Mikrogeophagus Fry (GBR)

[spitfire]

I am having a hard time keeping GBR fry alive. I am currently removing them from the breeder tank and placing them in a 2.5g tank. I have the water at <1 hardness and ph=5.5 Temp=86. I change 50% of water every three days.
I am seeing a 50-75% death rate with this method - what ca nI do to save more fry? Please help.

 

[mummymonkey]

What are you feeding them on?

 

[spitfire]

I am feeding micro worms for the first 2 weeks then bbs.

 

[dhm325]

Micro-worms tend to settle to the bottom of the tank very quickly. Your fry may not have enough time to find them. You might try vinagar eels, they stay in the water column longer, particulary if you have a sponge filter going (otherwise they will move to the top of the water column). Also, the fry should be big enough for bbs after 4 or 5 days of free swimming...assuming that they are getting adequate nutrution from the time they start free-swimming.

 

[Cathy G]

When you change their water are you adding in water that is the same temperature? Has it been aged?

If I had to guess, I'd say it was a water quality issue. When I raise my fry, they are in about 4-5 inches of water in a 10g tank. For the first few days I just remove about 2-4 cups of water every night, and replace it. After two weeks I remove 4 cups add back 8. I'll do this until the tank is 2/3 full and by then I'll start changing a lot more water, maybe 20% until they are a month old, then 50%. (By then I am also hardening up the water a bunch. Gh when they hatch is less than 1, but the time they are a month it is 3-4, and by 2-3 months it is 6-8.

I assume you have a sponge filter going in the small tank? Is the current too strong so it is wearing them out? What about live plants, adding floating hornwort and guppy grass (najas grass) is very helpful to keep water quality up and the fry pick food off the plants all day. They also slow the descent of the microworms... my ram fry always ate the worms off the bottom though.

Hope this helps,
Cathy
Oh, the temperature should be at least 84, I keep mine at 86.