help me

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C

cichlid_ man

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 18, 2011
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austrailia nsw mount annan
i have to leave my very much loved comp fry alone for 55hours without food will they live because i would hate to see my babies die one batch is 3 weeks old and the other is 6 weeks old plese help me i can get some one to feed them but i am afraid they will over feed or knock the frysave over

cheers maurice
 
Invest in an auto fish feeder. Easy to program and you can find them at the big pet stores.
 
The food that they need is too small for any autofeeder that I have seen. They need to be fed a very small amount of what is essentially dust-size. Plus, the surface needs to be agitated to make it sink into the water. The little guys tend to not come up to the surface for food. You can try to accomplish this with a very small bubble stone, but it tends to just push the food off the the edges of the breeder net.

Maurice, as you probably know, Altolamps start very small and grow extremely slow. I have bred somewhere around 25 species of Malawi cichlids as well as other rock dwelling Tangs and plecos and have never been able to raise Altolamp fry to salable size. It is very frustrating. They need to be fed at least once a day, preferably twice. I tried a few times and every time I would go away for a weekend, I'd lose a solid chunk of the fry each time.

Best bet would be to feed them live food. Newly hatched baby brine shrimp work well as their movement triggers more of a feeding response than golden pearls when they are under 2 months old. If I try to raise them again, I would try to set up a 2.5 gallon tank (or larger one that is divided) that has one of those small plastic brineshrimp hatcheries in it. I've never used one, but think that this would be the best bet for leaving them alone for an extended period of time.

Good luck.
 
Something like this:

Again, never used one, but I plan on trying something like this next time I do. Because of the size of the device, you may need to use a larger tank and divide it.

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http://www.amazon.com/TM1198-Aquarium-Feeder-Shrimp-Hatchery/dp/B002DVREP8
 
If you do have someone you can trust to feed your fry you can place one feeding in a plastic bag so they do not have to know the amount to feed. Just have enough for them to get til you are home. This would help not over feeding them.
 
Alton said:
If you do have someone you can trust to feed your fry you can place one feeding in a plastic bag so they do not have to know the amount to feed. Just have enough for them to get til you are home. This would help not over feeding them.
Click to expand...

^^^^ Best solution right there. :)
 
Good to hear, Glad everything worked out.
 
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