[Mbunaaddict]

Thanks for viewing. your input is appreciated

I have been keeping Saulosi for about 8 months now. I have had my females hold several times now and none of the fry have made it once they were spit. (The first several batches i just let go in my large tank and hoped they would survive). With this last batch i decided i would attempt to strip the female. I set up a spare 20 gallon i had and used filter media from my established tank to seed it. I caught the female and, using all precautions, stipped the fry from her and placed them in the 20g.

Now my issue is THEY WONT EAT! i read that its a good idea to get a turkey baster and use that to force crushed flake food down to them. THEY STILL WONT EAT! any advice would be great!

Facts:

-20g Hex
-bare bottom
-80 degrees
-Ocean Nutritian Cichlid Formula
-no water changes yet, fry have only been in tank for a day
-Perameters are exact same as 55g

 

[II25tolifeII]

Leave the food sit in the tank none of my fry never eat when I'm around but they are all living and are all healthy so they are eating something I've only seen my fry eat once.

 

[Kanorin]

The fry are usually not ready to eat right away after stripping - especially if there is yolk sac still visible. If I strip at day 18, the fry usually will not start eating until about 3-4 days later.

 

[Mbunaaddict]

thanks for the comments. i stripped fry at day 21. there is no yolk sac visable. I will give it a few days and see if i notice them eating.

They dont move much at first. They all huddle together in one corner. haha its kinda funny to watch

 

[xxbenjamminxx]

One thing I do that I dont know if your doing or not, is that I put them in a breeder box and let them float in that for about a week and start feeding them in there. Once they catch on as to what the food is and actually start eating it THEN I release them into my fry tank. Maybe they just cant find the food in that big of a tank and are not putting 2 and 2 together when you introduce the food that, that is what they are suppose to eat??????

Just a suggestion.

 

[brinkles]

+1, before they get interested in eating the food just fouls the tank. I've been trying to get them eating in the breeder.

They are much more interested in newly hatched brine shrimp than crushed flake, I give them one or two hatchings before switching to hikari first bites. I skipped the shrimp with the most recent batch, and they've been slow to start eating.

 

[jlose]

I strip the female and place the fry in a plastic breeder trap. I usually strip at between 19 and 21 days. I wait a day and feed them Hikari first bites. I've raised at least 75 batches of fry and they all started eating by the second day. I keep them in the breeder trap 15 days and then release them into the main part of the tank. If you keep their stomachs good and full and do at least 50% water changes twice a week, they should be about 1/2 inch. I ween them off the first bites about 5 days before releasing them and feed them crush fine adult food. Out of 75 batches I've lost maybe three fry.

 

[Mbunaaddict]

So i picked up a Breeder Trap and some Hikari first bites. When i got home i managed to round up all the fry into the breeder box. How long should it be before i start to notice them eating?