Wrigglers

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Gervahlt

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2010
401
1
16
Asheville, NC
So, this the first time I've run into this particular situation:

I have firemouth wrigglers, maybe 3 days hatched. They're starting to explore under constant parental supervision, but aren't quite few-swimming yet. Unfortunately, I have to go out of town tomorrow morning and won't be back until Saturday afternoon. I've been feeding them crushed pellets since yesterday. Will they do okay going that long (roughly 30 hours) without feeding?
 
I dont think they would die or anything, but do you have any alge in the tank or brine shrimp you could hatch an put in the tank for them?
 
No brine shrimp. There's a small amount of brown algae, but I doubt they'd eat that. Anything else I put in the tank would be eaten by other fish as well. Right now the parents are doing a great job defending them, so I don't see a need to pull them until I get back.
 
I really think they will be fine. My convict fry are always picking at the brown alge in the tank, think they are diatoms? I donno if they are actually eatting it though.

Got any friends or family that could swing buy an feed them for you? Decent to disastrous results wth that though :irked:
 
Could be diatoms; I'm certainly not a fauna expert. :)

I have a couple friends taking my two dogs and three of my four kids already. It's funny that I trust them more with my kids and dogs than I would with the fish. :ROFL:

I think I'll just feed right before I leave and again as soon as I get back. Hopefully, they'll be okay. I can't think of anything else I can do for them really. I'll post an update when I return to share the outcome for future poster questions.
 
They have little tubs you can grow brine shrimp in and they swim out into the tank once they hatch. Think they are only like 10-15 bucks at big al's, I might get one if work ever picks up again lol. 13hr days make it hard to power feed fry :(

Good luck to ya!
 
It won't help me out on this occasion, but I'll look into getting one of those. Thanks!
 
Update:

I decided to risk having my friend feed the wrigglers once while I was gone. I pre-crushed the right amount of pellet food and showed him how to use the turkey baster to mix tank water with it before squirting it gently down to them. So, they only had about 24h without food total and are doing fine.
 
Thats good! Firemouths are nice looking fish.

on a semi unrelated note: Found out my convicts fry were swiming into the upper intake on my penguin bio wheel... lost about 10 from the looks of it... 100+ left!
 
idk if its too late to suggest, but if you have any plants from an established tank, just plop one in near the fry and they'll eat the micro organisms on it, or an established sponge filter/ or sponge material will hold micro organisms that they can snack on too. GL
 
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