9 Week Old Peppered Cory Fry

[flumpit2]

hi all,my peppered cory fry are 9 weeks old now .at the moment there still being fed on microworms.the thing i want to know is when they shoud start eating crushed adult flake & pellet food.iv tried to feed them this several times already but they dont seem to recognise it as food & dont eat it.the problem iv got is that i go away on the 12th june & theyv got to be in the community tank (with the adult corys & white clouds) by then as iv arranged for someone to come in & feed the fish but i cant expect them to do the daily water change or 4 feeds a day for the fry.any advice,hints & tips on how i can get my fry to eat 'normal food' would be much apprechiated.thanx.shaz

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi Shaz

Well, some my bronze fry are about 4 months old now and only now eating pellets. I still give microworms because there are a few that are still small (the slow growers and some younger fry). I started about 6 weeks ago and they didn't want to know. So I put a pellet in everyday till they finally ate it (obviously I took out the food they didn't eat). By they time you go away, I'm sure they'll be eating normal food, they are very fussy though. My nerve, I never thought baby fish could be as fussy as human babies!!! I was crushing the pellets, but it made too much mess. We use JMC Catfish pellets. Good luck, you'll need it with those fussy little critters

 

[flumpit2]

thanx for that AlexAndCarmen,the fry make me laugh because i put a pellet in (i use king british) and they all dart away from it,then one will get brave & go for a look (with the rest following),then theyl all dart away to the corner that is furthest away from it.
i think the fry have been spoiled by the microworms,thats the problem.i also add a small amount of liquifry 3 powder with every feed to get them use to 'normal food' & they eat that no probs.its just the slightly bigger flakes & pellets they wont touch.there alot fussier than my baby son ever was,lol!!!
im lucky in the fact that out of he 12 fry iv got there is only 1 small one & hes not that much smaller in size,he just doesnt look quite aswel developed as the others (mind you,hes always the 1st to spot the microworms!!)
another quick question,i feed the adult fish blood worm & daphnia weekly.wouldthe fry be big enough to enjoy these weekly treats aswel?
how are your fry that you had the problem with them dying off the other week doing now?hope the ones youv got left are doing ok!!!
shaz

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

HI Shaz

Mine used to swim away from the pellets when I dropped them in, now they swim towards it. They just need training, and they do take ages. I'm not sure about the daphnia, because we don't feed ours that often (my husband has, but he's not here for me to ask) but when I give the big tank blood worms, I also put a few in the fry tank. Some of the bigger one's eat it, not all, and what they don't eat I remove. It did take a while for them to get used to blood worms, but most love them. I do only give it once a week though.

The fry we had in the smaller tank, well that was just tragic. We got internal bacterial medication and I was doing water changes everday, but we did loose most of them. We did have over 200 at one point, but we ended up with the strongest and the others died. Most of them died one morning before we got up. The remaining few were very strong and after a week, I put them in the "toddler" tank (my eldest son calls it a toddler tank) and they are still doing very well. Never had that problem before, but these things happen, and even though I shed a few tears, I still have the others

Keep well and hope all goes well with the fry
Carmen

 

[Barracuda518]

You need to start feeding them the pellots and flake food as soon as they will start eating it. The microworms are good, but they will need more nutrition then that very soon. They might be too old for the liquid fry stuff too. I stopped using that stuff after 2 days because it was so messy.

I started mine on crushed flake and crushed Hikari Sinking Wafers after 2 weeks and they started eating it without problem. Bloodworms are good too. As said, just make sure you get all the uneaten food out of the tank.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I've been feeding mine crushed food along with bbs and baby daphnia! They have also eaten baby bloodworms but it is hard to find bloodworms small enough for my cory fry as they arent very old (can't remember how old they are now but only feels like a couple of weeks)! Congrats on getting them to 9 weeks by the way!

 

[flumpit2]

thanx all for the info,the liquifry is number 3 which is a fine powder (not the liquid stuff).i leave anything i feed them in for about half hour to an hour then i use a turkey baster to remove it,im still doing the 30% water changes daily aswel.

should i start adding crushed flake & crushed pellets now or should i add them whole as they go really soft and break up after being in the water for about 5 mins so the fry would be able to eat bits off them any way.should i just add them when i feed them the microworms or at different times?how long does it take for them to recognise it as food?

sorry about all the questions but im quite chuffed that iv still got 12 left out of the 16 that hatched and i dont want to blow it all now!!!thanx
shaz

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

I drop my pellets in whole, because as you said, they go soft quickly. I only put a small amount of microworms in when I add pellets, so the smaller one's still get fed. It did take a while, not sure how many times I had to remove the pellets, but they did eventually start eating them, and they finish them off now When we first had cory fry, I fed them liquifry and crushed flake, but they obviously were very messy and they didn't eat much flake. But sounds like you are doing well, so congrats on getting them this far, it is so rewarding when they get big and eventually you mistake their parents for them Have you only got your one little boy? How old is he? Keep well, Carmen

 

[flumpit2]

hi carmen,il try the pellets whole from now on then.i suppose that if they get hungry enough if i only add a few microworms then theyl eat them in the end,lol!!cant wait for them to get as big as the adults,must be so rewarding to see them that big & healthy,must make you feel really proud!!!

ive got two lads aged 11 & nearly 3 (3 on monday).very big age gap,i must of been mental,lol!!! take are.shaz

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

ive got two lads aged 11 & nearly 3 (3 on monday).very big age gap,i must of been mental,lol!!! take are.shaz

You're not mental. We've got THREE. Oldest son turns 7 in 10 days, then a 5 and a half year old son and a three and a half year old daughter!! That's mental. By the time our daughter was born, the eldest was only 3 and a half Keep well, and speak soon, Carmen

 

[Barracuda518]

The only problem with leaving a whole pellot in the tank is that it might mess the water up. Usually these pellots are eaten pretty quickly and not given the chance to do that. Just make sure you dont leave it in the tank too long. Do you have a filter in the tank yet? What about a substrate?

 

[guppy_man]

i started them on powder food and 2 weeks on still feeding powder food, some flakes and daphnia, working great, i haven't had any die on me (touch wood)

 

[flumpit2]

hi barracuda518,yesterday i left the pellets in for about an hour before removing them.they seemed to go really soft & squishy but didnt break up every where.iv got a sponge filter in the tank but no substrate (sand) yet as i find it easier to keep the bottom clean with out it.was thiking about putting sand in this weekend tho.theres also some plants and a cave in there.

hi guppy man,congrats on the fry!do the fry manage to eat the daphnia ok?iv lost four fry in total and they were all in week five for no apparent reason,they were the 4 smallest so just think it was nature taking the weak ones & leaving the strong ones.thats the thing iv noticed with cory fry,you can never get complacient and think your over the so called 'daner zone'

hi carmen,now that is mental!!!suprised youv got time for your fish with all your kids,lol.my nearly 3 year old has got the attitude of an 11 year old.he cant understand why hes not allowed out the front to play or why he cant go to the shop on his own etc.its sooooooo funny!he also packs a mean right hook,he was play fighting with my partner last night & split my partners lip open,lol!!!!!!!!!

shaz