How many folks use...

[Mugwump]

vinegar eels when raising small fry ??....I've found it useful for the tiny fry that some pairs produce.....

[BallAquatics]

I've always though they were more trouble than they were worth.  It's green water / infusoria and/or 5-50 micron Golden Pearls for me.  Most of the fish I'm spawning have tiny fry that require something else for 7 to 10 days before they are large enough to consume bbs.

Dennis

[PaulineMi]

How long fl your fry stay on bbs?

[Mugwump]

I've always though they were more trouble than they were worth.  It's green water / infusoria and/or 5-50 micron Golden Pearls for me.  Most of the fish I'm spawning have tiny fry that require something else for 7 to 10 days before they are large enough to consume bbs.

Dennis

What's your method for getting green water??...and how do you acclimate the fry from the green water to std tank water..??

[BallAquatics]

How long fl your fry stay on bbs?

With the small fish, about 3 months.  They don't get a steady diet of bbs though.  They always get golden pearls along with other size appropriate foods.  I like to feed lots of live foods to growing fry, bbs, worms - (micro, walter, grindel, etc.), daphnia, moina, mosiquito larvae.  I also feed several prepared foods, the golden pearls, Ken's pellets - (shrimp, earthworm, veggie, etc.), algae wafers and of course Repashy gel foods.

I've probably left something out, but the point being, I don't feed any single food.

Dennis

[BallAquatics]

What's your method for getting green water??

I usually have a tank that gets a bit of extra light and food that produces my green water.  If I find I'm in need of a new culture, I get some dried grass clipping and some old tank water with lots of light and in several days I'm back in business.

...and how do you acclimate the fry from the green water to std tank water..??

They are always in standard tank water with green water added.  I like to add enough to tint the water pretty green without making it too hard to still see what's going on in the tank.  With daily water changes, they get a new feeding of green water daily just like you'd feed any other food.  If I have a surplus of green water & daphnia and/or moina, I'll often feed both and the daphnia are eating the algae before being eaten themselves.  If they are too big to be consumed, they will produce offspring that the fry will eat.

Dennis

[Mugwump]

How long fl your fry stay on bbs?

With the small fish, about 3 months.  They don't get a steady diet of bbs though.  They always get golden pearls along with other size appropriate foods.  I like to feed lots of live foods to growing fry, bbs, worms - (micro, walter, grindel, etc.), daphnia, moina, mosiquito larvae.  I also feed several prepared foods, the golden pearls, Ken's pellets - (shrimp, earthworm, veggie, etc.), algae wafers and of course Repashy gel foods.

I've probably left something out, but the point being, I don't feed any single food.

Dennis

Sounds like you have them spoiled? .....nice job    makes for healthy fish..

[BallAquatics]

Sounds like you have them spoiled?

Thanks Jon.  I guess that's what the hobby is mostly about for me these days.  Looking for ways to promote optimum fry growth rates and spawning new fish.     I also get a big kick out of having fish people have never seen at the swap meets...  LOL

Dennis

[Frank The Plumber]

Sera Micron and there is another for discus fry for Sera that is even smaller. Raise all of my rainbows using their powders.

[BillT]

I used to use vinegar eels, but decided that Walter worms do almost as well for me.

I got by first vinegar eels from a Betta breeder. Eventually I was feeding them on applesauce rather than the apple chunks she was using which seemed to have good results involved less labor. (Applesauce has no preservatives, its acidity acts as the preservative.) It also has a higher surface area for the bacteria/yeast to act upon.

The advantage I like in vinegar eels is that they stay mid-water, while the microworms sink to the bottom. They both can stay alive a long time int he water, while microworms in my experience don't.

I have been thinking of making a "worm feeder"cone to slow release the worms into the water column. Probably not though since I feed the worms in a mix with BS which are larger and which i would want to get into the water ASAP since they will be dying.

For small fish that can survive my standard brackish water (1.006 gm/ml water density (or 10,500 ?S conductivity) made up with sea salts) larval fish care I use salt water rotifers as a first food. This works for most Danios and Devarios. They usually get the Walter worm/bBS mix (with some golden pearls added in) in small amounts, after about 3 days of the rotifers. This lets the larger ones eat something larger and also lets the develop a search image, which is the target they use when hunting. When they are large enough to  bBS they get a lot more of that and the rotifers get reduced, depending on the needs of other young fish.

I feed the Walter worm/bBS/golden pearls mix to all larval and grow out (juvenile) fish in addition to small prepared foods.