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Raising fry!

SnowBound

New Member
Messages
6
First of all hello everybody!
Matt from Sheffield, England.

I have 4 Apistogramma Cacatuoides (3 female, 1 male) in my community planted tank which is 240 litres or so.

Been feeding frozen artemia, daphnia, cyclops and grindl worm / whiteworm.

Unexpectedly had one of the new females have her first brood and lay eggs in a coconut shell. So I moved mother and female to a 20 litre come on tank.
Fry are now in a nice hole she made in the coconut at wriggler stage.

My question is I don't have a mature banana worm culture yet and I dosed liquifry about an hour ago, is there anything better than liquifry that's readily available to use and better than liquifry, if not what's the best way to use liquifry.
Many thanks,
Matt
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
I'm afraid that by using non-live foods you will lose a lot of fry. Apisto fry orient toward motion when feeding. I've found newly hatched baby brine shrimp is the best food for dwarf cichlid fry. My experience with liquifry is decades old. I found that it was best if dosed into a large clump of Java Moss, where it fed micro-organisms that lived in the moss. The fry would then eat the micro-organisms. The problem was that it didn't produce enough micro-organisms to supply the needs of the fry. I really suggest that you try to find some brine shrimp eggs and hatch them for the fry (and mother).
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Mike is right, but you can raise some fry with other live food.

Your Banana worm culture should start producing almost straight away. I culture them on "rolled oats" and keep them fairly warm (~27oC). I always have culture going because they only need occasional sub-culturing and it costs pennies.

You could try squeezing out a filter sponge for the fry, you get a lot of Rotifers. I use Mike's liquifry method for this. Squeeze the sponge out into a beaker with Java moss in it. Dump the Java moss into the tank.

I've got spare moss and Banana worm culture if they are any good to you.

cheers Darrel
 

SnowBound

New Member
Messages
6
Hello and thanks for the extremely fast replys guys!
Power of the Internet eyy! Haha.
I have a mature external on my community tank that's been going for about a year and a half. I only have spikey Moss or does it have to be specifically java? Or does it hold it better/have different properties?

I'd be happy to PayPal you for the Moss and culture plus postage unless your close to me Darrel.
I wasn't planning on any fry for a while but they all seem to be doing extremely well.
Will post up some photos after all the dad duties are done.
Thanks again!
Matt.


Edit: I was also looking into a brine shrimp hatchery, should I make my own or is there a really good one on the market? And what are the best eggs to get as I've read you can keep the eggs for going on a year in a sealed bag kept cold.
Also, what time frame do I have to get them some food, they hatched between yesterday and midday today. Newbie panic!
Matt.
 

SnowBound

New Member
Messages
6
uploadfromtaptalk1425320152251.jpeg
uploadfromtaptalk1425320188998.jpeg
uploadfromtaptalk1425320243085.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1425320320635.JPG

The last female is an orange flash.
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
I only have spikey Moss or does it have to be specifically java?
Any moss will do, yours looks perfect. I don't bother attaching mine to branches etc, I just let it grow as a tangled mass.
I was also looking into a brine shrimp hatchery, should I make my own or is there a really good one on the market? And what are the best eggs to get as I've read you can keep the eggs for going on a year in a sealed bag kept cold.
Keep them in the freezer in a sealed container, they last for ever frozen. I used to buy mine from TA Aquaculture, but I'm not sure quite what's happening at present (Tim relocated to Malta, but now he is coming back to the UK). Hatching details are here <"Brine Shrimps">
Also, what time frame do I have to get them some food, they hatched between yesterday and midday today. Newbie panic!
I think it is about 4 days before feeding, but I keep very weedy tanks so I don't normally see mine until they are free swimming and quite large.

cheers Darrel
 

SnowBound

New Member
Messages
6
So just a quick update!!
Package arrived from Darrel today :D
2 ready to rumble test tubes full of banana worms (which I used straight away) and a huge clump of lovely Moss.
Very grateful for this and I hope to keep it going and help another member /members out in the future.
uploadfromtaptalk1425588377251.jpeg

Checked the fry today and there's over 50 in there! Looking like fish now and hopefully out swimming in the next few days!
Mother kept sacking up fry from the front and placing them back in the pack, was quite nice to watch!

uploadfromtaptalk1425588355245.JPG


Living the dream! :D
Will keep this open as a progress thread aswell as documenting what I'm doing.

Cheers,
Matt
 

SnowBound

New Member
Messages
6
uploadfromtaptalk1425670510370.JPG
uploadfromtaptalk1425670540915.JPG
uploadfromtaptalk1425670588132.JPG


Sorry for the triple post guys!
So im over the moon, I swear there growing everytime I go take a look at them! Saw the mother go insane on a snail and throw it across the tank as it was too close to the group haha.
Most I've seen her gobble up so far was 9, then spit them back out in the pack :D
Banana worms took 6 hours to fill the sides of the tub again, mental!

Cheers, Matt.
 

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