Hungry Fish Fry!!

[Crow]

I did a water change about a week ago and left the water sitting in the bucket. Today, I went in to dump the water and noticed some tiny things swimming in the bucket. "Gross!" thought I, "What is that!?! Worms?" Worried about what might be infesting my tank, I went and got a flashlight leftover from Isabel and took a closer look.

Much to my suprise, they had eyes! Fish Fry!! I must've sucked up some eggs before my zebra danios and tiger barbs could get to them.

So I set them up in a tank and made an emergency run to the lfs for some infusion (sp?). They don't carry any!! Has to be special ordered!!

Is there anything that you can feed fish fry other than that? So far my brightest ideas have been blood from some ground beef or pickle juice. Or maybe bio-spira bacterium would do the trick? As you can see I'm short on ideas.

Help!!

 

[Allivymar]

Heh very short on ideas huh

The Bio-Spira isn't a food source; beef or pickle juice will just foul the water. You could try microworms but I think you have to start them off on infusoria. You can start your own infusoria supply. I took this "recipe" from http://tropical-fish.net/fish_food.htm#Infusoria

"Infusoria/Green Water

Infusoria is a general name for microscopic organisms like protozoa, euglena, etc. that are excellent and most often necessary first foods for tiny fry fish.

Starting and feeding infusoria, or green water, cultures is easy. When you clean the algae off the glass of your aquarium, simply save this and any other algae you remove from the aquarium, and add some of the aquarium water in a quart to a gallon jar and place it in the strongest area of sunlight and where it will get the maximum number of hours of direct sunlight. You can also add water from the little basin under your house plant, as this usually contains many micro-organisms that will flourish in populations in a green water culture. Add to this, even if you have algae, a small piece of wilted lettuce or a dying leaf from a houseplant. Putting in a few snails also helps to cultivate green water and prevent contamination.

The water is green, because of the chlorophyll in and photosynthesis of the algae and the protozoan consumption of that algae. Occasionally, you will need to start a fresh culture, using 1/4 of the water from your existing culture as the seed. If the culture begins to smell too fowl, then it is time to start a new one and initial aeration with an airstone, will help retard the growth of anaerobic bacteria cultures that smell foul (same for aquariums and it is the anaerobes that make fish sick).

Feeding green water is easy. Simply put some in the water with your fry. I also put some of the algae from the green water culture in their with the fry too. I've seen this to work well with very small killifish and tetra fry, until they were large enough for microworms and vinegar eels."

The only thing I'm unsure of is how long it will take; you may want to do a google search to find out. You will need to feed them soon; my other thought is seeing if you can find it online and see if the place will overnight it.

 

[TankGirl]

Depending upon what kind of fry they are, most LFS carry a liquid fry food that you can use in the early stages, and then crush flake to a powder for them. I think the infusoria with lettuce in the window takes about 3-4 days. You can also try frozen daphnia, which is very tiny.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

New Life Spectrum Foods has a Grow formula that I've been feeding my multifasciatus fry. The pellets are about .35mm and can be ground up between your fingers as small as needed- even to a dust-like consistancy!

I know of a few hatcheries that are using this stuff and have completely given up on newly hatched brine shrimp. I don't know if I'd go that far- but it's loaded with protein and seems to be doing the trick for me.

 

[Crow]

LOL! I should've just left them in the bucket! Fortunately I saved that water. I had pruned my swords and put the leaves and some algae in there already, and it seems rather "alive," with algae growing. That should tide them over until this weekend, with some water changes from my mature tank. I read there's usually enough food in their for the fry.

I started a proper infusoria culture with it last night after reading Allivymar's post (Thanks Allivymar!). If that doesn't pan out, I can make a trek to the full service lfs this weekend. It's an hour away. I'll go anyway, to get some of the other foods you guys recommended. They're about an 1/8 of an inch long now, so I reckon they may be ready for something other than paramecium by the weekend.

Depending upon what kind of fry they are

I have no idea! Either green tiger barb or zebra danio. I'm voting zebra danio right now, but we'll see. Maybe both.

Thanks!