When to collect fry?

[Errbill]

Hi all,

So my 2 Electric blue acaras have now got wigglers at their 3rd time of trying and I wanted to try and protect the fry from the rest of the tank.
Would you say the best time to collect the fry up is when they start free swimming?
I don’t think they’re too far off so I went out yesterday and bought a marina breeding box and a turkey baster.
I had a go yesterday and collected 6 or 7 fry and put them in the box but just got home from work and they’ve all gone.
Any suggestions at all and when is it best to start feeding them?

Thanks

[Gingerlove05]

With cichlids the parents will look after the fry until they loose interest or they decide to breed again. They will attack/chase any intruders or inhabitants that get too close and the parents will eat the fry if they’re unsettled, they do this to prevent other fish getting a free meal and they will also recycle that energy into a new batch of eggs. So the best time to collect them is once the parents loose interest etc
You will probably find you need a second tank to raise the fry. You can start feeding them small foods straight away, I used to spot dose rotifers and chopped up brine shrimp with a syringe around by the parents and fry for the fry to munch on.
You may find the fry can fit through the gaps in some of the hatcheries, especially cichlid fry as they are smaller than live bearer fry if I remember correctly.

[black ghost]

When they’ve absorbed their yolk sack they’ll rise up off the bottom (free-swimming). Then they’ll need fed.
Frozen lobster eggs are the best first food, imo, Same size as brine shrimp eggs, which are another good food but you’ll need to hatch them first.
After a week or two you can start adding bigger foods, such as grated frozen foods (grate with a knife(?) while frozen), and powdered flake.
If you want to save as many as possible take them as soon as they’re free-swimming, otherwise they’ll be slowly picked off. But a breeding trap is totally unsuitable. You need a tank for them. A breeding trap has very poor water exchange/flow/circulation with the tank and they won’t last long. Fry need good water quality.

[Errbill]

With cichlids the parents will look after the fry until they loose interest or they decide to breed again. They will attack/chase any intruders or inhabitants that get too close and the parents will eat the fry if they’re unsettled, they do this to prevent other fish getting a free meal and they will also recycle that energy into a new batch of eggs. So the best time to collect them is once the parents loose interest etc
You will probably find you need a second tank to raise the fry. You can start feeding them small foods straight away, I used to spot dose rotifers and chopped up brine shrimp with a syringe around by the parents and fry for the fry to munch on.
You may find the fry can fit through the gaps in some of the hatcheries, especially cichlid fry as they are smaller than live bearer fry if I remember correctly.

I know what you mean about attacking tank mates. Before they had even left any eggs they attacked my 2 Geophagus tapajos almost to death- yet anything smaller than them they’ve not bothered with at all

[Errbill]

When they’ve absorbed their yolk sack they’ll rise up off the bottom (free-swimming). Then they’ll need fed.
Frozen lobster eggs are the best first food, imo, Same size as brine shrimp eggs, which are another good food but you’ll need to hatch them first.
After a week or two you can start adding bigger foods, such as grated frozen foods (grate with a knife(?) while frozen), and powdered flake.
If you want to save as many as possible take them as soon as they’re free-swimming, otherwise they’ll be slowly picked off. But a breeding trap is totally unsuitable. You need a tank for them. A breeding trap has very poor water exchange/flow/circulation with the tank and they won’t last long. Fry need good water quality.

I was thinking of setting up a breeder tank but thought it would take a while to cycle etc

[Gingerlove05]

I was thinking of setting up a breeder tank but thought it would take a while to cycle etc

Use a small portion of your media from your main tank for the filter in the fry tank, and some tetra safe start or seachem stability. Fry don’t produce a huge amount of waste when tiny so the beneficial bacteria from the main tank media should be enough, the safe start/stability will help boost it if required. The bacteria will then grow with the fry as they grow until you move them.

[Jon_D]

When my Corys breeded (sp?), I put the eggs in a smaller tank, stocked with water from the CT. Upon hatching, I fed the fry with Protogen.

[Errbill]

I was thinking of setting up a breeder tank but thought it would take a while to cycle etc

Use a small portion of your media from your main tank for the filter in the fry tank, and some tetra safe start or seachem stability. Fry don’t produce a huge amount of waste when tiny so the beneficial bacteria from the main tank media should be enough, the safe start/stability will help boost it if required. The bacteria will then grow with the fry as they grow until you move them.

Thanks,how would I go about putting media in the new tank?
I use the internal Juwel filter with the sponges and there’s 4 bags of bio media in there.
Should I remove say 1 bag and put it in the breeder tank?

[black ghost]

Yes, take out any small portion of media and put it in the fry tank’s filter.

[BigBen]

On a side note, a small consideration you have to make is what are you going to do with the young fish once they are ready to move on? I used to sell for vouchers to Maidenhead aquatics but my old local stopped buying from customers tanks. Facebook used to be good but has also banned livestock sales. There is an app called band where there is many fish livestock groups, but I'm not sure it's that heavily used yet. Aquarist classifieds might be worth a look as well, but in Cornwall it's not really used.