P. Demasoni Fry Tips

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polarbear

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 30, 2008
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Calgary Alberta
Hi Everyone. So we are a couple of days into raising our first every fry and are looking for tips on how to best take care of them. My wife and I are really enjoying the experience. We have 15 P. Demasoni fry in a 5 gallon tank to grow them a bit and keep them safe. The tank has a small sponge filter and a heater to keep the temperature the same as the tank their parent fish came from. We used water from that tank to fill the 5 gallon as well. We currently are feeding them liquid fry food we got from an LFS we trust and a manager at that store who is very knowledgeable and is very aware of our setup.

Some questions:
Best way to clean the tank and change water while protecting the little guys?
It says to feed 4 small drops of the liquid 3 times a day but there seems to be some sediment/left over at the bottom, should we change the feeding?
Does anyone know how long it will take for these fish to start to become large enough we need to put into play rehousing? (we have some interest from people we know but no one with a setup for them, and one pet store down the street was inquiring about our plans for them).
Finally, the fish that held them seems to be doing great, especially considering she spit 15 of them out, she is eating and swimming as normal. Should we watch for specific things the next few days? How long till she will do this again? Seems to me that going without eating for a few weeks has to be exhausting.
Anything else anyone has would be appreciated, this is our first shot at raising fry.

Thank you very much for your advice.
 
Demasoni fry should not be fed liquid fry food. They are large enough to take crushed flakes or a fry food like golden pearls. If you are worried about cleaning the tank, you can always do a water change with a large piece of airline tubing. It may take longer, but will be very safe and easy to use. A 5 gallon tank will be okay for the fry for a couple of weeks, but they will soon outgrow it. If you can't afford a bigger tank, you can always house the fish in a rubbermaid or sterilite storage container. As far as your breeding female goes, as long as she is eating and not being picked on by the other fish, all will be fine. With the right conditioning, your fish will be ready for her next batch in 6-8 weeks. Good luck with the fry and your breeding efforts.
 
We have a large 40 Gallon available in the basement for them and of course the 65 that houses our other fish. But the intention is to move them to new homes as soon as they are of a "sellable" size. I suppose we will throw them in the 40 for a bit while we wait for them to finish growing so they can go to their new homes.

I understand these fish are best kept in groups from the research and great answers on MFK. We have a couple of people interested in 2 or 3 of them. Are we doing the fish a disservice by moving 2 or 3 of them to some people who would like them? The alternative to this may be pursuing the interest shown by the pet store down the street. They have a knowledgeable employee who would like them and they are rare enough we may get a small store credit back.
 
Unless the person gets lucky, 2 or 3 demasoni will most likely end up as one. You really need a large group to spread out the aggression.
 
Yeah thats what I had read about them. We have a group of 9 of them in our tank and we had to go to multiple locations to acquire that group. I hate to send them out to a friend of my wife's only to have it be a failed attempt at keeping them. As it stands we have to get them raised to a proper size.

Can I expect it to be difficult to keep them going? I think we are going to carry on a daily water change for them. Stick with the setup they have for now and move them in a couple of weeks. Moving to fish flakes should we continue the habit of 3 times a day? We feed our African tank two times a day, once in the morning and then the early evening.
 
I will simply tell you my experience with them. I started them on flake from the start, they are raised in a 20 gallon with one air powered sponge filter. After a month or so when they are approaching 1/4" in size I bounce them to a 40 gallon with some real filtration and begin water changes they are so small and delicate prior I don't like risking water changes for fear of shocking them in some way. Once they get to 1/4" they loose all special treatment, though they don't enter gen pop till they are 1". They are generally tough and have yet to loose a fry this way(two batches so far).
 
polarbear said:
Yeah thats what I had read about them. We have a group of 9 of them in our tank and we had to go to multiple locations to acquire that group. I hate to send them out to a friend of my wife's only to have it be a failed attempt at keeping them. As it stands we have to get them raised to a proper size.

Can I expect it to be difficult to keep them going? I think we are going to carry on a daily water change for them. Stick with the setup they have for now and move them in a couple of weeks. Moving to fish flakes should we continue the habit of 3 times a day? We feed our African tank two times a day, once in the morning and then the early evening.
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Only difficulty with demasoni is con-specific aggression. They like to wipe each other out. If you keep in an adequately sized tank with proper gender ratios and a good diet they will live forever and spawn continuously. I recommend a 75 gallon, though others are successful in much smaller tanks. I notice my breeding colony reached larger adult size than others I've seen. Be careful mixing with other fish, though I've done it successfully keep a mind to the pointlessly aggressive nature of the fish. Though they are always the most aggressive fish in any tank I've kept them in I always make sure they are not the dominant one, a single julidochromis or other such powerful/calm dominant fish will help calm them in a community setting.
 
kamikaziechameleon said:
Though they are always the most aggressive fish in any tank I've kept them in I always make sure they are not the dominant one, a single julidochromis or other such powerful/calm dominant fish will help calm them in a community setting.
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That sounds like a good idea. Gonna give that a shot. Thanks!
 
I haven't found our Demasoni to be overly aggressive. We have one of them that is a bit sensitive about his little corner but even that one is inconsistent with its aggression. Most seem harmonious. We asked an LFS professional for his advice on keeping tank mate. He said labs were fine and we added a couple for some colour a while back.

Any other fish you would recommend to manage aggression in the future? I sent my wife a picture of the julidochromis and she isn't sure its her type, not to mention I have never seen any here at the stores we go to.

Anyone else on the water changes? Is there anything to worry about shocking their system, definitely crossed my mind?
Also am I crazy or are they bigger 3 days after we first saw them free? Seems like they have grown significantly in just a couple of days for such little guys.
 
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