Help Please

[beginner to fish]

my swordtail has just given birth and still is. what and when do i feed them as i dont have anything except flake and bottom feeder food. will they survive until very late on tonight when i can get a hold of something and what should i get.
thanks

 

[calandra]

Is the swortail in a breeding trap? I recommend syphoning the fry into a container of tank water. If there are other tankmates in your tank, the fry will become instant food. Once you have them in a seperate container, buy Daphnia or baby brine shrimp as food. I found doing twice daily water changes in a container using tankwater a crude but successful way of raising fry. You can buy a small sponge filter from your LFS. In the long term, look to set up a fry tank. I have one and its great for unexpected / expected births.

Cal

 

[electric yellow]

My last batch of fry got the following for food: i crushed up (in a morter and pestle) some flakes, pellets and freeze dried blood worms. They loved it. I found the first batch i kept in a net and they didnt survive very well. mainly due to the poor water flow through the net. So i have a seperate planted tank now for unexpected fry births and things like sick fish etc. It has an internal filter, gravel and plants. While some prefer glass bottom tanks for easyer cleaning i found that as long as i monitor the water levels, food intake and water changes they were fine. Just keep an eye out for ones that die.

 

[dave1987]

just crush some flake food in a carrier bag between two spoons and they will feed on that aswell as any other finely crushed food