# my first ever batch of fry. advice?



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

So today I was cleaning my 40 gallon tank because I've had a bacteria bloom that's been going on for a few days. I suspect it's because I added too many new fish in one week, but I also had some problems with a batch of zebra danios from PetSmart dying off. So I took out many of my fake plants because I wanted to make sure there wasn't a dead fish that I couldn't see behind or in the plants.
Apparently there were some very young fry hiding in one of those plants, because shortly after I saw a frenzy in one corner (I thought they were just scared). Luckily I had a bright light on, and my bucket is a very light color... because otherwise I would never have seen the fry swimming in the water I was about to dump....
Little tiny things. Pretty much just two little black dot eyes and an itty bitty little tail. I assume they are blue mickey mouse platy fry.
I got out a turkey baster and used it to suck them out of the bucket. I poured the water very slowly and found about half of them in the very bottom. I caught 20 altogether. And I know there are more in the gravel in the tank. But I'll let my elephantnose have at those ones. 

The ones that I caught I acclimated to my 2.5 gallon quarantine tank. I used it for a few days for a couple healthy zebra danios, and it's also been seeded with the biowheels from my other tanks. There's a very small heater intended for a betta bowl, up to three gallons. It has no temp control, but the tank is holding steady at about 74 degrees F. It has a filter but I turned it off before putting the fry in. If I look, I can occassionally find one resting on the glass... but they are too small to get a picture of.

I have no idea what to do from here. What do I feed them? How often do I feed them? Is the water warm enough? How fast should I expect them to grow?


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

feed them very crushed up flakes


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Ok. I had heard that, but I also heard that frozen baby brine shrimp would be good... but I was concerned that if they didn't eat it all, the brine shrimp would get nasty in there...

Thank you.  Do I need to start feeding them right away?


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

you can wait a day till after they were born,but it sounds as if your were born more than a day ago


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Ok... I will feed them "very" crushed up flakes tonight. Powder.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Sooo itty bitty! >_<


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## platies pwn (Nov 29, 2010)

egoreise said:


> Sooo itty bitty! >_<


its so small


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I know! I'm blown away! And amazed that I spotted them. I hope some of them survive.


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

Yes those are very new babies and she probably had a large brood for them to be so small. I have been breeding platys for a long time and my tanks stay at 74/76 degrees. The cooler temp will make them grow at a slower rate but will lengthen their life span. Sounds like you have the perfect set up.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

They look like my danio fry! Are you absolutely sure they're platy babies? They're tiny. *squee*


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

They may be because Platy fry usually have some color and are not normally that tiny. My platy fry have larger eyes too.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

The platy in that tank are the blue mickey mouse type. So they are kinda white with a blue shine. I have seen platy from other colors come out really orange, so I figured it was just because of the color of the parents.

But then again... my mom and I were sort of wondering last night if these fry might be something else. They ARE pretty small. The only other things in the tank they could be are zebra danios or cory cats. She thinks that they are too small to be platy fry and that sticking to the side of the tank is odd behavior for livebearer babies. They don't look like cory cats to me. Maybe they are zebra danios! 

What conditions are needed for danios to breed? I recently brought home all of my danios, had 9 of them die right off the bat. Some of them did look pretty plump before they died....


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Ok... just looked up a picture of danio fry... these have GOT to be danios! Oooooh I hope they are from my long finned gold zebra danios. >_<


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Yeah, that's what I thought!  

Danios will breed in anything, practically. I know many danios spawn right in the plastic bag on the trip from the store to home!


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

So I searched high and low for liquid food for these guys with no luck... I hope they do okay on really crushed up flakes.


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## fishloverzj (May 3, 2010)

crushed up egg yolks? (hard boiled, you'll probably get some on sunday, lol.)


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

Congrats that is so cool. You can buy fry food if you want but I would think that would be the same as really fine flake food. So cool keep us updated.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

haha, fishloverzj. 

Aflat, that's what I'm doing. 
I also have two african dwarf frogs with my betta that I feed with a turkey baster. I add a little water from the tank to a cup and let some frozen bloodworms sit in in for a couple minutes to thaw. Then use the turkey baster. Well, I noticed that the water turns pink to red and gets really fine particles of bloodworm floating in it.. so I try to set aside some of the liquid to give the fry after I've fed the dwarf frogs.  They seem to like it.

And they seem to be doing really well. No longer sticking to the glass. They all swim near the surface together in one corner of the tank. Didn't realize they would be so social when they are so young! It's a good thing I put them in their own tank. If they had swam around in the 40 gallon like this, the gourami, rainbow shark, platies, elephant nose... all surely would have eaten them.


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

That's really smart. I feed mine blood worms as a treat and have noticed that now that you mention it. Hey, whatever works as long as they are doing well thats all that matters. Maybe go back and forth between the blood worms and flakes they should do great. Like a fry buffett. LOL


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

lol thanks!


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## Aflat (Apr 16, 2011)

You are welcome


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

When they're almost a centimeter long, they'll develop this bright neon blue stripe on their side. They look like neon tetras without the red.


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## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

boil an egg and mix the yolk with water then put it in the tank. the fry should eat that until they are free swimming then give them really crushed up flakes. (egg yolk=lots of protein, good for growing danio fry!)


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

That's a good idea! I'll have to try it next time. Unfortunately they didn't make it. Every time I checked on them, I could find fewer and fewer... Until they disappeared altogether.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you didn't have any foods on hand that were small enough..for fry that small you need a food that is under 100 microns diameter... see the periods that are typed.............
they are closer to about 500-600 microns..possibly larger...
always keep a quality "fry" food on hand..store it in your freezer...
if you have a spare 5 or 10 gallon tank..set it up just like for the cories except put a bunch of java moss and hornwort in it...put the adults in and let them spawn..as soon as you see the females get skinny take the adults out...


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

That's what I was concerned about... that I starved them.  Definately ordering some of your fry food!


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