Easy Feeding of Babies?

[vail94]

I am headed out of town for 4 dys and my wife will be atempting to feed the week old fry in my 20 gallon long. The apisto mom takes good care of them but the tanks is sparse and newly established with a seasoned sponge filter one piece of wood with java moss and no other plants to speak of. I will make sure that i do a 50% water change before i go but my wife refuses to feed BBS. i have some First Food by Hicaria (i know i spelled it wrong) or decapsulated BBS eggs. Anyone have suggestions as to the best way (besides staying home) that i can get a beginner to keep a majority of the fry alive until i get home? The dad is in the tank as well as another female, the apisto mom keeps them on there side of the tank. any imput would help. There is always next time too.:wink:

 

[Lisachromis]

If you have a lot of plants from other tanks that you can move into that tank it would help. You don't have to plant them. You can just float them for the time frame you'll be gone. The more the babies can pick at food, the better.

 

[Cathy G]

What about trying frozen bbs? Perhaps they might nibble at it... you'll have to make sure she doesn't overfeed it though. You might start mixing some in with the live bbs so they get a bit used to it.

Cathy

 

[georgedv]

I am no expert, but I always worry about making big water changes when fry are that young.

As for food, get some powder baby fry food (I use Tetras) kind of figure out a quantity depending on the number of fry, show your wife too, get a small cup, dip the cup in the tank to fill ( I use those plastic see thru cocktail cups and fill them 1/3 of the way), drop the fry food in there, mix, and use a syringe to extract and then spray over fry.

I know this is still a chore, but maybe you can sweet talk her into it...promise her dinner....you know what I mean!


g

 

[Apistomaster]

I do the same except I use earthworm flakes. The fry readily take it.
I also take hatches of cleaned bbs and store them in clean salt water in the refrigerator. I rinse them of salt prior to feeding. They stay alive but very much slowed down for about 24 hours but remain usable at least 48 hours. It is a handy trick.
I do this for my discus and Apistogramma fry.

 

[RHS788]

I have used two tricks that seem to work (but no expert).
1) I put a little dab of the Hikari First bites on a plastic teaspoon (about enough for one feeding). I then use a small plastic bulb-type dropper (think miniature turkey baster) to pick up the food from the spoon and place it on a small clay pot in the tank.

2) I use the frozen BBS that comes in small cubes. I put one cube in an empty Walgreen's prescription container and add about an inch of water. Using the same dropper, I put some in the tank. I store that in the frig until it is empty.

These two methods along with a good mother apisto has raised about 20-30 fry to one month thus far.

Good luck, and I agree on the dinner being a good thing.

Randy

 

[DH247]

And if you need a meal that will knock her off her feet, let me know!! Cooking is a specialty of mine

I do an amazing roasted veggies with braised lamb chops and you use the juices left over for dipping fresh French loaf.... I can give all the details and lay it out step by step! she'll do just about anything for ya afterwards... Believe me, this is one of my A-game meals :biggrin:

Personally, I don't have someone who can help out while I'm not around so I usually just do a small water change and I feed 3x (morning, lunch, dinner) the day before I leave and hope most make it through till I'm back. It's less than ideal but I'm also just in the game for fun, not breeding specifically!

 

[vail94]

Everyone Thank you for your suggestions. I will be taking her out for dinner and i may have figured an easy way for her to feed them. last night i harvested my last 2 liter bottle of BBS and used a dropper to apply about one feeding worth of shrimp to multiple plastic spoons which i then put those in the freezer. The plan will be to add a lot of floating plants and have her feed them once a day with the BBS frozen on the plastic spoon so that she doesn't have to touch any of the frozen food and the water quality should not get to bad before i get home. Thanks again for all the comments.:biggrin:

 

[apistobob]

I like to use micro worms in these situations. If I over feed they will live on the bottom of the tank for a day or two. This allows the fry to graze on live food for a couple of days.

I would also add that lots of live plants is a great solution. I have left newly hatched fry, attended by their parents, for several weeks in densely planted tanks without feeding. Although they are not as large as if they were fed two or three times a day they survive fine and are healthy when I return.

Bob

 

[vail94]

The plan out lined below worked well i may have lost a few but it was minimumal thanks for the input.:biggrin:

 

[tleehm]

Suggest a large clump of Java moss, there should be plenty of micro-organism fry can nibble on for 4 days.