When the fry are still very young, you really need to feed live food. You can feed microworms or vinegar eels, but you can also feed baby brine shrimp (BBS) right away. You only want to feed microworms (and I think vinegar eels as well) for the fry's first week *tops* because MWs don't have that much nutrition. Feeding BBS right away is the best way to go, in my opinion. Feeding a variety is great, but I don't like having cultures around, so I feed the BBS until the fry are about 4 weeks old and then switch to shredded/chopped frozen foods (that's where the variety starts for my guys). I've never heard anything about "instant" BBS, but eggs only take about 24 hours to hatch, and it's really easy to do.
My fish were easy because they did it right. Some have problem fish, though. Males that eat the eggs. An incompatible couple that refuse to breed for whatever reason. An overly aggressive male that kills the female. Oh, there's all sorts of problems that can happen. But, honestly, my spawning was fairly easy because of the research I did. If the fish don't do what you want them to do, though, then it can get nerve racking and stressful. I didn't even actually know my fish had spawned. I witnessed the male having problems wrapping the female so after awhile I removed her. It wasn't until a day or so later that I realized I DID have eggs and it was successful. I think a lot of problems come from the breeder/owner stepping in too early and not letting the fish do their thing. And the rest comes from naughty, stubborn, uncooperative little fishies!
