Re: [Killietalk] Mixing Fry

[Scott Davis <unclescott at prodigy_net>]

I left some STR and DAG eggs in an empty aquarium when
we had to leave town. I realized that was the only
chance those soon to hatch eggs had.

It was "biologically rich" in that it has been a well
established and healthy aquarium. Better than a half
dozen of each, about a cm long, awaited us upon our
return. I don't know how many siblings contributed to
the cause.

Have lots of hiding places, perhaps top plants like
water sprite and bottom cover such as Java moss.
Naturally feed live food as generously as you can
without over feeding.

One version of this is to throw the fry into a tank or
vat of Daphnia. They seem to eat some of what the
Daphnia are dining upon until they can feed upon the
baby Daphnia and work their way up the sizes. (I do
that with the odd, but desirable fry which appears in
a parent's tank. They usually go into a wide-mouthed
gallon pickle jar of Greenwater and Daphnia these
days.)

If there are that many food animals available, they
are less hard on siblings. Perhaps they will leave
other killies alone too.

John Clairmont related how he did something very
similar with the Lucania goodei fry (whose parents
were snatched by him from a big box store tank). He
made a point of having them literally swimming in food
and I believe Daphnia figured prominently into the
formula. A pair of those took Best of Show at the 2005
AKA national convention.

We all get pressed for space sometimes and experiment.
You are starting with similar sized fry, who will
hopefully grow at roughly the same pace. That's a
pretty good match. Years ago, I tried raising gardneri
and lyretail fry. (Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!) The gardneri
were well fed.

All the best!
Scott
Join the AKA at http://aka.org/modules/tinycontent0/index.php?id=9
Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/
Modify your subscription at http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/killietalk