Copepods For killifish Fry?

[Paul65]

im finding it almost impossible to buy brine love baby shrimp but I can get 100ml of Copepods. Is that okay to give killifish Fry? The fry are only a couple days old. Any help would be much appreciated

They are Gardneri fry.

 

[Colin_T]

You buy dry brine shrimp eggs and hatch them out in salt water.
Baby copepods might be ok but the adult copepods are probably too big for newly hatched fry.

 

[Paul65]

Thanks for the reply Colin.

I’ve got the eggs, they just don’t hatch. I’ve tried about five times now. Even the aquatic shops say they can’t hatch them. I’ve put them in salt water, left them in a dark place, still no luck.

These Copepods are very very small! I’ve gone and had a look the ones I put in seem to be all gone, but I don’t know if they have just died.

I’ve changed the water now and put some more liquid fry number one in there just in case some didn’t eat them.

 

[Colin_T]

If you are aerating the brineshrimp eggs in sea water and they don't hatch after 3 or 4 days, they are probably stuffed. If you bought them recently then you should be able to get a refund or replacement product.

What temperature are they being hatched in?
They hatch best in warm water between 20 & 30C.

What temperature were they kept at before you got them?
The best way to keep the eggs is to freeze them or stick them in the fridge in an air tight container.

You could try decapsulating the eggs. You put some dry eggs in a container of water with a bit of bleach in. You swirl them about and they change from brown to orange. The brown is the egg shell and the orange is the yolk. Once the egg shells have been dissolved you can rinse the eggs off under tap water and put them in a container of freshwater and double dose with dechlorinator. Then rinse again before feeding them to the fry.

You could try decapsulating the eggs and then try hatching them in sea water and see if you have more success. But chances are the eggs are just stuffed and need replacing.

 

[Paul65]

A guy in my local Aquatics ship game them
To me. He got them out of a tub. Told me to put in tank water, in a tub then put in a dark cupboard overnight.

There’s nothing on the internet about Copepods and killifish Fry. I’ll persivier with the brine eggs.

They must be eating something, the first one hatched five days ago. Still going strong. The other six are okay too.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have lots of plants in the tank the fry will pick up infusoria from around the leaves and roots.

Copepods will live in green water and infusoria cultures.

There is some info at the following link about culturing live foods if you want a read.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish.448304/