newby fry feeding question - very specific!

[melbot]

OK, so the fry have all officially hatched, and are somewhere between the "straight up and down" phase and the wiggling around phase. They are so tiny I can barely see them! They still have large egg yolks.

First question...how well do they need to be swimming before they get their first BBS feeding? Right now, they appear to have no control, and they are living off their yolks for the time being anyway, right?

Second question...How long do the BBS live and remain nutritious in their hatchery? I have googled like crazy, and cannot find any good information. I have timed three different hatcheries, each one started three days apart, just in case problems came up with any of the BBS.

Sorry for all the questions, but I don't want to screw this up! Everything is going so perfectly thus far!

[Oldfishlady]

Congrats.....

I usually don't start to feed for 7-10 after the free swimming stage...but I also have natural setups that provide some food......I wouldn't add any BBS until the fry have absorbed the yolk sac and free swimming and if your tank is mature and has some live plants and snails you may have a small amount of food in the tank for a day or so......

For the first 2 weeks you only want to feed newly hatched BBS with the yolk sac intact otherwise they have very little nutrition...their first shed is 24h after hatch...I keep two hatcheries going 24h apart...once the BBS have absorbed their yolk sac and the fry are over 2 weeks of age-I will supplement the BBS with an HUFA product called Selcon that I order on-line..its a saltwater supplement and BBS are saltwater creatures...

Be sure and rinse the BBS well before feeding to the fry and try to limit the amount of shells that get in the fry tank too......eating too many shells is what can cause problems for the fry.....

Google Brine shrimp life cycle- that should give you a lot of information....

[CTMongo]

congratz on the new fry...lol
im gona ask a silly question lol what is BBS? lol

[melbot]

Sorry...BBS are baby brine shrimp. Not a silly question at all. Just two "O's" short of being a much more fun word! Sorry, had to throw in some bad AM humor.

[CTMongo]

thanks for that..i brought some brine shrimp today..dont knw wat my betta will be like with it lol bt they sure love the bloodworms lol oh yea and whats AM & AB?..hahaha..