FOSTER PARENT

[mohd]

HI...ALL
ANYONE KNOW MORE ABOUT FOSTER PARENTS OR THE METHOD TO FEED THE FRY ARTIFICIALLY?

[Merrilyn]

Never actually done it - but I feel the chances of getting 2 pairs to spawn at exactly the same time are pretty remote. I can give you all the theory and methods - but perhaps someone else actually has first hand experience. Wait for a few more posts. If no-one has actually done this, I will tell you what I know.

[flukes]

Ive read up on raising fry artificially, and by the sounds of it, it isnt an easy task. The problem that most people seem to have is getting the fry too eat. In the early stages a food paste is made out of egg yolk and other stuff, this is then spread over the walls of the tank. This is the stage most people cant get the fry too eat after that BBS and then later small amounts of b/h shouldnt be a problem.

[bbyw]

as flukes mentioned above,artificial raising is almost impossible unless u have heaps of time and patients.personally i"d just be alittle bit patient and the parents will get it right sooner or later. I have 2 red melons and it was disheartening to see them eat the wrigglers on numerous ocassions but on their last spawn, I removed half the wrigglers to artificially raise ( which all died) and left the parents the rest. I now have about 35 fry which i feed them frozen bbs and chopped up b/h. good luck.

[sunshinediscus]

Fostering is easy and they don't have to be spawned at the same time for success. If you have a pair that have fry ready to remove, say 6/7 days freeswimming and they are eating bbs them remove the fry and put the eggs or babies straight in with the pair. If they are a good pair they will look after them straight away no probs at all. hell you don't even need a pair that is in a spawning cycle, i've even given a batch to a male who raised them by himself, the trick to that is to position him next to a pair that has a spawn, he gets jelous of the pair next store raising babies and darkens up and tries to get the next door babies to come to him, give him some babies and he happily fosters them. mind you he is an exceptional breeder so prob won't work with every fish. Turks, browns and blues make the best foster parents imo.

Artificial rearing is not that difficult but is very time consuming. To do it i use a raw egg yolk and a hard boiled egg yolk, combine them into a paste along with a little bbs and then freeze the mixture. Use a enamal pan with slopping sides about 3 to 4" deep and place it inside a tank on a flower pot with heated treated water ( this water is used for water changes and keeping the temp correct for the fry) To feed take a small amount of the egg mix and defrost in the palm of your hand then smear a thin layer on the slopping sides of thepan about half way up. Wait a couple of minutes until it dries then gently fill the pan so the egg mix is just covered by the water. For aeration use a very gentle air supply from an open ended air line so it floats on the water surface , set the air release so it release about 1 bubble per second. Change the food and water every 2 to 4 hours. Use a length of airline as a syphon and carefully suck out the water until there is just a tiny bit for the fry to stay in, wipe the sides witha paper towel and reapply some fresh egg yolk. Gently refill with your treated water. iAt night do a final clean and refill without any egg yolk and in the morning start all over again. By day 4 or 5 you can start to introduce bbs and when you see orange bellies on all the fry discontinue the egg and away you go. It really is that easy.