9 or 10 day old fry don't seem too interested in eating what I give them

[kindafishy]

Tiny baby apistos born 9 or 10 days ago, healthy and active and have pretty much doubled in size since birth. I have been trying to feed them baby brine shrimp, as instructed by the dude in my LFS (who himself breeds apistos so I trust what he is telling me), but they don't seem interested AT ALL. Mom fish, on the other hand, is enjoying the feast so at least I know what I am giving them is otherwise edible.

The fry seem to me to be developing normally --- very active and from what I can tell I haven't lost a single one from day 1 (there are 20-ish). I can even see that a few of them are developing dad's craptastic mad dog 'tude, lots of spunk and energy, so they seem healthy, bouncing all over the place.

Why on earth would they not want to eat baby brine shrimp? Is it too early? And why are they growing like weeds if they are not eating what I give them?

 

[NyteGTI]

did you try to feed them crushed up flakes?

 

[kindafishy]

did you try to feed them crushed up flakes?

No, but I did try Infusyl and that didn't work either.

 

[kindafishy]

Should I be worried?

 

[NyteGTI]

try finely crushed flakes they should eat that right up. but only a little bit. you also might want to get mama out of the tank and back in with the others now that she's been eating for a week and gained strength back

 

[kindafishy]

Will crushed flakes sink? I can't see that working if they float at the top. Or maybe I could try crushing the sinking pellets that I feed the parents? I actually don't even have any flakes, so I might have to try the crushed pellets first (if that is not a totally crazy idea)

As for removing the mom fish, I actually only have one tank (for now!), so I don't really have any choice as to where she goes. Yes, the babies were an unexpected surprise, I was totally unprepared!! In any case, she is doing quite well as chief babysitter. Both she and the dad are fine in the current setup, but I imagine that I will have to get a second tank once the fry get bigger. Oy...

 

[NyteGTI]

ahh ok I thought she & the fry were in a QT or breeder box.

yea crushed anythnig will work honestly. flakes is just the easiest to try. anything that is pretty close to powder sized will work. just smash like 2 small pellets under a glass and pour that in. the fry should come to the top or you can put it in a turkey baster with some tank water and squirt it towards them lightly.

 

[Viperchaos]

okay, what your experiencing is actually maybe a lack of motabolism, how warm is your tank? 29°C is enough to get them wanting to eat ,
im kinda worried because fry should instinctivily eat,
are they growing at all?

 

[jetajockey]

Are they big enough to eat bbs?

 

[kindafishy]

okay, what your experiencing is actually maybe a lack of motabolism, how warm is your tank? 29°C is enough to get them wanting to eat ,
im kinda worried because fry should instinctivily eat,
are they growing at all?

My tank is about 26°. And they are definitely growing --- they've just about doubled in size in a week, and are extremely active.

Are they big enough to eat bbs?

Yeah, this is kind of what I am wondering. The bbs are tiny, but then again so are the fry.

They tend to congregate on my driftwood, it's almost like they are pecking microscopic stuff off of it. Is it possible that there is something edible on it for them?

 

[Viperchaos]

Your fry are doing just fine theyre eating the microbes in the wood so when they look large enough just feed em whatever mum n dads eatin