Cuban fry advice?

[leopard_pagan]

Good morning from not so sunny UK.
I recently bought a breeding pair of Cubans, which came with a small handful of fry.
I separated the fry in to their own tank 2 weeks ago, they doubled in size week 1, but last 3 days i have lost 4 fry. I have read that these are fragile fry which often suffer from bloat till they get to 1" to which i have 3/4th still to go!
I am doing 50% w/c once a week, with a 25% change today 3 days after w/c.
i am feeding them on fresh hatched brine shrimp twice a day, tank temp is 28-30C with a sponge filter running. tank was cycled, water readings only show nitrate high but its high out the tap in my area (40ppm!). the fry hatched in high nitrate water as they came from a local seller.

any advice on how to reduce bloat or am i missing anything essential to keep the mortality down.

Thanks LP

 

[Mr.Manaconda]

Temps are spot on. Water change schedule seems good (could bump up the volume on that mid-week change). I'd recommend adding a crushed pellet that is high in veggie content - Kensfish Herbivore or Hikari Excel. High roughage in the gut tends to benefit those fish hat are prone to bloat.


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[leopard_pagan]

I have malawi flake which is low protine high veg that I can use till I get the right stuff from LFS.
I only fed once & very small amount yesterday.
😊 thanks.

 

[Mr.Manaconda]

As long as your Malawi Flake is a quality food, it should do fine. Im just so used to using crushed herbivore pellets, flake didn't cross my mind, but crushed flake should work no problem. Good Luck.


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[duanes]

I have found when growing out tetracanthus juvies, at a bit over an inch, they will kill each other overtly, or if not directly, they will intimidate subordinate brothers and sisters into a stress induced death.



To successfully keep any number, I spread them out into different tanks, sumps, or divide a tank into separate compartments with 1 fish to a compartment.
I tried to raise 6 together in a 40 breeder, and ended up with 1.