Heros notatus gone wild! Who wants some fry?

[ryansmith83]

Today is the third full day of baby brine shrimp. I lost a bunch of finicky fry that didn't want to eat, but I have 30 - 40 left that constantly have full, orange tummies.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/b136043e.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/63a03829.jpg

I posted the pics as links because they're kind of large.

It's funny -- they've already learned where the food comes from. When I'm standing at the tank with the airline tubing and the cup of brine, they all come to the top of the tank and wait on me.

 

[peathenster]

Very cool! What percentage would you say survived on BBS? If it's a big difference I may have to switch from decap to live in the future.

 

[ryansmith83]

Peter, I'm not really sure. Sometimes I think it just depends on the batch of fry. I used decapsulated brine eggs from day one with my efasciatus fry back in November. I lost probably 10 - 15 fry who would just swim over it and not eat. That was a very small batch to begin with, though -- I only ended up with 12 fry that ate and grew. They're about 1.5 - 2" now.

The notatus are a little more special so I'm putting a bit more effort into them. They could very well eat decapsulated brine, but I didn't try. I may see in a couple weeks if they'll switch to it.

 

[ryansmith83]

I almost cooked the fry last night.

I went into the fish room this morning to find the tank cloudy and my "babysitter" dead (I use small bristlenose plecos in fry grow-out tanks to clean up the excess food and brine). When I stuck my hand in to net him out, the water was HOT! Not just warm, but really, really hot. The fry were really active.

I unplugged the heater, opened the lid, fed them, and left for the day. When I came back, the temperature had come down into the low 80s and they were hungry as always. I didn't experience any fry losses. At least they're built tough.

This is the fifth or sixth Stealth heater to go bad on me this year. I had such good luck with them for a couple years up until now. Now they either stick and cook my fish, or they don't come on at all and my fish are in the low 70s.

 

[peathenster]

wow close call...sorry to hear about the baby BN tho. I almost cooked my A. borelli a couple of days ago. The water went up to 86F and they turned very active too.

So have you ever had issues with BNs eating your fry? And how big is the BN?

 

[flowerpower]

That's a good idea, the bristle nose. I've used snails for that purpose but never tried a plec. Cool! Gotta try that!!!

 

[MFM]

Awesome, I want some Noatus fry...how did you trigger the spawning? I have a pair, but they wont spawn.

 

[ryansmith83]

Oops! I just saw these replies. Sorry, guys.

So have you ever had issues with BNs eating your fry? And how big is the BN?

That's a good idea, the bristle nose. I've used snails for that purpose but never tried a plec. Cool! Gotta try that!!!

If you have small bristlenose, in the 2" - 3" range, they work best. I give the fry about 3 - 5 days alone to make sure they're eating well and aren't resting on the bottom of the tank too much. I think if they just sat there, the plecos would definitely jump at the opportunity to snack on one. Once you have the fry plump and eating well, they stay in the water column most of the time and the pleco doesn't bother them. They're great for eating leftover BBS and decapped brine. You end up with a lot of pleco poop, but it's really easy to vacuum up daily (I do a 50% water change in about 15 minutes) and you don't worry about the brine dying and rotting in the tank. Dead brine break down really fast in warm water and I think sometimes people have issues with fry because of it.

Awesome, I want some Noatus fry...how did you trigger the spawning? I have a pair, but they wont spawn.

To be honest, I haven't done anything. They must feel spring in the air. I have eggs and/or fry in every tank I own right now. In addition to notatus, I've currently got spawns from Geophagus parnaibae, Laetacara dorsigera, Mesonauta festivus, Laetacara thayeri, golden albino discus, and turquoise severums. I have no space for all of it, so all I'm currently raising are the notatus. It's a shame not to have space for all the fry.

All I do is feed a variety of foods, keep the tanks in the low 80s, and do frequent water changes. Discus get them every other day, the big show tanks (150g and 210g) get a 60 - 75% water change once a week. Fry and grow-out tanks get them everyday usually, but mainly because they're not heavily filtered (I only use sponges and an AquaClear power filter). They're also a bit overstocked.

 

[ryansmith83]

The fry are exactly 4 weeks free-swimming today. It's tough to get pictures of them because they move so quickly. There are 30 - 40 left. I've only had to cull one so far -- it had a short gill plate. I may find more defects as they grow, but so far they're all pretty uniform and healthy.

I'd say they should be ready to go in another 4 weeks. I should have them up to about 1 - 1.5" by then. I'm going to move them to a 55g growout over the weekend.

I went on a mini-vacation last weekend and so that ended my BBS hatching. They're now eating shaved frozen bloodworms (I shave a cube with scissors while it's still frozen), decapped BBS, and crushed Hikari micro-wafers.

 

[peathenster]

Looking good! Are you going to save a few to grow out?