Albino Fry

[b125killer]

I have two pairs of breeders that are producing albino fry. In the pinoy pair about a quarter of the spawn were albino. I kept the lighting on the tank low but i can't seem to get them to start feeding. I lowered the water and flooded the tank with bbs but I'm going to lose the albinos.  There's not much i can do at this point to stop that. The other pb pair are also throwing albinos not as many but some. I got two survivors out of that spawn. I didn't think they were going to make it but they did and are doing good. A little small but eating better everyday. I'm not good at raising albinos it's not something i have had to do. But if they must throw albinos i would like them to survive.  I just need to know how to make that happen.

[BillT]

Albino zebrafish are often keep in labs because they are easier to see things inside of them.
Raising the babies is also a problem there.

There are two strategies people have used. 

One is to keep them at a reduced light level in order to not damage their retinas which are not as well protected from light. (Too much light will cause their photoreceptors damage, resulting in reduced vision which would make it more difficult for them to feed (visually directed feeders).

The other is the opposite, to increase the light levels so that the baby fish can better see their prey. An eyeball is like a camera, but an albino's eyeball is like a camera with light leaks, probably resulting in a washed (pastel-like?) view of the world. The increased light levels are thought to make their image of their world stand out better.

In some cases both of these approaches have been claimed to work. If one does not work, you might want to try the other.
Another possibility could be to keep tha lights down, but increase light levels a bit at feeding time. The lights could be reduced after a while to reduce photoreceptor damage during non-feeding times.

Another approach might be to only use a dark background which might allow a visual object to standout better due to the higher contrast.

[Mugwump]

Have tried vinegar eels or micro worms??.....you might try early harvesting of your bbs, they'll be much smaller too.......duckweed has micro-organisms ....very low aeration....and lots of clean water....a hatching hang on box may work better too.....it's a combination of all the above....experimentation.....
,,,,,,,,,
I've heard of folks actually moving the albino fry to a new tank each water change...just have a new tank ready, move fry, then clean the previous one...repeat...yada yada...

bare bottom tanks and glass reflection have been suggested problems too...

[b125killer]

Thanks for the ideal. I have been playing with there lighting. I like the new tank ideal. Next time i might pull the albino before free swimming so i can work with them better. I kind of lost my micro worm supply.  I forgot about them last year when i didn't have any fry to feed . Boy was my wife mad when i remembered about them. The first thing i did was open the bowl they were in. I stunk up the hole house.

[Mugwump]

We have plenty.....we'll get you some more when you stop by on Sunday..