you were as careful as you could be and did it the same as the other holding fish, then quite often it's just "one of those things." Just like when you buy a group of fish and a cuple of days later one dies for no apparent reason. You might have caused a slight injury to her and this stressed and subsequently killed her, who knows? Or possibly bullying when reintroduced into the main tank.

As for fry tank, I am raising 18 Demasoni fry in a 9 Gallon tank. They're approaching 1.5" now and about 13 weeks old and I'm about to sell them on. It depends on how large you want them to get before parting with them. I carry out a 40-50% water change every day if I remember. Doing it once a week isn't enough for a fry tank for optimum growth .
I also feed NLS Grow formula twice a day. My main tank is fed once a day.

It varies form fish to fish but I have put a 0.5" juvie back into the main tank and the adults haven't bothered it at all (demasoni don't chase their fry much and they also probably don't see it as being big enough to be a threat for territory etc.)

Have fun!

EDIT: As for the filters in the fry tank, only one would be needed for that sized tank. It's the water changes that matter more.

 

[BIG BWALZ]

Cool, thank you that helps a bunch! I guess I will have to step up my water changes, to like maybe 25% every other day and increase the frequency and volume as the fry grow. Thanks for the info I appreciate it

 

[BIG BWALZ]

Update - Good news and a lil Bad?

Good - I now have another yellow lab holding, so according to my calculations I will have a new batch of fry when my current ones are about a month old? Any advice as to how to handle this situation based on my current setup and options described above?

Bad - My "female" 2" kenyi has started to turn from blue to yellow, and now behaves aggressively, as opposed to "her" usual hyperactivity. So I guess "she" is a he?. My tank is only a 55g, and I knew it was questinable keeping a kenyi even a female, but now I think I will get rid of "him" tommorow when I do my weekly water change and give to a friend if possible, if not then back to the LFS I suppose? The prego lab now sits at the surface most of the time, as they occupy sort of the same area of the tank, so I guess it's time for the kenyi to go ya?

Thank advice and opinions always appreciated!!

 

[igetbombed1977]

If you don't already have one - add a sponge filter to the fry tank. Little fry love eating off the sponge. They are cheap, and great for fry tank. Look here:
www.jehmco.com

As for water changes and feeding - you already got good advice. Change 50% of the water every day if you can, if not try to do it every two days. As much as I'd love to be able to do daily changes, my schedule doesn't always permit so I usually err on the side of every other day.

Feeding - feed them Cyclops-eeze in the beginning when they are tiny. In my humble opinion it helps the fish color up and "fatten up" quick. I usually feed this exclusively for the first week. After week 1 - upgrade to some frozen brine shrimp and crushed up spirulina flake. After 30 days or 45 I too move the ones that are a decent size to a bigger tank. They don't get eaten believe it or not, but when you add them - make sure to do a MASSIVE water change before hand in the bigger tank and rearrange the rockwork. You want to disorient the current tank mates as much as possible before adding the little guys.

Keeping up with fry is tough as often you run out of tank space. You end up with fry in your grow out tank that are too small to add to the main tank(s), but too big to introduce tiny new fry into because they'll eat those tiny babies. I usually float a breeder box in my fry grow out tank of newly hatched fry for 1-2 days before releasing them. I've floated it longer if I had to until other fish got big enough to move.

Also - you can think about dividing the 10 gallon

 

[Super Turtleman]

The holding lab is probably at the surface because she is being harassed too much. I buy breeder nets at wal-mart (like $3-4 each) and use them to hold the fem until she spits or I strip her. It's worked well for me.

As for the fry, a grow out tank would be better, but if you don't/can't have one, then you'll have to take your chances with either putting them in with the older fry and letting things go or building a rock pile in your tank and letting her spit in there. They work pretty well and give your fry a chance to survive. Irecently found some yellow labs in my fry pile that had to be atleast 3 weeks old judging by their size. Either way, good luck.

If you'd like to see how I'm raising my fry, here's a link to my fry post:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=166850