hi

Got some baby fish that are now 8 days old. What should i be feeding them now? i have been feeding them on babybrine shrimp should i keep feeding them this? and how much everyday? or should i start to crush up fish food and start to give them this? again how much a day? we think there is about 50-80 in the tank and they are very active day and night. the tank is 2.5 foot long and about 6-7inc of water and a aireater in will they be ok with this? at what age can you change the water? and increase the water level.

Any help and advise would be very much appreciated

thanks

You are in the right forum to find loads of useful info on what to expect from here on Congrats on your babies. You can feed them as much as they can eat in 2 hours and remove any leftovers after that with a syringe or a turkey baster.

Do you have a (seeded) sponge filter going or that can be set up as well as the aerator, as they will need that. Remember even trace ammonia will kill fry. Water changes can be done very gently making no splash..I use a small plastic cup.

You can start to feed occasional meals of crushed flake food or baby food yes, but the baby brine shrimp, especially if you can hatch your own - most people say gives the fry the best start in life.

SO to do a water change do i just take the water out, and add fresh or dose it ned to be room temp? and can it just be tap water that has been treated for chlorine?

I use tap water that has been left standing peferanly overnight, or for at least 6 hours in the same room, treated with dechlorinator. I siphon out the same amount of water and then add the clean water gradually over twenty minutes or so using a jug to pour in small amounts slowly.

I fed my fry liquifry, followed by the liquifry powder as well, and now i am currently using a small feed of liquifry powder once a day supplemented with dried brine shrimp crushed up small, crushed up goldfish pellets, and frozen brine shrimp (defrosted first of course). Mine seem to be growing ok.

I should add that mine are 3 months old, not 8 days old. With water changes on fry this young be VERY, VERY careful and slow. I think I have a few fish with twisted backs due to too much swirling water. Just dribble it down the side.

ok thanks

never had fry before! so really learning everyday.

how many do you have?

once again thanks.

I keep my fry on baby brine shrimp for at least 2 weeks - at which time I start adding in daphnia and other live food. They grow fast. Newly hatched fish - for the first 2 weeks of feeding at least, should be fed every few hours. I feed every 2 hours for the first week and then go to every 3-4 after 7 feeding days. When the fry are older, they will get only 3 meals - but I usually leave a chunk or two of protien gel food in the tank for them to snack on - and loads of fuzzy green algae for grazing.

As mentioned above - clean water is what it is all about with fry. Because they eat so much and you will generally have a tank heavliy stocked, your water parameters can be really bad if you do not watch them carefully. A sponge filter - or multiple sponge filters are ideal for new fry - and can be converted to power sponges easily.

For the time being, the easiest way to change the water in a fry tank is to syphon water out and in using airline sized tubeing. I place a bucket of conditioned water above the fry tank. An airline hose is primed and run down into the fry tank to slowly syphon fresh clean water into the fry tank. A syphon exchange mechanism I built takes the water out at the same speed - set running constantly so that I get 100% exchange every 24 hours or so. You can easily syphon out what you wish from the tank using a small hose - that is COVERED. ONe of the easiest ways to do this is to put the hose inside a net bag that is held open with a piece of plastic mesh or wire or screen. This holds the netting away from the end of the hose, preventing any fry from being sucked against the net by the suction. The slow flow fill will prevent any bent backs and fins from currents.

As your little fish grow, they can deal with a whole lot more. By the time they are about 3 months old, most can deal with the full flow of a normal filter.

I have somewhere between 35-40 fry - tricky to count. Details and photos can be found here: http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=66328

They are my first batch of fry too and I'm still amazed at myself that any survived at all!