Fry food

[Pysgodyn]

Hiya, I'm now a proud owner of 12 guppy fry (who are happily swimming in a 6 gallon tank of their own. Annastasia (in the fantastic pinned post ) states that she feeds them Liquifry no1 for 2 weeks.

I've just been to the shop (funnily enough Pets at Home don't stock this anymore) and bought both Liquifry no1 and Liquifry no2...because I noticed that no1 is for egg bearing fry, and no2 is for livebearer fry. As much information as they've got on the box, the only difference is that there are some slightly larger particles in the no2 food. --> Which should I be using?

Also, it states on the box that one shouldn't feed Liquifry exclusively for more than a day only. After the first day, the diet "should be supplemented with brine shrimp". Do you guys do this, or do you just use Liquifry exclusively until you go on to powder food (which I've also bought in advance )

I've currently got them in a bare bottom tank. Is there any advantage in providing sand/something...or is that just for aesthetics?

I've got a 'bunch' of plants in there. How planted should I have it?

And finally, I just thought I'd add, that I've put the Fluval 1 in a pantyhose Anyone ever experienced a filter burnout in doing this? I assume the filter has to work harder in order to get the work done?

That's it! (for now )

Thanks in advance for your help, you're usually excellent!

 

[Annastasia]

Usually, I use Liquifry 2. They get that for about...1 week or so, then they move onto Hikari First Bites, or TetraMin Fry food. I've never given them Baby Brine Shrimp...but you could try. I have heard lots of good things about that. After being on the powdered food for about 2-3 weeks, they move onto finely crushed flakes, and Frozen or Freeze-dried Bloodworms, Daphnia, Brine Shrimp...etc. This is when they REALLY start growing! And Remember...if you can, feed about 3-4 times a day.

Not really that much of an advantage in adding sand...Just can help keep the plants in better, and the beneficial bacteria can hang over it (Not much of it hangs over the substrate anyway, though, so you're not losing much). But barebottom is much easier to clean, which will help the water quality, and be better for the fry. Pretty much your choice.

How planted you make it is also your choice. I usually have a mixture of floating, tall, and short plants...so they can hid in different areas, as they like.

Pantyhose will work...just the filter can clogged up a bit easier, since the holes are small. I've also heard of people using Breeder Nets, since the holes are bigger. Just have to make sure you clean the intake part..thingy, so that doesn't happen. Or use a sponge filter.

 

[Tolak]

When I was doing livebearers I would give them finely crushed flakes, they did good with this. For a while I was doing platys & angels, and had the bbs hatchery going for angel fry, gave the extra to the platys. Nothing makes them grow like live food. If you have the time & space, set up a hatchery.

Tolak

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've fed fry in the past for up to 1month solely on liquifry for livebearers and have had no problems or fry deaths with it although i can't realy advise this as i only did this once or twice- if you can get hold of it i think TetraMinfry is excellant livebearer fry food and they grow fast and active on it; now days i feed my fry liquifry for 2 weeks before moving them onto TetraMinfry and then at 2months old i start introducing crushed freezedried daphinia, krill and tubifex and eventually i start mixing in crushed flakes into their diet at 3months old although i don't fully take them off TetraMinfry until 5months old although even the adult fish seem to enjoy a bit of it in their flakes .
Liquifry for livebearers has quite a few uses and more than just to feed very young fry- fry that do not take well to solid foods and do not eat them will eat liquifry more than anything else if anything at all and it can save their lives.
Also in big batchs of fry(30+), the fry tend to be smaller and slightly less developed than fry from small batchs and i find feeding them liquifry for longer than ones from smaller batchs, you tend to have much higher survival rates- i had a 40 strong batch of guppy fry once which were very small and i feed them solely on liquifry for the first month before introducing them to other foods and gradually weaning them of it at 2months old and i didn't have one fry die so i think is was a good diet.
At the moment i have danio fry in my livebearer tank, some of which are still very young and i am still feeding them liquifry for egglayers- the livebearer fry will eat the egglayer fry food and they don't seem any worse off for it although i think the main difference between liquifry no.1 and no.2 is that they have nutritional contents and texture suited to each family fish group and i do not think it would be a good idea to feed livebearer fry solely off the egglayer food for long.

 

[Kiarra]

My livebearer fry get baby brine shrimp from the day they're born until they're released into the adult tanks. When they're large enough, they're also given live blackworms and frozen bloodworms whenever I give them to my Betta fry (which, depending on the age of the Betta fry, may be not at all or may be twice a day).

 

[Mariah]

I went out and got some liquifry #3 baby plus fry growth food. I didnt see any #1 or #2 liquifry food there. Can I just start them out on this?

 

[Kiarra]

What does it say on the bottle? I didn't know they even made a Liquifry #3.

 

[Mariah]

It says after using #1 and #2 to use this but the store didint have thoese only this one...

 

[Mariah]

??

 

[Kiarra]

You can go ahead and use it if the particles are small enough to fit in their mouths. Livebearer fry are not picky...they will pretty much eat anything they can get into their mouths.

If they were my fry, though, I'd get some frozen BBS and feed them that. That's what mine are raised on.

 

[Mariah]

I just want to know if anyone uses this food on there fry. I dont want to open it if its not going to be suitable for them. I can return it and get proper food.

 

[Pysgodyn]

Hiya again,
I've only just got my first batch of fry too, Mariah, and I've also bought Liquifry 3 (as well as 1 and 2). Now, as is obvious, I'm no expert, but I won't be feeding them this for a week or two (as advised by Annastasia - I think?). Although it's CALLED LIQUIfry, it's actually powdered food. I wouldn't take it back to the shop. I'd keep it for later on, and buy some number 1/2 to use in the meantime. Hope that helps

 

[Allix]

fellow welshie

Ive been feeding my mollie fry tetramin baby, they are just over a month old (and have been moved into a tank of their own) i now feed them crushed up flakes and cut up bloodworms

I have a few plants in their new tank that they seem to love hiding in ... making me panic thinking i have lost them

In the range (Newport retail park) they sell tiny tiny filters for £13.99 which are ideal for fry tanks. We did have a fluval 3 in our new 25 litre tank (bought for £19.99 from pets at home) but it looked huge! So we have a mini filter in there which does the job purfectly and is covered in a tight to prevent any losses (we lost one after he managed to get into a tiny hole in the filter )

good luck

 

[cudaman68]

baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes work great for Fry. The flakes can be crushed by putting the in a baggie and rubbing them between your finger till its a fine powder. If you don't have the space or time for BBS you can also get the Decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, all you need to do with them is put them in a bit of water for a few mins

 

[Mariah]

Hi,
My fry are at least acouple weeks old at the moment so I would assume that that could be eating the liquifry #3. I guess when they are just born I will have to pick up some #2 liquifry.
Thanks for everyones help!