A bare 10 Gallon tank with a clean spomge filter
I dechlorinate / de chlorimine my water
Water temp 82F
I use HBH balanced blocks instead of shell grit to increase water hardness
and calcium content for the fry
After the fry hatch I feed them APR. I have recently learned that the fry
should be put on a better food such as day old brine shrimp as soon as they
can eat them because APR is barely enough to sustain life and as the fry
grow they need more nutrition. I don't know how long it takes for blue eyes
to be able to eat BB, but larger bows it only takes a week or so. Day old
brine is the most nutritious because they still have a yoke sack and this is
good for the fry.
I do 30% water changes twice a week on the fry. I make sure to suck out and
scum on the bottom of the tank. I de chlorinate the new water prior to
adding it and I make sure the new water as as close to 82F as possible. I
siphen in the new water slowly.
As I said this is what seems to work for me, Other things may work better
for you. Raising fry can be difficult for newbies. I am a newbie at it and
my survival rates are low but getting better. If I were only interested one
a few cool bows, I would "suck it up" :) and pay the money for juveniles.
I noticed that you are in Minnesota. Are you close enough to Cary to get
fish from him without the extra expense of mailing?
Just my few cents worth ;)
Hope this helps ;)
John
At 09:52 PM 3/26/97 -0600, Tim wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>
>I am contemplating getting a group of Blue-eyes. I certainly want to
>do the right thing and after recent discussions, it is obvious I won't
>be getting them from a fish store. (Not that I could find any anyway.)
>That leaves me with fish from Roy, or eggs from someone like Cary
>Hostrawser. Having been _involved_ in other hobbies, I appreciate all
>of Roy's hard work. But as a guy with one little tank who just wants
>some nice fish to look at, I can't really justify the cost of shipping
>fish. So that leaves me with trying to hatch eggs.
>
>I was reading the article by Gary Lange on the Rainbowfish Study Group
>site about hatching Rainbowfish eggs
>(http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/hatch.html) and had a couple
>questions.
>
>As background, I have a newly cycled, moderately planted, 15 gallon
>tank. It is filtered by an Aquaclear 150 with a sponge "pre-filter"
>over the intake. The water surface is very calm. The tank is currently
>occupied by a pair of platys and two Otocinclus affinis.
>
>Gary Lange says to use freshly dechlorinated water for hatching the
>eggs. My water is treated with chloramine. Will water neutralized with
>Amquel be okay?
>
>If I trade in the platys on a few more Otos, can I raise the fry
>directly in my tank? It was a battle just getting this little tank,
>and my wife will have a fit if I get another aquarium just to raise
>baby fish.
>
>What do people feed the fry? Artificial Protozoan Rotifer seems easy
>enough. ;-) From Adrienne Tappin's description, vinegar eels seem
>pretty fool-proof, but Gary Lange says that they are
>time-consuming. Which is it? I can probably manage to hatch baby brine
>shrimp, but are they suitable in a tank where I may not be able to
>vacuum all that fall into the gravel? (Assuming I can use my tank.)
>
>Please send any other options and advice. I'm excited but intimidated
>by the prospect of hatching fish eggs. Thanks for the help.
>
>Hope you have a very nice day, :-)
>Tim Ayers ayers at ibex-usa.com
>IBEX Object Systems, Inc. http://www.primenet.com/~goat/
>St. Paul, Minnesota 612-698-2736
>
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John Dowden
ANGFA NA E-Mail: ejdowden at mindspring.com
Rainbowfish Study Group Web Page: www4.ncsu.edu/~ambush/public
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