Heros efasciatus fry question

[Hero's]

Hi There
I am German but live in Taiwan. I am looking for help. I have a pair WC Heros efasciatus and they finally have fry after many times eating the eggs. Half are still with the parents the other half are in a separate tank for safety so they can not get eaten. They are swimming around now for 1 week, but I did not see them growing. For me it looks like the same as the first day they swim. I feed the 6 times the day 3 times with Artemia living and 3 times with shelless Artemia fluid. I was looking everywhere to find grows rates for them but no luck. Can you help me about there grows rates. How big they should be 1 week 1 month and so on. Hope you get what I want. My English is just okay.
Wish you can help Hero's

 

[tlindsey]

Hi There
I am German but live in Taiwan. I am looking for help. I have a pair WC Heros efasciatus and they finally have fry after many times eating the eggs. Half are still with the parents the other half are in a separate tank for safety so they can not get eaten. They are swimming around now for 1 week, but I did not see them growing. For me it looks like the same as the first day they swim. I feed the 6 times the day 3 times with Artemia living and 3 times with shelless Artemia fluid. I was looking everywhere to find grows rates for them but no luck. Can you help me about there grows rates. How big they should be 1 week 1 month and so on. Hope you get what I want. My English is just okay.
Wish you can help Hero's

Welcome aboard
ryansmith83

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard
ryansmith83

This may help https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/questions-about-cichlid-eggs.567923/

 

[Hero's]

Here photos from the first day free swimming and today 1 week old . Today foto only with around 50 fry and sadly not good. Does they not look the same size like one week ago? Will try a better photo when the sun is gone later.

 

[tlindsey]

Here photos from the first day free swimming and today 1 week old . Today foto only with around 50 fry and sadly not good. Does they not look the same size like one week ago? Will try a better photo when the sun is gone later.View attachment 1400566View attachment 1400567View attachment 1400568

You have to squirt the live baby brine using a turkey baster close to the fry once they become free swimming. Also crushed food you feed the adults will will be fine.

 

[Hero's]

How fast do they grow, I like to know. Today they swimming free 1 week but it looks for me the same size. 1 month they should be how many mm or cm?

 

[tlindsey]

How fast do they grow, I like to know. Today they swimming free 1 week but it looks for me the same size. 1 month they should be how many mm or cm?

Honestly I don't know but experienced members will chime in.

 

[duanes]

You have to squirt the live baby brine using a turkey baster close to the fry once they become free swimming. Also crushed food you feed the adults will will be fine.

I agree with this, with all cichlid fry I use a pipette or turkey baster mixing artemia, crushed flake, crushed peas, pureed algae, right into the school of fry to help them get at it. I also allow algae to grow for constant grazing.

 

[neutrino]

I wouldn't expect dramatic growth in one week, there are several potential factors, and some weeks you may notice growth and some weeks not so much. Even in scientist feed trials, most I've seen don't measure growth each week, most take measurements at the start of the experiment and at the finish, typically after several weeks, like 6 or 12 , etc. One reason is measuring one or two individuals won't tell you much, individuals can be different sizes and grow at different rates.

It's possible to measure a species like Cyphotilpia as fry because of their larger size and relative robustness compared to Heros fry, which are tiny and much more frail. I doubt anyone can give you a first week or first month schedule by the mm or cm for Heros fry and if they do I highly doubt it's based on actual measurements. As frail as they are in the early stages, handling them for a measurement assuredly kills them.

Clean water is as important as feeding. I personally never bothered feeding with a turkey baster and it was never an issue. It can take some fry a couple of days to begin feeding after free swimming or after being removed from the parents. Like Duane I also keep fry (of all species, including Heros species) in tanks that support algae (and the other stuff that lives in algae) so they can graze throughout the day. It allows me to feed less often. My feeding is pretty simple, beginning with some combination of crushed up flake, crushed up freeze dried brine shrimp (which when nice and dry easily crushed to powder), or crushed up pellet + plus the biofilm and algae on driftwood, etc. that they can graze on.

I don't raise fry in small tanks. I prefer the greater water volume, filtration, etc. of a 50, 55, or a divider in the main tank.

Fry (and juveniles) often appear to grow in spurts, Heros included. You don't think they're growing much, then suddenly they look bigger. Some of this may be reality, some is probably perception, even at more visible sizes. But when you think about it, if you have tiny fry of a few mm, how easily would you detect an additional 5% growth, maybe a single mm or less? As they get to more of a macro size, that 5 or 10% of growth is more detectable.

 

[MrsE88]

Can you see them pooping?

As long as you see them pooping that means they are eating. If they are eating then they will grow