Newly hatched fry question

[elegantlyunsophisticated]

Hey everyone! I decided to try spawning a second time after an unsuccessful first run and a couple days ago, my two CT's spawned! When the eggs were well... still eggs daddy fish was pretty good about keeping them in the nest. He left a couple laying around but he was mostly on top of it. But, now that the eggs have hatched, most of the fry are on the bottom of the tank helplessly trying to swim. He's gone after a couple of them and they're hanging out in the nest, but most are on the bottom. There is also a small pile of unhatched eggs under a leaf. He's built the nest in the clump of plants designated for the female (of course) and I'm wondering if I should move some of these plants so he can see them? Or should I just take him out? Some of the fry are free swimming but most aren't. Thanks in advance everyone!

[Oldfishlady]

Congrats.....I would leave them alone and let him tend to them.....often when a male leaves them on the floor-they may be bad or weak to start and even if they are healthy-they should be fine and will get themselves back to the top or in the plants......with that said, some males with their first successful spawn can get overwhelmed or not know what to do...but its still best to leave them alone...too much intervention by you can cause him to stress and eat all of them-instinct tells him that when his brood is threatened to eat them so nothing else can so that he can have to protein to spawn again......good luck and keep us posted.......

You you take the male out at this point the fry will be fine, however, if you have any common snails I would add them to the spawning tank if you don't already have some in it to eat any unhatched eggs and/or dead/dying fry to prevent all the fry from dying and fungus eggs that will pollute the tank....

[elegantlyunsophisticated]

thanks so much OFL, yeah this is Crosley's first spawn and he was always a bit of a slow fish. To update the bubblenest is mostly gone and there are fry everywhere, hanging around on the plants and a bunch on the floor of the tank. I think I'm going to take daddy out because he seems to have given up. Some fry are swimming about but most lay on the bottom and only swim when I nudge a plant or disturb the water, is this ok? Also I have a marimo moss ball in there for infusoria purposes, if the fry hatched a day or two ago, how long will the moss ball hold them over/when should I start giving bigger food? Thanks for putting up with me! And I don't have a snail because I keep clown loaches in my big tank and they would eat him right up, I was just at Petsmart today too, grrr... I'll see if I can get another chance to go and pick one up.

[Curlyfatbottom]

Depending on this size of your spawn....
By day 5...
With only 11 fry....
They clean up the whole 10 gallon tank....
Bbs or micro worm for the first 5 weeks....
Grindal worm till 8...
By the 8th week they should b big enough to eat adualt fish food....

[elegantlyunsophisticated]

back again with another question, I was just changing their water when I saw some teeny tiny brownish/tan worms! and I saw some dead fry covered in a fuzzy fungus like substance. Should I add any salt or medication? Ughhh I can never keep fry alive no matter what I do D:<

[Curlyfatbottom]

How old is your fry????
I don't usually add any medicine to my fry tank....
I just use age water with lot of plant...
Keep my tank cover n warm....
Never really have a problem....
If u feed your fish tubfix worm.....
N left uneaten....
Inside of your breeding tank...
The worm will reproduce....

[elegantlyunsophisticated]

they are about the same size as the freeze dried tubifex worms I feed to the big guys, but I've never fed them anything live? Does this mean that one of the parents brought something over to the spawn tank? Anyway, dad is out and most of the fry are at the bottom, this spawn seems to be a no-go as well

[Oldfishlady]

I would start making some water changes and get the dead fry and unhatched eggs out before the water pollutes to the point of killing the fry...

I would get a BBS hatchery going and start feeding the fry at least by day 5/7 from day of free swimming....

Depending on your setup and how mature it was...hard to say the amount of microorganism in the tank for fry food.....

[indjo]

When fry die shortly after hatching:
1. Fry were weak to begin with. But in this case, daddy should have eaten them. If they die after a few days of free swimming, they might have developed.... in a poor way (daddy would have been taken out).

2. There is something wrong with your water. What source are you using. Tap is usually standard - all it needs is anti chlorine OR aged for at least 24 hours, preferably with air pump.
But if it's well/spring water, there are many possibilities.... what's in it. But since daddy is OK, so the water shouldn't be deadly, IMO it only needs to be aged.

I use tap water and often experience this if I don't age for at least 2 weeks (IDK why).

[elegantlyunsophisticated]

Yeah I use dechlorinated tap water, but I don't age it, I just use conditioner. Could the quality of my tap water be harming my fry? We have ridiculously hard water here (the reason why I can only keep African cichlids -_-) and I feel like the crazy hardness of the water had something to do with it? I'm off to change some water now, some more fry are free swimming and I'm considering giving egg yolk.