Fry Choking
Fry Choking
I could've sworn one of the most abundant pieces of information out there about raising zebra fry was "do NOT feed them food large enough to choke on". Apparently this is something I just had to try for myself.
I made up some of my own food a while back as per McEve's recipe (thanks McEve, my larger fish love it ), and gave a little to my fry last night. I had done this in the past and they left it alone in preference to other things I was giving them at the same time. I figured they just needed to get used to it and I've been giving a little every few days.
When I checked on them this morning there was one little guy just kinda parked out where I usually put their food at night. I thought this was a little strange as they usually at least move when I come in the room. Sure enough, when I reached into the tank it just sat there and bobbed a little, obviously dead. I pulled it out and looked for any clue as to what may have caused this. Its belly was extremely distended, not just full, almost bloated looking, and there was something in its mouth. I scraped it out with my fingernail and a piece of shrimp about an inch long pulled free from its throat. The piece of food was not much thicker than a hair, but it was obviously enough.
Dr.P - I was wrong when I said that losing fry always hurts. This is much, much worse.
Val
I made up some of my own food a while back as per McEve's recipe (thanks McEve, my larger fish love it ), and gave a little to my fry last night. I had done this in the past and they left it alone in preference to other things I was giving them at the same time. I figured they just needed to get used to it and I've been giving a little every few days.
When I checked on them this morning there was one little guy just kinda parked out where I usually put their food at night. I thought this was a little strange as they usually at least move when I come in the room. Sure enough, when I reached into the tank it just sat there and bobbed a little, obviously dead. I pulled it out and looked for any clue as to what may have caused this. Its belly was extremely distended, not just full, almost bloated looking, and there was something in its mouth. I scraped it out with my fingernail and a piece of shrimp about an inch long pulled free from its throat. The piece of food was not much thicker than a hair, but it was obviously enough.
Dr.P - I was wrong when I said that losing fry always hurts. This is much, much worse.
Val
Ohh... I'm so sorry to hear that valhallan It is very important to let the food processor work on the shrimps especially to really grind it up. It doesn't take much before a small fry choke though!
It might be apropriate with a warning to go with the recipe! I had a fry die in a small pile of food, but that was crushed Tetra Prima... don't know if it choked or not though... Anyway, it's very sad to hear about your fry!
How old was it?
It might be apropriate with a warning to go with the recipe! I had a fry die in a small pile of food, but that was crushed Tetra Prima... don't know if it choked or not though... Anyway, it's very sad to hear about your fry!
How old was it?
Thanks guys,
He was about 8 weeks old and I did shell the prawns before putting them in the mix. I've read about people just throwing the whole thing in there and I know McEve leaves most of the shell on, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm still too cautious about the zebs I think. Oh well, I really am not beating myself up too much, I think this whole game is about trial and error. That said, I'll deck myself if this happens again...
He was about 8 weeks old and I did shell the prawns before putting them in the mix. I've read about people just throwing the whole thing in there and I know McEve leaves most of the shell on, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm still too cautious about the zebs I think. Oh well, I really am not beating myself up too much, I think this whole game is about trial and error. That said, I'll deck myself if this happens again...
Hey valhallan
Sorry to hear about that mate. It's just one of those things, it's no sectret that they fry are very delicate, so sometimes it's almost impossible to forsee every problem that could occur. There's always one that will bite off more that it can chew!!!!!
Even the older zebrsa can have provlems with digestion at times. I discovered this when I first started keeping zebras. I fed them on a diet that consisted of bloodworms around 5 times times a week, mixed with varying other foods!! Like the rest of us all they wanted was bloodworms, (in our case substitue bloodworms for your favourite dish!!! ) Problem with that, apart from not having a varied diet, they have long thin intestines that can get "Bunged up" very easily. ANyway I'm rambling, as Adam says, this is learning curve for all of us here. There is alot of info out there about zebrsa, but it is different putting it into practice. Oh my god I just sounded like my dad!!!
Rob
Sorry to hear about that mate. It's just one of those things, it's no sectret that they fry are very delicate, so sometimes it's almost impossible to forsee every problem that could occur. There's always one that will bite off more that it can chew!!!!!
Even the older zebrsa can have provlems with digestion at times. I discovered this when I first started keeping zebras. I fed them on a diet that consisted of bloodworms around 5 times times a week, mixed with varying other foods!! Like the rest of us all they wanted was bloodworms, (in our case substitue bloodworms for your favourite dish!!! ) Problem with that, apart from not having a varied diet, they have long thin intestines that can get "Bunged up" very easily. ANyway I'm rambling, as Adam says, this is learning curve for all of us here. There is alot of info out there about zebrsa, but it is different putting it into practice. Oh my god I just sounded like my dad!!!
Rob
The perfect white lie..."Of course I didn't pay that much for the fish honey"
Adam - You'd kick a man while he was down?
There is a lot of information out there, and most of it is good ( like this site ) but putting it into practice really is the hard part. Along with sifting through good and bad info, you have to deal with the little details that may not have come up yet, and that's where the problems begin
I'm having trouble with varying the diet for my fry at the moment too Rob. As per Barbie's regimen, I started them on frozen cyclop-eeze and now they will not eat anything else! I have started mixing frozen bbs in with the cyclop-eeze and they will accept the mixture, but if I try something without the cyclop-eeze in it, for example: a mixture of bbs, flake and pellets, they won't touch any of it. Hell, even if I mix the flake or the pellets in with the cyclop-eeze they will just pick through it and leave everything but the cyclop-eeze. They certainly are picky little buggers . Funny thing is though, if I put a leaf of romaine lettuce in there, it's gone by the next morning I guess they like their roughage.
Val
There is a lot of information out there, and most of it is good ( like this site ) but putting it into practice really is the hard part. Along with sifting through good and bad info, you have to deal with the little details that may not have come up yet, and that's where the problems begin
I'm having trouble with varying the diet for my fry at the moment too Rob. As per Barbie's regimen, I started them on frozen cyclop-eeze and now they will not eat anything else! I have started mixing frozen bbs in with the cyclop-eeze and they will accept the mixture, but if I try something without the cyclop-eeze in it, for example: a mixture of bbs, flake and pellets, they won't touch any of it. Hell, even if I mix the flake or the pellets in with the cyclop-eeze they will just pick through it and leave everything but the cyclop-eeze. They certainly are picky little buggers . Funny thing is though, if I put a leaf of romaine lettuce in there, it's gone by the next morning I guess they like their roughage.
Val
I know you're joking , of course I wouldn't kick a man while he was down unless he was messing with my zebras .
You are certainly right about there being a lot of information out there, unfortunately some of it is bad. I too find it hard to put it all into practice and have now opted for what works for me instead. It doesn't necessarily follow that what works for one person will automatically work for you, with some fine tuning it may well do. Forget about trying to think about every possible eventuality, the best you could possibly hope for is to give things your best shot. Of course the experience of others will at times be invaluable. That said a great many things will be left unsaid this is where your own experience kicks in. I'm rambling again, basically try your best and if things don't work out you know better for next time.
I too am having problem varying my zebras diet. They will eat everything so long as it has frozen shrimp in it. It's very easy to allow fish to become hooked on one type of food. In the past I have found that starving them out for a while will help to ween them onto other foods. However I would not advise this for baby zebras so some other approach will be needed. I'm sure the collective will have some oppinions on this.
Adam
You are certainly right about there being a lot of information out there, unfortunately some of it is bad. I too find it hard to put it all into practice and have now opted for what works for me instead. It doesn't necessarily follow that what works for one person will automatically work for you, with some fine tuning it may well do. Forget about trying to think about every possible eventuality, the best you could possibly hope for is to give things your best shot. Of course the experience of others will at times be invaluable. That said a great many things will be left unsaid this is where your own experience kicks in. I'm rambling again, basically try your best and if things don't work out you know better for next time.
I too am having problem varying my zebras diet. They will eat everything so long as it has frozen shrimp in it. It's very easy to allow fish to become hooked on one type of food. In the past I have found that starving them out for a while will help to ween them onto other foods. However I would not advise this for baby zebras so some other approach will be needed. I'm sure the collective will have some oppinions on this.
Adam
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I'd agree with Adam. FINELY crushed Tetra Prima goes down a storm with my fry. I grind it up with some king british flake food and other fry foods that I got free with an order from ZM Ltd.....I dunno the name. I also feed my fry Cyclops (sp??) and Baby Brine Shrimp (frozen) which they seem to LOOOOVE!
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