Losing Angel Fry

[MamaPish]

well, my fry aren't doing to good now....I have lost about 50 today, and about 40 the last couple of days.
I am not sure why they are dying....the ones that died first seemed to have some sort of deformaty, so I expected them not to make it....they had a huge belly...it looked like they already had the angelfish shape, but only on the bottom....looked strange!All of those have gone.

I have tested the water...it is perfect,
I am keeping the tank bottom clean of uneaten food. And changing about 25% of the water daily.

I am feeding them frozen baby brine shrimp 3-4x's a day.
I can see some of them eating, but some are still scooting around on the bottom quite a bit.....very few come to the top or center of the tank to eat...some have a dark spot in their belly, and some don't have much of one.

Is the food the problem?? Do I need to start hatching my own brine shrimp?
It seems like it would be a huge pain!

TIA

 

[Angel Lady]

I hope they make it for you sorry I dont know what to tell u to do mabey someone can your angels are busy arent they? I sure hope you gets things lined up for the babies soon.

 

[Pufferpack]

Wish I could help you here Mama ...try a PM to Cichlidmaster or Dolphin, I'm sure they would be able to steer you in the right direction.

Good Luck

Don.

 

[dolphin]

Hi Mama

Sorry to here that your fry are not doing too good.

First I would not change the water too often. When I used separate tanks I only changed the water once a week.

I only feed my fry on fresh hatched brine shrimp for the first 3-4 weeks. It is not a huge pain to have a constant supply. I use two 1.5l jars. Each jar is started a fresh every other evening. I harvest the shrimp after 36 hours and then again after 48 hours. After the second harvest, (which uses up all the shrimp) I clean the jar out and start a fresh batch. The next jar will then be ready the following morning. As I constantly have fry, (on average 3 spawnings of angels per week, not to mention to discus fry) I always have the brine shrimp on the go. The only problem I ever have is if I give the fry their first feed in the evening, (as there tends to be more egg cases in the shrimp after 48 hours) as the fry choke on the cases and die. So I now only ever feed the new fry for the first time in the morning after they have become free swimming.

I only feed my fry twice a day, and only clean out the bottoms of the tanks 3-4 times a week. I find that the more I stick my hands into the tank the more fry die,(yes, some of my fry also die) as the human hand if a every dirty thing, (bacteriological).

What are the genetics of the fry, ie are there any of the weaker strains in them?

How long has the tank been set up? In the photos it looked very fresh.

When I get a digital cam, I will post some shots of my set up. In some of the fry tanks you can hardly see into then because of the build up of algae on the take sides. The fry browse on the algae when there is no brine shrimp left.

I have always preferred older tanks for fry (six months +) as they tend to do better in more mature tanks. My fish house has been running for 8 months now and the fry survival rate is now much higher that it was when the setup was started.

You say that your water is fine. What are the parameters? My water is pH around 6.3 (because of the efficiency of my 115 galls (UK) filter, the water is constantly acidified, if I do not adjust the pH daily it would drop (an has) down to 4 pH) Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 Nitrate <10 and Conductivity 100us.

Dolphin

 

[-=DG=-]

I dont know much about fry. But is that sort of food ok for them? Mine are eating tetramin, and so far i've still got 17/17 (touch wood)

 

[MamaPish]

Dolphin.....I know that all this is a learning process!
Thanks for your help, I would love to see your set up.......what kind of angels do you breed?


My breeding pairs are all Black marbles with orange heads....the one thing I haven't thought about is....they are siblings....from the same spawn, could that be a problem?

I hope to move on to breeding prealscales & DD and who knows what else......I have just standard finages now, but want veil and superveils...they are just hard to come by around here

My 5 1/2 gal fry tank has been set up for about 2 weeks, but the sponge filter was set up for about a month in the parents tank before I moved it to the fry tank, I also started it with water from the parents tank.

I don't really get my hands in the water when I clean the bottom, I use a turkey baster to get the dead fry out......and since it is a small tank ......

anyway water parameters today are...

ammonia @ 0
nitrite @ 0
pH @ 7.4
nitrate @ 0 today......(only change....3 days ago it was @5.0 )
temp 82

I have removed more dead this morning.....and I would say I have about 100 left....give or take a couple dozen! left in the fry tank and they are pretty active today and they seemed to have eaten well their 1st feeding of the day.

I have moved about 20 that were weaker and staying on the bottom.

I guess I will get the brine shrimp hatching goin on! maybe it won't be that bad!

Thanks again!