Fry Always Die!

[ellonnic]

Hi there,

I am trying breed some south american cichlids. Generally, they lay their eggs in my 120 gallon, then I steal them and put them in a 5 gallon. The eggs hatch, the fry become free swimming, and then they'll all dissappear over the course of a week. This has happened to me probably 8 times in a row and I'm so frustrated. Are the fry starving to death? Surely they can find bacteria everywhere! I mean, the tank is well-cycled and has plenty of debri. Another thing i should mention is that the 120 tank where the eggs came from has drift wood and so may have slightly different water conditions. I have some eggs hatching now and I'm doing daily 20% water changes from the 120 to the 5. Can anyone offer me some advice?

What impact would LOTS of ramshorn snails have? Although the fry a separated from the snails, I plan to put them together once they are free-swimming, assuming that nothing negative will come of it. But, my concern is are they competing for food?

Can I give flake food to the newly hatched young? I've been trying to crumple up the food into a powder, but I have no idea if this works. They don't seem to eat it.

Thanks,
~DPD

 

[Iffrat]

what kind of filter do you have on the 5?

 

[uncwnells]

filter sucking them up

 

[MonteSS]

I fed mine de-encapsulated brine shrimp eggs as per an experts advice. Worked out great. They supposedly have more nutrition than the hatched baby brine shrimp. It is like a fine powder.

I also heard Hikari first bites is good.

I can send you some de-encapsulated eggs to try if you want for free.

...Bill

 

[hairdog]

You should try a sponge in front of filter just in case they might be getting sucked up. Flake food is perfectly fine for the fry. Any thing you feed your adult fish is safe just crush it up for the fry. I use flake food for mine, I just crumble it up in my fingers

 

[BooshWacka]

sponge or pantyhose around the filter intake

 

[ellonnic]

Hey Guys, I once had a fine mesh on the filter intake and that didn't seem to do the job. At thi time, I had close to 1000 fry in my 30 gallon tank and they all died. I'm glad to hear that people have been having success with just flake food, although I tried that and still all of them died. I suppose I'll try putting a sponge on the filter intake, but I don't have much confidence that that will help.

Any ideas on the snails? Will ramshorn snails bother wriggling fry (not free swimming yet)?

Also, I'd be happy to try some of those de-encapsulated eggs.

 

[aqua-nepz]

Are there any other fishes sharing the tanks?Or your filter sucking up those fries?Make sure you don't have these problem and I had problems with those ramshorn snails.You should feed those fry with BBS or Microworms.

 

[MonteSS]

I bought (or you can make) a songe filter for a 40g tank for my 26g fry tank. Works great.

....Bill

 

[villinxp]

If all this has failed after moving the eggs(or wrigglers, wutever stage u take them out at) i would just leave them in the main tank with parents till they r free swimming, only would be a few more days after wrigglers with pretty much all CA/SA cichlids. Even if u have other fish in the main tank. U may loose a few this way but the fry will be better off.

As for food u might wanna try The small fry food hikari makes. forget the name but i am pretty dure u can pick it up at Petsmart.

Hope this helps.