When our festae fry start free swimming we are thinking of pulling them what should we feed them. We have spirulina powder and another higher protien powder and also nls fry powder which would be best?
Food for festae fry
- Thread starter wild bill
- Start date
spirulina for sure. festae seem to suffer from bloat when young, not as common as haits but still. choose mainly spirulina. just watch the amount of feedings and limit your protein intake. include brine shrimp and blood worms at 1 inch but maybe every other day at first then every other meal. every fish is different but use caution. me and a couple other mfk folk have lost rt fry to bloat. congrats on the spawn by the way. thats awsome
Well Bill, you already know what my feeding advice would be. (not spirulina)
As far as bloat ..........
Protein does not cause bloat (excess amino acids are simply excreted - even by herbivores) - and most authorities on this subject now agree that it's intestinal flaggelates that typically cause "bloat" conditions, and most certainly not excess protein.
I think that it's important to understand that "bloat" is a symptom of a disease, not a disease on its own. Intestinal flagellates are common in most freshwater species, and typically these intestinal parasites will not have any serious affect on their host. But, place that same fish under enough stress, enough to weaken its immune system, and within the blink of an eye those same parasites can multiply to numbers that the fish simply can't cope with. If/when those numbers reach epidemic proportions, they can & often will block the intestinal tract of a fish eventually creating what is commonly referred to as "bloat".
Having said that, excessive overfeeding of ANY food can on its own cause blockage, and constipation, and the end result is also a "bloat" like condition.
As far as bloat ..........
Protein does not cause bloat (excess amino acids are simply excreted - even by herbivores) - and most authorities on this subject now agree that it's intestinal flaggelates that typically cause "bloat" conditions, and most certainly not excess protein.
I think that it's important to understand that "bloat" is a symptom of a disease, not a disease on its own. Intestinal flagellates are common in most freshwater species, and typically these intestinal parasites will not have any serious affect on their host. But, place that same fish under enough stress, enough to weaken its immune system, and within the blink of an eye those same parasites can multiply to numbers that the fish simply can't cope with. If/when those numbers reach epidemic proportions, they can & often will block the intestinal tract of a fish eventually creating what is commonly referred to as "bloat".
Having said that, excessive overfeeding of ANY food can on its own cause blockage, and constipation, and the end result is also a "bloat" like condition.
Thanks for the adice everyone that is great. I never actualy heard that much about blout before that is some really useful info and kind of puts a question forward about fronts eating floating pellets and getting bloat. Thanks again hoping today the little guys will be free swimming about day 4 since they hatched. Not totally sure whether we should pull them but they will be to tempting all the other mouths in the tank I know their good parents but sometimes numbers are just to much kinda like playing russian roulette with a six shooter and pulling the trigger seven times.
Some people believe that floating pellets can sometimes cause float in frontosa, but float & bloat are not the same thing.
I agree with RD, feed them a varied diet just like u would feed parents. I would also keep fry with parents up to six weeks as long as parents weren't eating fry, otherwise pull them. It's more beneficial for health, and growth if you let parents raise fry. Everyone has there own story's with festae, I personally never seen bloat with any of mine. You have a whole batch of fry now and will lose a few while raising them bit don't worry. Also once u see half out grow the rest, maybe separate into two groups to keep your female count up
good luck
good luck
I would love to leave them with the parent its just that there are over 30 other fish in th tank to eat them and over half of them are little convicts aout an inch long which hide in the rocks and can grab fry and escape before parents could stop them. Once we have the fry out we are going on a covict hunt which will mean tearing apart the tank.
