Fry Agression

[ral]

I have been suffering small but consistent fry losses on a daily basis. I cleaned up there tank better. Made more water changes... but have been unable to stop it pulling up dead and decaying fry on a daily basis. My spawn is probably now down to 50 fry from the original 150-200.

I was adding some water to my fry tank today and saw one of the larger fry attack and try to swallow a smaller sibling The larger fry could not swallow his sibling, but by the time he released him he was dead. Could this be the reason for the losses. Actually some of the fry I pulled out dead were missing one or two eyes...

What to do?

 

[fishykisses]

i saw that too with my spawn on only a couple occassions but could be - i don't think i ever had 150 fry but i have 9 big healthy ones left

 

[ral]

That is very.... ahh comforting

 

[Synirr]

How often are you feeding them? I've only witnessed cannibalism in my fry when my BBS hatcheries failed one time and some of my imbellis fry ate their siblings.

 

[fishykisses]

that's what happened to mine - i thought i should only feed them twice a day - i know better now - Thanks Synirr!

 

[jollysue]

Poor babies. Poor ral. How old are they now? How do they look?

Let's get those food factories going. No more hungry babies.

 

[ral]

I feed them twice a day... with work, really can't feed them more often than that... will try to give them a late night meal. I think I overfeed a bit since a lot of muck forms on the bottom of their tank.

They are three weeks old. Some are big (well relatively big), others are small.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I'm sorry to hear that,ral. All this time I have only seen such thing maybe....twice? And once was definitely an accident. I've also found that your smallest fry turn out to be some of your best, never once have I seen an amazing initial apha male, they're usually big,mean and somewhat unattractive. So don't let them eat your pretty babies!
I agree with synirr that you might need to offer more food, they apparently refuse to let themselves be hungry. Try feeding at least four times a day, I understand your schedule is tight but it's a must. Try one meal before you go to work, one when you get home, one before bed and if at all possible- one in the middle of the night.

 

[Synirr]

I've been kinda busy and feeding only 3 times a day the past couple of days, but so far no problems... I already have a couple of fry runty enough to be potential snacks for the biggest fry, but they're safe and sound. I think that as long as you feed big meals of live food that can survive for a while in the water, 3 times should be ok. It's just important to make sure their little tummies are full at all times. It's normal for muck to form at the bottom, that's why we vac it up every day Slaves to the little munchkins, I tell ya! I usually "overfeed" to make sure everyone gets their fair share, then make sure to vac up every single bit of the leftovers at night.

 

[jollysue]

Is there a live meal that bridges (lives) longer to the next meal? I just assume they want to graze.

 

[nashnut]

I feed approximately 6 times a day... 2 to 3 BBS meals and the balance microworms.

 

[ral]

Thanks all. Will do what I can for this bunch.

 

[splashluff]

WOW, at 3 weeks? That's a bummer. I've yet to see any nipping or real aggression, just harmless chasing a few times, in my 7 week old fry. I would definitely attempt to get a break during work to run home and feed in the middle of the day, or ask a neighbor or friend to come in and feed them in the mid-day whenever possible. You can also try to start feeding dry food, Hikari first bites has been a favorite grazing meal for my fry since around 4 weeks. Microworms and Vinegar Eels also tend to live longer in the tank than BBS.

If worse comes to worse, jar the aggressive fry or get some small breeding trap/net that you can hang in the spawn tank while being safely seperated. I'd also consider moving them to a grow-out now... maybe a larger tank would cause them to be less territorial?

At least you know the fry that you have are super big and strong.... if that comforts you at ALL . Losing fry is so sad.

 

[ral]

I think the problem is that 5-6 fry are really large compared to their siblings (4x). The father is really small... so I was thinking the majority of the fry would be small.

I added the late night meal... I have not seen anymore half eaten fry. I did vac out two fungused ones this morning... though they show no indication of having been attack. I think the problem was the amount of food. I watch them for at least one hour a day now when I get home, before their night meal... and have not seen further signs of aggression.

Well... at this point I would be very happy to have 20 left from this experience.

As far as I can tell, the smallest ones are gone though (or hiding in the moss)...