Survival rate

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:11 pm

Is it normal to loose som of the fry? What survival rate is normal from egg to say, 2 months old fry?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:33 pm

bit of a tricky one that. I've had spawns of 15 and everyone has survived, then had a spawn of 12 and all but 2 have died.

SO long as all water conditions are stable, I would say, the majority should survive. Once they are about 1 month old they are usually home free!!

rob

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:38 pm

How many have died McEve?

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:40 pm

Thanks for the reply Rob. I lost one of the three weeks old today. So out of 20 eggs I have only 10 fry left. I did have a heater go haywire on me about 4 days ago, It heated the tank to 32C before I caught it and got it unplugged. That night I lost one also.

I don't have a single one to loose!

The water parameters look fine otherwise, meaning they're the same as they've always been. Nitrate less than 5, Nitrite 0, PH 6.8, temp 29C.

I noticed the snails have laid eggs in the fry trap, would that be a hazard in any way to the fry? meaning, if they try to eat them?

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:44 pm

McEve wrote:I noticed the snails have laid eggs in the fry trap, would that be a hazard in any way to the fry? meaning, if they try to eat them?

I can't see that being a problem. Maybe have to put it down to 'one of those things'.

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:45 pm

What kinda fry trap are you using? Do you have any pics.....I'm a kinda "see and learn" type of chap

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 11:03 pm

I'm using one of these with an airstone and a piece of a coconut shell for them to hide under. It's floating in the parents tank.

Reason why I was wondering if the snail eggs could be a hazard is I've heard they can choke on blood worms...?

The dead fry was lying in a heap of food.

Dr. P · Post by **Dr. P** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 11:11 pm

McEve wrote:The dead fry was lying in a heap of food.

Now there somthing that for some reason never popped into my head. I have read that too and it's somthing that I would be suspitious of. I wouldn't expect a poorly or ill fish, never mind fry having all that much of an apetite so finding it dead on the heep of food is definately a worry....coincedence or cause?

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 12:45 am

I think a "heap of food" would be a hazard. To almost any fish but especially to fry..

Naturally I don't know how big a heap you're referring to but it wouldn't surprise me if too much food would be too tempting for a fish and that digestion problems might be the cause of death.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:11 am

There's no large amounts of food in the fry trap, as I'm cautios about overfeeding at any time, but then again, I'm not used to the amount a fry needs being a first time grandma either...

I'll go even more easy on the feeding, as I suspect this might have something to do with it.

I'm a murderer!

Ok, I'll cut the melodramatics and just try and look after the rest of them better

Cascudo · Post by **Cascudo** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:12 am

That is too bad McEve.

But don't be too hard on yourself.

Personally, I don't think that the fry would take more food than it can handle.

I don't have much experience in breeding zebra's, it is the first time for me either. In fact I don't have a clue how much fry I have now, and if any have died, as they are scattered over the 160 liter tank with a lot of hiding places. Fortunately I haven't found any dead body yet, but then again, they are so small that they good easily dissapear.

Though I do have a lot of experience with breeding the common Bristlenose Pleco, which goes exactly the same way.
And I always found, most time appearently for no particularly reason, dead fry on the bottom. I noticed though that the fry is very sensitive to waterchanges. Changing too much water caused death to many of the fry.
Also someone of another forum warned me to go easy on waterchanges while having zebra fry.

I don't know if this could be the problem. If so try chancing less water at a time

Cascudo · Post by **Cascudo** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:43 am

I got so curious about my fry that I searched my tank right now.
I found only 2. Hmmm. It could be that another escaped my attention. But they aren't too much.

Tristan · Post by **Tristan** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:14 am

The waterchange thing goes for discus fry, if you change too much then you loose quite a few. I know of a couple of breeders who do not do a water change for a couple of weeks after the fry are hatched. This allows them to become a little stronger before subjecting them to any fluctuations in water temperature / parameters.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:15 am

Thanks for your reply Cascudo, I hope you're right and that the remainders will make it.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:18 am

Tristan wrote:The waterchange thing goes for discus fry, if you change too much then you loose quite a few.

I have tried to keep this in mind, and only done a bucket at a time. Maybe that's too much for them as well, but there's always the dilemma between keeping Nitrates under control vs the impact of water changes to consider.....

Once they get a bit bigger I'll move them to the new tank (big water change that will be

), but the tank is seeded from the parents tanks so it should be a similar bacteria and parameter wise system. I'll check thouroughly before moving them!