12 replies to this topic

[Conda]

Hi just after info on raising jack dempsey fry my 2 adults paired off and now i have about 100 free swiming fry whats best to do now leave the parents in there ?.wht do i feed the fry ,they are so tiny much smaller than i imagined ,,cheers .....

[Buccal]

If you want to be serious about it, and manage it in a organized fashion resulting in a high number of fry and making it easy rather than awkward,,,, Then siphon out free swimmers using 8mm tubing.
Leave about 15% of fry with parents so they can continue natural instinct and lessening chances of male turning on female after fry is taken.
Keep in a fry saver or small enclosure to keep them confined together and in constant proximity of food being fed.
Keep confined for at least 2-3 weeks.
Americans need a better start than tangs and malawi.
Make sure they remain in same water for a safer measure and keep their water surface broken with a aerator, but be sure it's not to turbulent so fry can't be still.
The first 3 weeks they will be a lot weaker than Malawi fry.
If your a busy guy, then powder made from pellets be fed twice a day minimum, but 4-5 times small feeds through out the day is optimum.
Have fun.

[Jeff]

The other option is to remove the parents from that tank if you have another to put them into.  I found that easier then removing all of the fry.  I fed my JD fry freshly hatched baby brine shrimp 3 times a day for the first month with a daily 10-15% water change.  I had over 500 survive to a point big enough to sell!!!  You'd be surprised just how many are actually there!

 

It was a pain in the bum actually and I wish I'd selected the faster growing fry only and got rid of the rest because it's hard to find homes for that many fish!!

 

If you'd like advice on how to set up an easy brine shrimp hatchery then shoot me a PM

[Peckoltia]

I prefer Buccal's method. That is not to say that what Jeff has posted is incorrect.

 

The reason I prefer what Buccal has posted is that; the fry will be much easier for you to feed in a confined space, rather than having the entire tank for the fry to lose themselves in. Keeping some fry with the parents to raise will also strengthen their bond over time. You are not disturbing your breeding pair by moving them, sometimes moving fish can upset the balance that the pair have formed in their original tank, which may result in breeding stopping or the female getting a hard time.

 

Both methods would work and have their merits, it is up to you with what you feel you are most comfortable with as a fish keeper.

 

edit-spelling

Edited by Peckoltia, 15 May 2013 - 11:01 PM.

[Jeff]

I agree.  It worked for me as I had the JD pair in a fairly small tank to begin with.  Also I had so many fry that I needed more space than a fry saver but like I said I never should have raised that many.

 

I've never had a problem with JD's not breeding though.  Didn't matter where i moved them haha They seem to be as prolific at breeding as convicts in my experience!!!

[Conda]

Thanx for all the replies and helpful info ,im just really surprsed these guys bred at such a young age as they are still very small esp the female ,with feeding the fry the newly hatched brine shrimp would they eat the frozen kind the LFS sells or do prefer the live kind ,,,??..cheers......

[Buccal]

They are not fussy.
It's only stuff like apistos and rams that require exceptionally small particle sizes and often live.
Like all the medium to large Americans its not hard to get food into them.
Just try powdered quality pellets.
Put pellets in a blender or coffee grinder, and you will get powder.
Wet your finger then touch the powder then dip it in the water and done.

[Jeff]

I'd like to see how you go if you try the powder route.  I didn't have much success feeding powder but maybe it's because they couldn't find the food as easily as free swimming live baby brine shrimp. 

 

My first batch died out on powder and I barely lost any feeding BBS.  So yeah let me know how you go.  Maybe the type of powder I was using was poor???

 

As for frozen BBS compared to live BBS I'd go with live.  I tried frozen and they didn't seem to touch it but maybe that's just because they were spoilt with live stuff.

[Conda]

Thanx i do have a brine shrimp hatcher somewhere ,i will dig it out tonite and i have some eggs in the freezer ,i tried the powder method this morning also not sure if they ate it or not ,but think ill go the way of feeding NHBS......is there much of a mortality rate with JD fry ,when i was breeding clown fish few years ago worked out to be about 90% mortality rate with the fry .....how many months does it usually take to get to sellable size ,,,,thanx once again for the help and advice guys .............

[Jeff]

If you do the right things there is not much of a mortality rate at all with JD's. I'd say I had over 90% survive but you won't want to breed too many because selling them all will be near impossible.

 

4cm is sellable and it varies how long it will take them to get that big.  Variables such as type of food fed, amount of food fed, how often in a day they're fed, how many you're trying to raise, water quality and the individual growth rate between the more aggressive eaters and those that hold back all have an impact on growth rate.

 

If you're going to hatch your own shrimp make sure you do a new batch every day because they are most nutritious when freshly hatched.

[Buccal]

The pellet powder has to be talcum powder or like plain flour,,, that's how fine.
Day 4 or five when their fat bellies from birth has receded back to normal,, it will be at this point you should see them swim for and into the pellet powder cloud.
Maximized fry growth for any fish by far is many water changes or a massive water body resulting in very low nitrate levels all of the time.

[sydad]

.is there much of a mortality rate with JD fry ,when i was breeding clown fish few years ago worked out to be about 90% mortality rate with the fry .....how many months does it usually take to get to sellable size ,,,,thanx once again for the help and advice guys .............

 

Just a note re this. Brine shrimp nauplii are not really satisfactory food for marine fish larvae unless supplemented with HUFAs by microencapsulation. This is not necessary with fresh water fishes; in fact overdoing HUFA dosing will result in similar losses with freshwater fishes to those seen in marines that are undersupplied with HUFAs.

 

Syd.

[Conda]

THanx for your input syd i found rotifers ideal for feeding clown fish until thier big enough for NHBS .............