Gudgie’s fry-raising setup

[Gudgie]

I wanted to share my work-in-progress small fry setup. Trying to get organized since apparently I have six species of fish all breeding but have limited space. Not a major setup, but it’d be nice to raise a small amount of offspring to sell/trade - plus it’s just a super fun hobby.

My partner nixed the idea for a metal shelving rack, so instead I’m just reusing our old 50/75 aquarium stand. Now houses two 5 gals and two 10 gallons. In theory I’m at my limit for tanks, but I know there’s some emergency space for sterilite bins under the stand if I get desperate.

Now I just need to hang a small shelf above the tanks so I can put the air pump up there to keep things organized - should come later this week!


Current inhabitants:

• Left 5 gallon: male peacock gudgeon that’s fanning eggs/wigglers; he’ll get moved back to his regular 20 gal once they’re free-swimming. Also a handful of tiny super red BN babies.
• Right 5 gallon: 4 juvenile Gertrude’s rainbowfish and 5 super red BN babies that are approaching an inch or so. Both species will be for sale within the next couple months, though I’m hoping to up the rainbowfish numbers a bit.
• Left 10 gallon: in the process of setting up for my Aphyosemion australe killifish fry, also known as the lyretail or Cape Lopez killifish. Eggs and a few fry are currently incubating in two places to see what works best: some floating in containers in the right 10 gallon, and some in containers stored at RT in the dark inside the stand cabinet. Thus far, the floating containers with ambient light are doing better than those in the dark, contrary to what I read on some sites. Though perhaps that’s more temp-related than light.
  
• Right 10 gal: breeding pair of Bolivian rams and their first batch of fry. Parents will likely move to my 75 gal eventually.

Not pictured: my orchid endlers are reproducing like crazy in my 75 gallon community. Definitely need to sell some of them off soon!

 

[BigManAquatics]

My only suggestion would be to move the male gudgie now...mine always ate the eggs after 4-5 days unless i moved them!

 

[Flyfisha]

My suggestion is to recommend multiple water changes in fry grow out tanks. We can not measure the growth hormones fry release with our test kits. Regardless of tank size we will get faster growth from fry with less hormones in the water. In small tanks it’s even more important.

It’s a well proven fact growth hormones stop others from growing. Regardless of how much food you pour in multiple times a day you need to change water at least 3 times a week.

If you had more tanks you could run a test with two tanks of fry from he same parents. Brothers and sisters in each tank. As you have limited space you will have to take my word for it. “ the fish will not grow as fast without multiple water changes “

 

[Gudgie]

My only suggestion would be to move the male gudgie now...mine always ate the eggs after 4-5 days unless i moved them!

Hmm. In my original breeding pair of gudgies (generation before my current adults) my male diligently guarded the nest and never ate any eggs or fry. The female, on the other hand, thought the fry were an all-you-can-eat buffet. Thankfully the male kept her away from the eggs at least!

I’ll keep an eye on this male with this batch and see whether to pull him next time. I’d rather leave him in as long as possible for fanning if he doesn’t chow down. I thought at first he might have gobbled a few eggs, but I’ve been spotting more and more free-swimming fry so they may have just hatched instead. He’s still guarding the last group of wigglers, so at this point I think I’ll leave him until tomorrow. Fingers crossed I don’t regret that!

My suggestion is to recommend multiple water changes in fry grow out tanks. We can not measure the growth hormones fry release with our test kits. Regardless of tank size we will get faster growth from fry with less hormones in the water. In small tanks it’s even more important.

It’s a well proven fact growth hormones stop others from growing. Regardless of how much food you pour in multiple times a day you need to change water at least 3 times a week.

If you had more tanks you could run a test with two tanks of fry from he same parents. Brothers and sisters in each tank. As you have limited space you will have to take my word for it. “ the fish will not grow as fast without multiple water changes “

Agreed on the water changes. There’s definitely no way I’ll keep up with daily changes, but trying to do at least a few times a week. In fact, just did one earlier this evening on all 4 tanks.

 

[BigManAquatics]

Hmm. In my original breeding pair of gudgies (generation before my current adults) my male diligently guarded the nest and never ate any eggs or fry. The female, on the other hand, thought the fry were an all-you-can-eat buffet. Thankfully the male kept her away from the eggs at least!

I’ll keep an eye on this male with this batch and see whether to pull him next time. I’d rather leave him in as long as possible for fanning if he doesn’t chow down. I thought at first he might have gobbled a few eggs, but I’ve been spotting more and more free-swimming fry so they may have just hatched instead. He’s still guarding the last group of wigglers, so at this point I think I’ll leave him until tomorrow. Fingers crossed I don’t regret that!

Agreed on the water changes. There’s definitely no way I’ll keep up with daily changes, but trying to do at least a few times a week. In fact, just did one earlier this evening on all 4 tanks.

Yeah, what has worked for me is i pull the cave to a seperate tank and use an airstone in the cave to help simulate fanning, should keep fungus away if you need to seperate.

 

[Gudgie]

Finally had a chance to take some new pics of all my fry tonight, before I did a water change on all the tanks.

First tank (5 gal): has a small swarm of peacock gudgeon fry that mostly became free-swimming on Jan 31st, plus a small cohort that hatched a week or so ago. Also has some similarly sized rainbowfish fry, but they're mostly impossible to tell apart at this stage. All have some nice pink/orange bellies in the photo thanks to some BBS. And last but not least, this tank has my two most recent small batches of super red BN plecos - the youngest of which isn't out of their cave yet and still has yolk sacs. Don't think I got any clear pics of them though.


I got a couple pics of one slightly larger fry in that tank that I'm fairly sure is a rainbowfish, based on the blue eyes. Probably only a couple weeks old or so, but they grow faster than the gudgeons in my experience thus far.


Second tank (5 gal): Here's my oldest batch of super red BN plecos, who hatched late November. They're in with my handful of older juvenile rainbowfish that are ready to sell.
(note - the pleco in the second pic does not actually have red eyes; just the way the photo looks)


Third tank (10 gal): Has my orange lyretail killifish fry (Aphyosemion australe), the oldest of which started to hatch around Jan 30th and are starting to look a bit like real fish. There are at least a dozen in there, with many more eggs incubating in floating containers. I seem to have a few hatching every day or two now. I can't wait until these fry get bigger and I can start to sex them, especially since the males will have such bright, beautiful coloration.


Fourth tank (10 gal):Last but certainly not least, my Bolivian ram fry. These hatched on Jan 21st, so about 3.5 weeks old or so. I'd guess that I have 40+ (though dang, they are impossible to count!), and they've continued to develop slowly but steadily. The parents continue to do well with them, so they've been allowed to stay for now.


I just had to up my brine shrimp hatching to keep everyone fed, but otherwise so far so good. Now let's see how overrun I feel in a month or so.

 

[Gudgie]

More pics of my Bolivian ram fry. Slowly but surely becoming real fish!

 

[jmaldo]

Looking Good,. Take care of my half dozen I see in the 4th pic....

 

[Gudgie]

Looking Good,. Take care of my half dozen I see in the 4th pic....

I’ll make sure I take extra good care of those six in particular.

 

[Gudgie]

Overdue for another update.

My gudgeon fry are a bit over a month old, and still coming along well. There's probably 30-50, and they're all starting to develop their black caudal spot. All voracious eaters, especially for BBS. I've started mixing in some prepared foods, but hard to tell if they're eating it or not.


In theory there are some Pseudomugil rainbowfish fry in with them, but I've only been able to spot one lately. I had put the few newest rainbow fry into an attached breeder basket (to avoid getting eaten), but apparently they didn't make it. They definitely seem to be the most fragile of all my fry...not sure what I need to do in order to get a higher survival rate. :/

My killifish fry continue to grow well. There are probably 1-2 dozen growing out in the current 10 gallon, plus a few much younger fry in another 5 gallon. Some of the largest in the 10 gal are just starting to develop some color - presumably those are the males. I can't wait to see their color fully develop! Thus far they've been easy keepers, don't seem finicky at all.


My Bolivian ram fry are also growing and developing. It's crazy seeing the big size range there is across this batch of fry, even though they're all the same age. Definitely a much more pronounced size difference than I've observed in my other fry, though I suppose it may just be more discernible since this is the largest species I'm breeding.


In other Bolivian ram news, my pair decided to spawn today. I actually caught them in the act - they were still laying as of a few minutes ago. I got a brief picture of their reflection in the glass, which they didn't seem to mind since they were still "hidden" behind the tank's TARDIS. I'm wondering if this will cause any aggression towards the older fry, but thus far the parents don't seem fussed by them at all. Still, debating if I should move some of the older fry into one of my other grow tanks just to be safe.


Nothing really to report on my super red BN fry, just continuing to grow slowly but surely. I have enough in my grow out tank (30+?) that I don't think I'll bother to pull the next batch from my 20 gallon though.

 

[Flyfisha]

I have had little blue acara fry around a centimetre-3/8 inch eat newly hatched fry from the next spawn. As you are feeding live food the wriggling new born are irresistible I imagine?

An option to consider with rainbow fry ( and other tiny fry ) that produced some fry is a green water tank . From the handful of day olds I turkey bastered into it is a 100% green water tank some survived with not much help from me. I did not do much feeding for the first few weeks and had some fry grow by eating only green water. Water changes were just more green water from an outside waste water tank in top picture. I have to admit the waste water was old fish tank water which I have never tested for nitrates etc.
ok thats a pencil fish but it’s a healthy fry in 100% dirty old stinking green water.