Tips on how much to feed fry?

[aarhud]

I always loose fry, from all kinds of cichlids. Apistos. Every time I lose them, its one or two a day or so until I only have 10 or so left. I'm thinking it has to be feeding, I either feed too much or not enough. Is there a rule of thumb for x amount of BBS per fry from week 1-6? I always loose them in the early weeks. I'm feeding BBS, I hatch it every one or two days. I keep the extra in a dish of salt water in the fridge, the shrimp still swim around after I warm them back up.

I know its trial and error until you get the hang of it, but hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction. I'm not sure why I am retarded when it comes to raising fry.

 

[Mike Wise]

Same as feeding a community tank: feed as much as will be eaten in 5-10 minutes - only feed more often if possible. Yes, trial and error until you get it right.

 

[regani]

To make sure the fry get good access to the food, you can use a syringe or pipette to squirt the BBS right into the area where the fry are.
I also rinse the BBS with tank water before use to avoid affecting the conductivity/TDS

 

[aarhud]

How many hours between feedings for you guys that feed twice to three times a day?

 

[regani]

I feed in the morning before I go to work and after I come back, so 11-12 hours between feeds

 

[aarhud]

Thanks, I think I'll try that feeding schedule. Any problems with using BBS for 2-3 days? I know people say they loose their nutritional value.

 

[regani]

I have never stored BBS, so I don't know how it affects their nutritional value.
I have 3 small jars going in parallel, harvesting and restocking one each time I feed. This means that the BBS I feed are about 36h old, which seems to work well for the brand I use. I only charge each jar with the amount of BBS I need.