Keeping Fry Alive

I'm having a hard time keeping the fry that hatch in my rainbow tank. I had them separate in a net but somehow they kept disappearing, so I put a plastic breeder box inside the net. Now there a two barriers to go through and out of three that hatched so far, one managed to disappear. I'm feeding them powdered fry food. What am I doing wrong?

 

fry are escape artists for sure. I have some endler fry in a breeding box in my 55 that won't stay put. What I see some people doing is putting a bin above their tank and keeping the fry entirely separate that way. Once the fry get to a certain size its best to let them go in my experience. I have a basket with large holes in it that the fry can get through but the bigger fish can't (this is also where I feed them) Its very difficult to keep fry alive especially open water swimmers.

 

fry are escape artists for sure. I have some endler fry in a breeding box in my 55 that won't stay put. What I see some people doing is putting a bin above their tank and keeping the fry entirely separate that way. Once the fry get to a certain size its best to let them go in my experience. I have a basket with large holes in it that the fry can get through but the bigger fish can't (this is also where I feed them) Its very difficult to keep fry alive especially open water swimmers.

I envy the people that have fry survive and grow without even knowing they are in tank. This is a lot harder than I expected it to be. I'm not a serious breeder by any means, I just thought it would be cool and cost efficient to add to my stock this way. I'm going to keep trying but, man, these suckers are microscopic Hundinis.

 

I envy the people that have fry survive and grow without even knowing they are in tank. This is a lot harder than I expected it to be. I'm not a serious breeder by any means, I just thought it would be cool and cost efficient to add to my stock this way. I'm going to keep trying but, man, these suckers are microscopic Hundinis.

...oops!

I have a separate tank for fry, but usually don't move them to that tank until they are a couple weeks or a month old because they will just survive in my main tank on their own. It just depends what other fry are in my fry tank at the time.

I certainly won't move them until they have figured out how to swim and eat from the water surface though, because they wouldn't stand a change against my other ravenous babies otherwise!

I cane help you with fry care if you want. I've learned a lot from reading my little fellas. The first few to be born are now nearly selling age

 

What kind of Rainbowfish? Most have fry that are too small to eat common powdered foods. There are some superfine powdered foods, but you won't find them in stores. Personally, I prefer vinegar worms/"eels" for Rainbow fry.

Oddly, Blue Eye fry seem to be better able to take slightly larger foods, as they seem to hatch out bigger than the fry of the bigger Rainbowfish species.

 

What kind of Rainbowfish? Most have fry that are too small to eat common powdered foods. There are some superfine powdered foods, but you won't find them in stores. Personally, I prefer vinegar worms/"eels" for Rainbow fry.

Oddly, Blue Eye fry seem to be better able to take slightly larger foods, as they seem to hatch out bigger than the fry of the bigger Rainbowfish species.

I'm not entirely sure which rainbows laid the eggs that hatched. I will say that the Gertrudae and mainly the Forktail were adamantly going at it. There's a good possibility these fry belong to either of them.

 

...oops!

I have a separate tank for fry, but usually don't move them to that tank until they are a couple weeks or a month old because they will just survive in my main tank on their own. It just depends what other fry are in my fry tank at the time.

I certainly won't move them until they have figured out how to swim and eat from the water surface though, because they wouldn't stand a change against my other ravenous babies otherwise!

I cane help you with fry care if you want. I've learned a lot from reading my little fellas. The first few to be born are now nearly selling age

...oops!


What do you feed them?

 

Those are both Blue Eyes, so I'd say try some brine shrimp naupliI ("baby brine shrimp") or microworms. And Vinegar worms would still work, too. If you feed the powdered food, put it in a small container and shake it to soak the food so that it doesn't just sit on the surface.

 

Your tank in your profile pic seems to be well planted. What is keeping you away from just adding a ton of leaf litter, feeding the parents well and just letting fry be? That's what I did with my corydoras pygmaeus and after some months I have 6 extra corydoras on my tank. Never cared to feed the fry (they are borderline microscopic when they first hatch) nor cared about the eggs. The tannins and leaf litter took care of that. Sure a few fry died but that is just life anyways. Not worth IMO to setup a breeding operation to get 1 or 2 more babies per batch.

 

Freshman fry keeper here. Have had Platy, Guppy and now Ram Fry. Yes the Platy and Guppy are very good at escaping the breeder box and other tank mates (the little buggers are fast). For feeding Platy and Guppy fry I just ground up flake food very finely along with baby brine shrimp and it seemed to work. As far as the Rams they are hatched from eggs an entirely different experience they are so tiny. I am attempting to feed them live Baby brine shrimp, hardboiled egg yolk finely round up and a fry food recipe from my local LFS. I am trying to track down some micro worms or vinegar eels right now as chromedome52 mentioned. Good Luck.

 

Your tank in your profile pic seems to be well planted. What is keeping you away from just adding a ton of leaf litter, feeding the parents well and just letting fry be? That's what I did with my corydoras pygmaeus and after some months I have 6 extra corydoras on my tank. Never cared to feed the fry (they are borderline microscopic when they first hatch) nor cared about the eggs. The tannins and leaf litter took care of that. Sure a few fry died but that is just life anyways. Not worth IMO to setup a breeding operation to get 1 or 2 more babies per batch.

I do have some Catappa leaves. I suppose I can put some pieces in with the fry. These guys are so itty bitty I feel like, even though I put sponges over the filters, if they are free to go they'll get sucked up or lost in the water surface agitation.

 

Freshman fry keeper here. Have had Platy, Guppy and now Ram Fry. Yes the Platy and Guppy are very good at escaping the breeder box and other tank mates (the little buggers are fast). For feeding Platy and Guppy fry I just ground up flake food very finely along with baby brine shrimp and it seemed to work. As far as the Rams they are hatched from eggs an entirely different experience they are so tiny. I am attempting to feed them live Baby brine shrimp, hardboiled egg yolk finely round up and a fry food recipe from my local LFS. I am trying to track down some micro worms or vinegar eels right now as chromedome52 mentioned. Good Luck.

I will probably have trouble finding eels as well but it's worth a shot. I hope things work out for you. It's very exciting to see babies. Fingers crossed some of them make it.

 

You might want to try something like this.

20171206_104455

• Old Town Fish Geek
• Dec 6, 2017

Another view of a fry hide/breeder box

20171206_104501

• Old Town Fish Geek
• Dec 6, 2017

A fry hide/breeder box I made from plastic craft mesh canvas and acrylic yarn.

You can set it in the tank or tie on floats. The fry automatically seek shelter & will go in on their own. Because the parents can't fit through the holes the fry are safe.

It's made out of plastic craft canvas mesh & acrylic yarn. You can buy it with different sized holes & in other colors.

These have worked great with my fry.

 

You might want to try something like this.

20171206_104455

• Old Town Fish Geek
• Dec 6, 2017

Another view of a fry hide/breeder box

20171206_104501

• Old Town Fish Geek
• Dec 6, 2017

A fry hide/breeder box I made from plastic craft mesh canvas and acrylic yarn.

You can set it in the tank or tie on floats. The fry automatically seek shelter & will go in on their own. Because the parents can't fit through the holes the fry are safe.

It's made out of plastic craft canvas mesh & acrylic yarn. You can buy it with different sized holes & in other colors.

These have worked great with my fry.

Well that's interesting! I will look into it. Thank you.

 

I do have some Catappa leaves. I suppose I can put some pieces in with the fry. These guys are so itty bitty I feel like, even though I put sponges over the filters, if they are free to go they'll get sucked up or lost in the water surface agitation.

Yeah, if you want to breed fish say bye bye to anything else but sponge filters. When my corydoras started placing the eggs I just threw the filter away and did not replace it since I didnt have sponge filters. The tank was planted very well at that time so I could get away with that. I just had to turn the lights on everyday for the plants.

Throwing leaf litter and moss into the breeding box is better than leaving it bare. Let the leaf litter break down and make a mess, the fry will benefit from it.

 

I feed my fry crushed flakes, hikarI first bites, mashed pea and frozen brine shrimp.

They love all of it

 

I am not familiar with your fry, but I read that the newborn find microscopic stuff in Java moss, leaf litter as mentioned and apparently in the poop of mystery snails who produce infusoria and are great for fry tanks.

Since I removed the parents of my Daisy's ricefish, the babies stopped vanishing.
Now, if I could stop Endler fry survive in my community tank with cichlids and other hungry fish, I'd be very happy

 

I feed my fry crushed flakes, hikarI first bites, mashed pea and frozen brine shrimp.

They love all of it

You have guppy fry, not rainbows. Guppy fry are born at large sizes compared to most fish.

Rainbow fry need extremely small foods. Jocelyn Adelman has killI fry with similar requirements. She mentioned to me once she feeds them BacterAE which seems like a good option, as it's basically biofilm. IAL is a good idea as it will grow microorganisms upon decay.

You can also grow green water and infusoria by putting tank water in a jar on your windowsill, with some kind of organic matter like a dead plant leaf.

If you really want to optimize fry survival, you'll probably need a separate tank for them.

 

You have guppy fry, not rainbows. Guppy fry are born at large sizes compared to most fish.

Rainbow fry need extremely small foods. Jocelyn Adelman has killI fry with similar requirements. She mentioned to me once she feeds them BacterAE which seems like a good option, as it's basically biofilm. IAL is a good idea as it will grow microorganisms upon decay.

You can also grow green water and infusoria by putting tank water in a jar on your windowsill, with some kind of organic matter like a dead plant leaf.

If you really want to optimize fry survival, you'll probably need a separate tank for them.

I would have thought first bites would be ok for them. First bites are the finest powder I have ever seen in food form.

 

I am not familiar with your fry, but I read that the newborn find microscopic stuff in Java moss, leaf litter as mentioned and apparently in the poop of mystery snails who produce infusoria and are great for fry tanks.

Since I removed the parents of my Daisy's ricefish, the babies stopped vanishing.
Now, if I could stop Endler fry survive in my community tank with cichlids and other hungry fish, I'd be very happy

I have a colony of endlers going with 4 large angelfish. Dont expect a huge yield but water leddice is a great place for fry to hide and find food. after around 2 weeks the fry death rate slows drastically. my last spawn I started with 11 and within 2 weeks I had 4. now a month later I still have 3 )maybe the 4th is still around I'm not entirely sure) I actually had a bigger problem with my large silver angel (murphy) eating the fathers in the beginning than the fry

 

I would have thought first bites would be ok for them. First bites are the finest powder I have ever seen in food form.

First bites are a maybe. The other foods that you feed your guppy fry are too large for rainbow fry.