Week 3

[Zephaniah]

The fry are growing faster than ever. They don't seem ready to go after the BBS I've been hatching though and the mother seems to be stressing out, constantly trying to flick the babies off her and swimming away.

She has darker than normal stress bars and semi clasped fins.

The male as usual does not like the babies snacking on him either.

Both parents seem to have lost their appetite as food I give them go uneaten.

What to do?

[Andrew Soh]

It is uncommon that fry don't eat BBS....it is like saying dogs don't like pork or that cat doesn't eat fish. This is the first time I have heard.

Since it is already 3 weeks, remove the parents and put them in a separate tank and leave the babies in the same tank.

Feed the babies with BBS or washed & frozen moinas or introduce beefheart or porkheart ....as they are already three weeks old.

If the transferred parents don't look good, treat with antibiotics. Even treatment with acriflavine and 1 ppt of salt will help to alleviate the stress and eliminate costia which are commonly found in nursing parents because costia love damaged epidermis and if not eliminated or reduced, can dislodge scales collectively.

If the babies are younger than 10 days, what can be done is to feed the parents with well concocted supplements so that their immune system can produce or replace with more slime coat. The darkening of the body is normal for parents. It is a form of attracting the babies. ....and shaking away is also common and will do less of that when they are used to it or able to produce sufficient mucus.

take care,
Andrew :wink:

[Zephaniah]

I guess I just didn't give them enough time to eat up the BBS.
They are starting to gorge on them now but are ignoring the beefheart mix I put in.

I moved the female into a 10g tank to heal up with salt as she started to get holes in her fins from the babies feeding on her too much. I left the male with the babies for now as he doesn't seem to be stressing out.
Although he's not eating much of anything I give him.

What's intersting is that the 10g tank right next to the fry tank so the female is constantly in the corner of the tank closest to the babies and seems to be always trying to swim to them.

[ILLUSN]

put a pice of papper over the glass so she cant see them, most important thing for you to do is get her back to full health so she can spawn again.

[Zephaniah]

Thanks for the advice guys. Update:

Week 4:

Moved both parents back to the original 49G tank with 2 tetras and 7 rummynoses and they are happy as can be. Holes on the female have started healing nicely and they are responsive to food and my hand over the top of the water.

The babies are still in the 20G tank and appear lost without either parent. They kinda hang out on the bottom of the tank and quite a number of times I see them hiding behind or below the sponge filter.

Still feeding them BBS which they continue to eat but not with the same ferocity as when the male was with them. Normal behavior? Still ignoring the beefheart mix I put in.

How often should I be feeding them anyway? When will they start eating ground up flake food or granules? Hatching BBS is a PITA.

[Zephaniah]

Has anybody tried any instant BBS products out there? Found something that comes in a jar of seemingly already hatched BBS.

Don't want to advertise for someone here so I'll just quote the description:

"Identical in use and appearance to freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, but the hatching and separation has already been done
Ideal food for delicate fish, fish fry and as food for invertebrates. Can be used both in freshwater and marine tanks.
Excellent buoyancy, so the food remains in teh water column to facilitate feeding.
The product can be kept and stored at normal room temperature as long as the bottle has not been opened.
Contains in excess of 1.5 million nauplii, and will not cloud the water.


Once opened, keep refrigerated, and use within six weeks. "