Food for growth without overfeeding

I have a 55 gallon cycled tank with mainly platys and an assortment of small tetras. I am getting fry on a monthly basis.
What would you suggest to feed ,that would satify the adults and feed the fry without over feeding the adults?

 

A good question ree913

Any good quality adult food is good enough for fry and juveniles.

Multiple small feedings a day with dry food crushed to dust will get food to the fry.

If it’s fast growth you are after multiple water changes each week are the answer.

Juveniles release a hormone that stops others growing. It may seem strange but it’s a fact.

Now when changing out 45% of the water 3 times a week to remove the growth hormones you don’t have to worry about over feeding. All extra nutrients are being removed as well as vacuuming up any extra poop and uneaten food.

I have tried both a single water change and 3 per week on fry from the same batches being feed roughly the same amount. The difference multiple water changes make is surprising.

 

thank you . I guess I'll keep giving the crushed flake food . and do more water changes . That's really interesting about the hormone . Everytime I go on this forum I learn something new .

 

Consider bug bites cichlid formula, new life spectra thera plus A. Boiled egg yolk. cricket four, spiralina powder. you can agg a little powder as is for the fry. you can make a paste and put your current flake or pellt food food on it, press it down a little, and dry it in the sun or in the oven at 200 degrees.

It is great stuff for breeding mothers and for the fry.

 

Consider bug bites cichlid formula, new life spectra thera plus A. Boiled egg yolk. cricket four, spiralina powder. you can agg a little powder as is for the fry. you can make a paste and put your current flake or pellt food food on it, press it down a little, and dry it in the sun or in the oven at 200 degrees.

It is great stuff for breeding mothers and for the fry.

Thank you. I will give the bug bites a try .

 

Thank you. I will give the bug bites a try .

I took your advise and gave the bug bites - perfect for the little ones and the adults enjoyed them too.Thanks

 

Consider bug bites cichlid formula, new life spectra thera plus A. Boiled egg yolk. cricket four, spiralina powder. you can agg a little powder as is for the fry. you can make a paste and put your current flake or pellt food food on it, press it down a little, and dry it in the sun or in the oven at 200 degrees.

It is great stuff for breeding mothers and for the fry.

From what I read, New Life Spectrum is poor in nutrients for optimal growth. It has little protein.

“

• For optimum juvenile growth rate, have over 40% protein
• For optimum fertility, have over 10% fat
• For optimum juvenile growth rate, have less than 30% cheap protein from the likes of soybeans
• For optimum growth rate in juveniles have “whole fish” or “fish meal” as one or more of the first few ingredients in fish food.
  
  
  The protein level is more important than the fat level. But it must be emphasized that this is all relative. Fish do just fine with food that is outside this range. All of the research found differences in the growth rate of juvenile fish and the fecundity of fish with foods at less than these levels. But the survival rates of the fish didn’t change with levels less than these “optimums”.

this is from a website called aquarium science, I won’t link it because apparently there’s been problems with the website on this forum.

 

More protein rich food for growth. Worms have alot of lean protein, and wont spoil your tank if done properly.

 

More protein rich food for growth. Worms have alot of lean protein, and wont spoil your tank if done properly.

thank you . I've given everyone frozen worms occasionally and some of the smallest pieces have gotten to the fry in the tank.

From what I read, New Life Spectrum is poor in nutrients for optimal growth. It has little protein.

“

• For optimum juvenile growth rate, have over 40% protein
• For optimum fertility, have over 10% fat
• For optimum juvenile growth rate, have less than 30% cheap protein from the likes of soybeans
• For optimum growth rate in juveniles have “whole fish” or “fish meal” as one or more of the first few ingredients in fish food.
  
  
  The protein level is more important than the fat level. But it must be emphasized that this is all relative. Fish do just fine with food that is outside this range. All of the research found differences in the growth rate of juvenile fish and the fecundity of fish with foods at less than these levels. But the survival rates of the fish didn’t change with levels less than these “optimums”.

this is from a website called aquarium science, I won’t link it because apparently there’s been problems with the website on this forum.

Thank you , I've been feeding the fry .

Betta Flake Medley Crushed 48% protein , 10% fat . I guess I lucked out on that.​

 

thank you . I've given everyone frozen worms occasionally and some of the smallest pieces have gotten to the fry in the tank.

Thank you , I've been feeding the fry .

Betta Flake Medley Crushed 48% protein , 10% fat . I guess I lucked out on that.​

Since Tetramin typically doesn’t list their ash content I’ll have to guess the ash content of the betta flakes the same as Tetramin Tropical Fish Flake (8%). So the Berta flakes are approximately 48% protein and 25.5% carbohydrates. I’ll also guess that 33% of the protein comes from plant proteins like Tetramin Tropical Flake. Plant proteins include expensive spirulina or cheap wheat gluten, soybeans etc. New Life Spectrum is the least ideal, Tetramin is decent, Fluval Bug Bites would be the best out of the three choices, since its 40% protein, 10% fat, and it only uses approximately 20% cheap or expensive plant protein.

 

Juveniles release a hormone that stops others growing. It may seem strange but it’s a fact.

Super interesting Flyfisha. Any more info or sources?

I had a large group of Dario fry this last summer. I caught about 20 and released them in a somewhat smaller tank. I'm amazed by their slow growth, compared to previous groups I had which I kept in a larger tank along with the parents.

 

I don’t have a scientific paper on the subject sorry .
As I recall I picked up the information from a fellow fish keeper on another forum.

As I am the kind of person to be sceptical of such claims I tried it for myself. Only once and only with endlers live bearers. 4 tanks of fry at mixed sizes but all from the same spawns. All feed the same amount ( approximately) The tanks getting one 45% water change showed very different results from those getting 3 45% water changes each week. For me that was all the confirmation I needed.

The main issue is now who doesn’t have fry growing out in a fish room most of the time? And when you do have multiple tanks it’s difficult to maintain the enthusiasm to do 3 45% water changes on fry tanks. I know I have tanks now that I am not keeping up with 3 changes on. I do two a week most weeks.

 

I’ve heard this explanation also, but have not seen a citation. Mostly empirical observations that more water changes lead to faster growth. But could this also be because the water is cleaner?

It doesn’t make intuitive sense to me that fry would secrete hormone to inhibit their siblings’ growth for a couple reasons:

1. Survival of the species might favor more fry thriving.
2. Natural bodies of water are much larger than aquariums, so the effects of secreted hormone would be severely diluted.

 

I have given this some thought to. As Australia is such a dry country I see stagnant puddles where once fish had enough water to breed and this got me thinking perhaps in a drought situation like this having a few of the next generation grow big enough to eat the small fry themselves. As well as providing a distraction for predators while the big healthy juveniles escape may help the survival of the species in drought years. In a stagnant puddle you want as few growing to adulthood as possible. Sure in a good year everyone spreads out .