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Aphyobranchius - Reply to Reply
With regard to raising Aphyobranchius fry, Bill Vannerson wrote:
>
>>>The water depth can be raised gradually as the young fish grow. <<
>
>How do you go about doing a water change with such small fry?
>And what percentage of the water do you change in such a set
>up? Too much could deminish the food supply of micro critters,
>right? Or is that really not an issue?
Note that I said the "water depth can be raised as the fry grow" - I did not
imply that the water should necessarily be "changed". One of the advantages
of using a large tank (although starting off with very shallow water) that
has an established filter and plants is that you should not have to change
water until the fry are quite large. As you point out, with such tiny fry
that may be difficult although it is by no means impossible. Once the fry
start to take brine shrimp, small additions of water (10 percent ?) can be
made every couple of days and that will help to keep the water fresh even
though no actual changes are being made. This is a technique that I use for
all my Notho fry, not just Aphyobranchius. However, if it becomes necessary
to change water when the fry are very small then this can easily be
accomplished by suspending a very fine meshed net (e.g. the type used for
straining newly-hatched brine shrimp) in to the water and siphoning the
water out with a narrow tube, such as air hose, from within the net. If you
siphon slowly and don't get the end of the siphon tube against the net no
fry will be sucked against the net. I try not to get into a situation where
I have to change a lot of water with such tiny, and often sensitive, fry
because they do not always react well to water changes. It is best to avoid
overfeeding and keep the water clean rather than have to change water at
that critical stage.
__________________________________________
Brian R. Watters
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada
Ph: (306) 584-9161 (home); (306) 585-4663 (work)
Fax: (306) 585-5433
E-mail: bwatters at sk_sympatico.ca