Danio fry disaster!

[leafs]

About a week ago I had about 70 Danio fry. I put them in a 5 gallon tank with a small corner filter and started feeding them Warleys liquid food once they started swimming. The temp. was around 80f. Over the last few days I noticed fewer fry. Now, after about a week I only have around 5 that I placed in my main tank in a breeding net. So far they seem to be o.k. Doe's anybody have any idea why most didn't survive? Maybe poor water quality? The liquid food seemed to make the water smelly and cloudy.I would like to know what went wrong, so I could breed them again in the future. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[The-Wolf]

It's natural, I lost my entire first batch.

Each female lays around 700 eggs and less
than 1% of those will reach maturity in the wild.

Don't let it get to you, this will make your next attempt even more satisfying.

 

[leafs]

It's natural, I lost my entire first batch.

Each female lays around 700 eggs and less
than 1% of those will reach maturity in the wild.

Don't let it get to you, this will make your next attempt even more satisfying.

I'm not too upset, but I really thought that most of them would live. Oh well, maybe the last 5 that I have left will survive. I just wish I knew what else I could of done to keep more alive.

 

[KerriPaul]

some of them are bound to die. I dont think cloudy water will do it unless it gets low in oxygen.

The clouds are the infusoria in the liquid fry food.

After I moved house, I had trouble breeding the danios and when the did breed most of the fry died. I have rectified this by putting them in rainwater.

My tapwater was *very* hard with permanent hardness. Fresh tapwater also has various things like chlorine etc. 'Old' water in a tank has less impurities, benefits from the filter and also if your water has temporary hardness will get softer over time due to the action of the tank heater (which will get covered in scale over time)


I have accidently found a way of keeping the fry tank clear. When I harvested one batch from the filter there were a few adult daphnia in the filter. They have eaten the spare infusoria and bred exponentially! I'm planning to make them a permanent feature of my small fry tank as they really do keep it clean and its a good way of providing a supply of live food.

HTH

Paul

 

[KerriPaul]

PS Next time put some water from your main tank in the fry tank and then top up the main tank.

This means that the fry are in old water and it has exactly the same chemical composition and temperature as the water they were born in.

 

[leafs]

PS Next time put some water from your main tank in the fry tank and then top up the main tank.

This means that the fry are in old water and it has exactly the same chemical composition and temperature as the water they were born in.

The water that I had them in was from my established tank. I did a ph test and it was over 7.4. Is this too high? Maybe I'll try the rainwater next time. Thanks.

 

[KerriPaul]

Difficult one. If it is the same water as was in your main tank I would expect to see the same death rate with the fish in the net.

Assuming you had a bare fry tank, did you see any of the dead fry, they get a little bigger after they die before disintegrating.

I am wondering if they got into your filter, what is the setup like?

 

[leafs]

Difficult one. If it is the same water as was in your main tank I would expect to see the same death rate with the fish in the net.

Assuming you had a bare fry tank, did you see any of the dead fry, they get a little bigger after they die before disintegrating.

I am wondering if they got into your filter, what is the setup like?

It's hard to see the fry. It's almost like they just disappeared. There was some small black looking stuff on the bottom of the tank. I'm assuming that it was the dead fry. I have a small corner filter with the suction cups that attach to the side of the tank and I didn't see any inside. I have a feeling that when I get home tonight, there might not even be any left in the breeding net. It's a mystery.

 

[KerriPaul]

Difficult one,

Worth putting rainwater in your tank though, as it seems to encourage them to spawn as well.

I would also recommend activated carbon in your community tank filter and if you think the rain water may be impure and can filter it through the activated carbon before putting in the tank all the better (not a luxury available to me!)

 

[leafs]

Right now, I'm only using 2 sponges and an ammonia removing insert in my filter. I kept reading that carbon really doesn't do much so I took it out, although the water seems to smell a bit without the carbon. Do you think spring water would be good to use? I think I'll try the rainwater, and what do you know, it's raining! Thanks.

 

[yhbae]

I did spawn & raise daino (zebra) while back and had some success. All I did was to get the adults to spawn in a 5.5g tank, remove adults, make sure eggs hatch, and when I see them with egg yorks, I put alot of java moss in the tank. At a later stage, I fed them hatched brine shrimps.

If I recall correctly, I ended up with over 30 surviving frys to near 1 inch during my first spawn, and I never tried it again...

My tap water is 7.2, so I didn't have to add anything special into the water except the normal conditioner...

 

[leafs]

Well, I just got home and all the fry are all dead. Thanks for your help everybody. I'll have to try again later I guess.

 

[KerriPaul]

Deepest sympathy.

If the ones in the net in you main tank died I doubt it was the water cloudiness in the fry tank

What were you feeding them on?

 

[leafs]

Deepest sympathy.

If the ones in the net in you main tank died I doubt it was the water cloudiness in the fry tank

What were you feeding them on?

Thanks for your concern. Maybe I'll have more sucess next time. The ones in the main tank also died, but they did live a little longer. I was feeding the fry, Warleys liquid food. It came in a small tube.

 

[KerriPaul]

Hi Leafs,

I feed mine nothing until they are free swimming then Interpet Liquifry No.1 (two/three drops in morning and same in evening) for the next week or two then a mixture of the liqufry and Tetramin Baby (which is a powder) until they are big enough for adult food.

My larger fry (1cm) get occasional frozen cyclops and when I can get them they will get frozen lobster eggs.

However it is the 1st 4 weeks which is criucial not to under or overfeed them.

HTH

Paul