Celestial Pearl Danio fry with parents?

I have two questions. Should I leave the fry in with the parents and siblings? They are about 1 month old and I noticed them today. I bred a previous batch 4 months ago accidentally after I separated the parents and didn't do a water change for a week. I raised them up to juveniles on egg yolk and first bites and introduced the parents back in the 5.5 gallons. This time it is a complete surprise as no feeding arrangements were made for the fry and they grew up to 1 month old. Not sure if I should remove the adults from the tank, but given that they are a month old already in development and the adults haven't bothered them for so long.. I am planning on leaving them in there. Is this a wise move? I figure they would have been eaten already if the adult CPD's considered them as food.

Second question, how do I feed them now that they are swimming with the adults? Do I start dropping first bites or just feed smaller portions of the regular flakes? Thanks!

 

If they've been doing fine and growing up until now, I see no need to separate them. They're probably a little past needing fry food like first bites, so I would just grind up some regular flakes very small and offer a tiny portion of that to them.

 

If they've been doing fine and growing up until now, I see no need to separate them. They're probably a little past needing fry food like first bites, so I would just grind up some regular flakes very small and offer a tiny portion of that to them.

Thanks for the input. I noticed more fry, these are a week old. Given that they are up top and the adult CPD's rarely venture to the top of the tank, I will probably leave them. I am sure they eat their eggs but I don't think they eat their fry. I am tempted to scoop the little ones out but I would put them in a bowl without a heater and filtration. I did raise a batch like that when I removed the filter from the 5.5 gallons. But it was 50-50%. Meaning, two of them developed perfectly well, two of them have a balance problem. One has a slight balance problem it is barely noticeable, the other has a severe balance issue with a curved spine. It survived but it is the weirdest swimming fish. So even though I would "save" them from being eaten they might run into development problems in an uncycled/unheated bowl. It is hard to scoop them out too, they swim away fast. I tried a glass cup and a turkey baster without success. I am tempted to take the week-old newborn fry out for a week or two just to grow them a little before adding them back in. I'll have to think about it. I saw them spawn three days ago, so I guess more fry are on their way.

 

Believe it or not, your mature tank probably hosts lots more microscopic foodstuffs for fry than any other container you could provide them with. Heat is unlikely to be the issue - CPDs are one of the few tiny fish that actually thrive without a heater.

For example, when I bred my bettas last year, I pulled the fry out of the 20 gallon spawning tank because I thought it was just too much space for me to keep tabs on them, and for them to find food. So I netted them all out and put them in a 5 gallon tank and fed them live foods 2-3x a day. The 20 gal had some hornwort and a couple of oak leaves, that was it - otherwise completely empty, and I wasn't putting any food at all in there because I didn't think there were any fry left.

Turns out, I missed a single betta fry when I netted the rest. I found him alone in the 20 gal, not being fed at all, 2 weeks later - must have been living off of whatever microscopic organisms he could find on the plants and leaves. Guess what? He was 2 or 3 times bigger than the ones I was regularly feeding live food! I still have him, as well as two of his siblings, and he's still the biggest and most colorful of the three. If I breed fish again, I'll be sure to raise them in a mature tank with lots of organic material.

 

Believe it or not, your mature tank probably hosts lots more microscopic foodstuffs for fry than any other container you could provide them with. Heat is unlikely to be the issue - CPDs are one of the few tiny fish that actually thrive without a heater.

For example, when I bred my bettas last year, I pulled the fry out of the 20 gallon spawning tank because I thought it was just too much space for me to keep tabs on them, and for them to find food. So I netted them all out and put them in a 5 gallon tank and fed them live foods 2-3x a day. The 20 gal had some hornwort and a couple of oak leaves, that was it - otherwise completely empty, and I wasn't putting any food at all in there because I didn't think there were any fry left.

Turns out, I missed a single betta fry when I netted the rest. I found him alone in the 20 gal, not being fed at all, 2 weeks later - must have been living off of whatever microscopic organisms he could find on the plants and leaves. Guess what? He was 2 or 3 times bigger than the ones I was regularly feeding live food! I still have him, as well as two of his siblings, and he's still the biggest and most colorful of the three. If I breed fish again, I'll be sure to raise them in a mature tank with lots of organic material.

Thank you, a very nice experience and observation. I have left them in the 5.5 gallons with the adults, no harm has come to them. My only issue is cleaning the tank with the fry. I had a massive bladder snail die-off (50+) in the 5.5 gallons a couple of days before I noticed the fry. The water is quality is good, but the snails that used to clean the tank from leftovers are gone. There is uneaten food scattered all over the bottom and I will probably net them to gravel vacuum. Would you suggest a nerite snail and some cherry shrimp as a good clean up crew? I suspect the shrimp may prey on the tiny fry so I am cautious. I am in need of a bottom-feeding cleanup crew for the 5.5 gallons CPD tank that won't add on tank stocking.

 

There are accounts of cherry shrimp catching and eating tiny fry, so I wouldn't be inclined to stock cherry shrimp. A nerite snail will certainly help with algae, but I'm not sure if they'll eat leftover food. I think you should try decreasing the amount of food you feed, or feeding in very small quantities, letting them eat that, and only adding more once they've finished it.