I have about 150-200ish 1 month old fry and everyday since I removed the parents Ill find at least 10 dead fry in the morning. Ive noticed that there are 20+ fry that are very thin and stay to the back of the glass where algae is built up but they dont seem to be eating it. They dont follow the rest of the swarming fry when its feeding time. Ive tried spot feeding them BBS but they eat just a little bit and then give up. Should I just let them be and let "survival of the fittest" take over or should I raise them in a separate tank. I've heard that runts can grow out to be the nicest looking ones.
Fry not eating??
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When asking for help, it's usually helpful to give as much information as you can. Such as temperature, tank size, and what the species is?
It is normal to have some fry die off in a large spawn. What are you going to do with 150 - 200 fish any way? Do some small partial water changes on the tank to help the water quality.
I didnt think the species of fry would make a difference to them dying off but anyways, tank is 75g bare bottom, temp is 84F and they are red texas fry.
I understand that i will have deaths but I didnt think fry would just starve themselves to death. Ill do what everyone else does with that many fry, keep some that look good and sell the rest to hobbyists or a LFS.
Fry are like babies... They can eat 10+ times a day. Your problem has to be your water quality because I have raised plenty of spawns and all the fry know how to do is eat and swim(they won't miss a meal). I also raise rt fry and I can tell you they will eat their siblings if you slack up on feeding. Matter of fact if you have fry with missing fins, that is why. I also will say the short bodies will get ate first. I don't know how often you "maintain" your water but that has to be the issue. I hope you are able to fix your problem.
A very minor case of gastrointestinal protozoans can be a major case for some of the fry. You could determine if this is the problem by putting those fry into a 10 gallon fully cycled tank and medicating with Flubendazole. If the fry start eating again by the end of the second dose then you know what the problem is and you would then finish treating them and start a treatment on the large tank as well.
Protozoans are in almost every tank out there, even the ones with perfect water. But when your water -quality begins to suffer the weakest fish begin to lose their resistance to the parasite and become infested. So, MORE water-changes, BIGGER water-changes. And if your tap water is particularly bad and you are not using any kind of pre-filter before putting it into the tank, increase the doseage of de-chlorinator/de-chloramineator.
If you want a detailed description of the Flubendazole/Metradazinole(sp.) treatment process, send me a P.M.
Protozoans are in almost every tank out there, even the ones with perfect water. But when your water -quality begins to suffer the weakest fish begin to lose their resistance to the parasite and become infested. So, MORE water-changes, BIGGER water-changes. And if your tap water is particularly bad and you are not using any kind of pre-filter before putting it into the tank, increase the doseage of de-chlorinator/de-chloramineator.
If you want a detailed description of the Flubendazole/Metradazinole(sp.) treatment process, send me a P.M.