Frequency Of Feeding Convict Fry Advice. Wk 7 Pics!

[electric yellow]

How often should fry be fed? I currently have about 10 free swimming convict fry in my tank (they come up to the glass and say hi when i look for them and i can see how quickly they are growing!) and about 10 in an airated box attached to the tank. They are all free swimming and doing well but how often should i feed them? I usually only feed my cichlids in the morning and since the fry have been swimming about in their safety places i have fed them small amounts twice a day. The reason i seperated half of them into a box is i want to see if i can raise them and the parents seem to be doing a better job without having 1000s to look after.

Any other advise on raising fry would be great.

 

[Athena]

Hiya! I tend to feed my fry about 4 times a day - just small amounts so as not to pollute the tank water.

How old are the fry now? Gosh it only seems like the other day when you lost the first batch - they are fast workers those convicts eh?

My pink convict fry are about 3cms now and beginning to spar with each other! The two female fry are half the size of the males, so as yours begin to grow don't worry if you see some growing bigger than others as it's probably a gender thing.

In a week or so you can start feeding your fry with chopped/crushed bloodworm or frozen brineshrimp now and then, for a bit of variety.

Aww, can't wait to see some pics of them!

Athena

 

[electric yellow]

Hey!

They are nearlly 2weeks old now. The half i left in the big tank with the parents are growing faster then the ones i out in the box. My fiancee calls the goggly eye fish because their eyes are popping out lol! They are are about 1cm in length. I want to ake some photo but they are still tiny tiny and my camera doesnt pic them up as clearly as i would like. They are getting to know us though because when we say hi to the fish and walk past the lil ones come say hi to.

 

[Athena]

LOL glad to see you're as mad as I am then - saying hi to your fish - I sit and have conversations with mine too (shhhhh, don't tell my b/f, he will think I'm completely loopy!).

If they are 2 weeks old then it's likely that the parents won't eat those that are in the main tank now. You might notice the odd one or two missing but I reckon they are going to let some survive. That's good! Show's they are maturing.

In a week or two you can release all the fry from the box into your main tank with the others (if they are of a decent size). If you keep them in the box too long it could stunt their growth. Once it's clear the parents are not going to eat off any more of the fry that are with them, it will be safe to let the other fry back in the main tank.

I'm pretty sure I released mine back to the main tank at around 3 - 4 weeks and they soon settled into their new, larger, home with their remaining few siblings.

At some point I did lose a couple of females (being smaller I guess they were easier to gulp down!).

So I've 9 left (7 male 2 female) - and hopefully no more of them will be eaten as they are a good size now, thank goodness.

Maybe your fry will be big enough to photograph in a week or two. Yeah - they are strange looking with those big googly eyes - I used to call them my baby monsters LOL!

Athena

ps - don't forget you need to do more frequent water changes when you have fry in a tank...

 

[electric yellow]

^^^
Yeah i was wondering about water changes. I really need to do one this weekend. I need to find some way to clean the gravel i put in the box to. Any suggestions? I have four days off now because of easter so i can do a water change tonight or tmw.

They havent relaid, so the must be proud of themselves. I will have to release the box fry at night so they actually have a chance to drop back down to the nest as the other big fellas may gobble them up thinking their food. I snapped some pics today but my lap tops running so slow coz im debugging it that i will put some up tonight I was watching the box before and thought they had all gone but then they surfaced from between peices of gravel. The fry down on the sand ate what i dropped in the tank when it hit the bottom.

....and yep i talk to all my tanks....i even wave at them to!

 

[electric yellow]

Excuse all the food...it was breaky time for all..

See why i need to clean the gravel???

Thats the best my camera would do. Maybe in a few days or next weekend they will be bigger or easier.

Love the bottom photo because you can see the back fin developing Hes a cutie!

 

[Athena]

Ah, how sweet they are! Thanks for posting those. Wait till you see how quickly they grow in the next few weeks though! It's great watching them develop and turn into mini versions of their parents.

Yes, that gravel could do with a clean, for sure, otherwise the decomposing food in there could cause them to get sick and die, especially if they start pecking at it.

I had the same problem with my box - it's not feasible to do a clean with a gravel vac, I know. There were two things I tried. Firstly, I got a small bowl and filled it with tank water and then I had to catch (not easy) the little fry from the box and put them in the bowl (I used one of those little throw-away plastic cups to catch them in - rest the cup on its side in the box, wait until you see a fry swim inside and then whoosh, scoop it upwards quickly). Then I took out the box and poured several cupfuls of tank water over the gravel, shaking it about to disperse the particles of food - and flushing out all the debris. (Make sure you have removed all the fry first).

Put back in tank and return the fry to their cleaner little home.

Then at other times (usually on a daily basis to prevent a build up of fry food on the gravel) I stired up the gravel lightly and quickly scooped out cupfuls of water (that had particles floating around in it). Water is circulating through the box from the main tank, so as soon as you remove a dirty cupful it is replenished with clearer tank water. Keep doing that until most of the debris is gone (you won't be able to get rid of it all but it will settle back on the gravel, obviously less than before).

These are just ways I dealt with it - might be of use to you.

Regards - Athena

 

[electric yellow]

Yeah it really needs a clean....i should be able to catch the fry. Otherwise i will just remove the gravel bit by bit.....they like to ewdge themselves down under thr gravel so if i was to scoop them up it would have to be at a time when they are all out and about....

Edit: i have got my small net and scooped up half of the gravel. It caused all the left overs to float so i netted what i could. There appears to be 4 active fry left in the box so i might consider releasing next weekend or possibly the weekend after. Just need to figure out how to do it. There is around 1 active in the tank so we will see how many there are for sure left tmw when its day light. I tried to find them now with a torch but couldnt. Little things arent in there nest.

 

[electric yellow]

I will have some week 4 pics the weekend coming up. The box is still running strong and was a good investment. Thanks Athena They are getting more adventurous every day. They are actually swimming up to the top of the water now. There is only the 4 left in the box now. All the fry in the tank "disappeared"..they havent laid again which is interesting because they went straight into it the first batch.

(i have names for them all)

 

[Athena]

Hiya "EY"!

Awww that's a shame all the fry from the main tank have gone when they were doing so well... just as well you did separate a few into the box then. (You're definitely sure the others aren't hiding anywhere in your main tank?)

Yes, wait until they are a good 2-3cms before releasing into the main tank, given that some greedy fish in there obviously can't resist eating little fry!

Here's another idea for you - do you have a tank divider at all? Or are you able to get one to fit your tank? Just thinking that you could separate off a portion of your main tank to put the fry in so that they can get used to having a larger space to swim in (and it'll help their growth) but it will protect them from the larger fish, until they are about 2-3inches themselves and no longer seen as "dinner" by your other fish. I should think the fry are too big to swim through the holes of a tank divider now...

yeah, those little fry boxes are really good - I was very pleased with mine too.

Looking forward to seeing more of your pics soon. I will try to post a few more of my fry soon.

Regards - Athena

 

[bagu]

they are so cute lol!

 

[MHunt]

As fry generally have small stomachs, they need to be fed little and often. I feed my galaxy rasora fry three times a day with hikari first bites and they appear to be doing quite well.

 

[electric yellow]

Im thinking this weekend i may have to put them in a cup and totally wash out their box and gravel. They are getting more adventurous by the day. I think the massive filter clean and water change i did last weekend really perked them up. All though i can only see 3 now!

Athena: yeah they are all gone in the main tank If they were growing quicker i would have to release them or something but they seem quite merry and slow growing right now.

Im looking fwd to the week 4 photos and mine and seeing some of yours!!


Im picking up a new 4ft tank this weekend that im dividing for my bettas after we move so that will free up a small 28ltr tank i can leave bare bottom for them. But it wont be ready or moved to our new for 3ish months.

 

[Athena]

Hmmm... I wonder what is causing you to lose some of the fish in the box? Could be they are eating rotting food, as I mentioned before.

I think it would be a good idea to do a thorough clean out of their box, to be honest. I know it's a bit of a pain but will be worth it if you can prevent any more from dying off.

It's a tricky job, trying to scoop them out without squashing them - so be very gentle and patient (it took me ages!) and mind not to move the gravel around whilst they are in there as they could get squashed.

I found the best way was to put the plastic cup in there on its side, just holding the top lip of it. Wait very still until a fry swims inside the cup, then quickly scoop it upwards before they can swim out. They will be a bit wary of the cup at first and might take a while before they go in it.

Once you've rinsed the gravel and got rid of all the gunk I'm pretty sure they will really appreciate going back into a nice clean home LOL. Maybe put a bit less food in than you were doing. They really don't need much more than a miniscule pinch of crushed food 3 or 4 times a day (e.g. get a couple of flakes or bloodworm and crush them - that's how small amount it should be for just 3 or 4 fry at each feeding). Watch them when you feed to see if they eat everything - if food is left to settle down on the gravel and they make no attempt to eat it, then skip the next feeding to give them time to eat what is there.

Just giving you little tips to help you rear these last few fry.

Regards - Leah

 

[electric yellow]

Tips welcome!

I also think the other fishies have been waiting for their tails to stick out of the box or something and then gobbling them up.