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Having trouble with fry dying?

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  hrutan 
#1 ·
After two big die-offs right at the 8 day mark, I tried a couple of new things on the latest spawns (now approx 10 & 12 days old).

1) Went out and bought jugs of Spring water for the spawn tanks, instead of aged tap water.

2) Left the sponge filters in and running through the whole spawning process, instead of turning them on when the fry were free swimming.

3) Started on BBS (alternated with walter worms) from day 1 of free swimming, instead of infusoria & walter worms.

Not sure which of the three factors was contributing to the die-offs, if not all three, but this time I've spotted no fatalities at all, even though I'd have expected at least a few malformed ones to perish. 100+ in one tank, 75+ in the other. The smaller spawn (orange x yellow) seems to be growing a smidge faster than the larger spawn (black x red). Spawned in 10 gallon tanks.
 
#3 ·
They were running, just left in another tank - with decaying fish food, so there was ammonia present to keep the bacteria going. My suspicion is a combination of factors: 1) High PH water, making ammonia more toxic, so that the initial lack of filters (which many, many people swear by) caused more harm than it would in better water, and 2) Not an "exciting" enough diet. The movement of BBS is more vigorous than microworms, and they are of higher nutritional value as well. That would have helped stimulate the "reluctant eaters" appetites so I didn't get starvation deaths.
 
#5 ·
Same and same - Lights go on when I get up at 6, go off when I go to bed at 11-midnight. Fed twice a day. They seem to do just fine with that rhythm. I'm not home at appropriate times to put in a third feeding.
 
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