Doing A Jamie Oliver

[dwarfgourami]

Right, this is where we give in and put away the convenience foods! I got a little worried when my tico female had such problems giving birth last week. Remembering that I had read that some livebearers need live food to cope with this process, I decided to bite the bullet. Since last Thursday, they have been feeding entirely on live daphnia+ algae in the tank. And the difference is amazing. Instead of grey shadows flitting nervously round the back of the tank, I get bold confident hunters prowling all over. They are coming out in their full colours, a beautiful yellow sheen contrasting with the turquoise of the anal fin. No point telling these little buggers that flakes and frozen/jellied foods "meet all the nutritional needs of freshwater tropical fish"- it's not going to if they won't eat them! These fish need the wriggle factor. So, it's going to be daphnia on all window sills from now on. They are too small to eat a fully grown daphnium, they keep trying but they get away.
And btw, the baby tico is still alive! Don't know what he's living on, probably infusoria. Have tried feeding liquifry, but difficult to dose for one fry.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent, it's amazing the difference a good varied diet will make..... but i think variety is the key, by all means keep giving them live food, but don't give up on everything else, a bit of flake and veggies will help in they're own way also.

 

[scubadoo]

Glad to hear they're enjoying the 5* a la carte menu!

I dont suppose you happen to have a link on how to grow daphnia (or other suitable alternatives)?

 

[nmonks]

This is my method: Get a plastic half-barrel from the garden centre. A large ceramic urn will do, or really anything that holds a few gallons of water. Put somewhere sunny. Stick some sand at the bottom and add a few plants (to provide shade for the daphnia and decaying leaves for the infusoria to eat). Fill with rainwater or dechlorinated tap water. Get some water from another pond that has daphnia, or simply add a few bags of live daphnia from the pet shop.

It takes a while for the cycle to start because you need algae in the water to feed the daphnia. For want of anything better, I added a few squirts of Liquifry every few days just to boost the infusoria. But after a couple of months, you should have a nice population of daphnia.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. dwarfgourami -- well done! Any chance of some pretty pictures?

I dont suppose you happen to have a link on how to grow daphnia (or other suitable alternatives)?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Got at least 2 fry in my tank now Sorry, folks, I'm afraid this topic is going to bore you, but this tico thing really is a special experience for me. I've wanted to do rare livebearers for a long time, and the portholes though very charming could hardly be called challenging. Besides, they are beautiful now they are thriving.
A tank full of these would be a lovely experience, and I have a hunch that they probably thrive and breed better as a larger colony. Yes, you are going to get some inbreeding- hard to avoid with this kind of fish- but I will try to get new blood in now and then.