Geophagus Fry

Morning everyone, please could you guy with more experience inthe field of raising fry help me out with a few things. A few weeks ago myGeophagus decided to spawn, but as the male fertilized the eggs the femalewould eat them. So I did not think much about it and I did not also go read upon it.. Well on Wednesday I got home to see the pair being very protective ofthe one side of the tank and on close look the female was holding about 30 fryin her mouth... at the time I thought I would let nature take its course. Butas this tank is full of other larger fish I was a bit worried. last night I gothome and when I looked again there weren’t so many left and I decided to catchthe female to be able to put the fry in a holding net until I set up a tank forthem tonight…
1… what do I feed the little guys and how many time a day..Have read you must feed BBS and then move over to tetra granules (crushed)
2… I will be setting up a bare bottom tank with a cornerfilter and an extra air stone..
3… Do I keep a dim light on the tank through the night orcan I switch of as normal….
All the help would be appreciated…. will post some pics later...

 

hi,

1. BBS, micro worms are the best for young fry. i like to feed my fry 3-5times a day in small amounts. i like to feed live foods mostly up to a size where i feel i can now feed flakes or crushed cichlid pellets.
2. corner filters in my opinion are bad as i always have to take fry out of them that get stuck when they go into the little slits. i prefer sponge, if you only have a corner filter available try putting over some stockings. or another fine mesh material.
3. i switch my lights on and off as normal.

please note, i have no experience with Geophangus fry.

maybe someone else can be of more assistance.

 

What geo's do you have?

-BBS and powdered tetra bits or a high protein type food is good.
-Filter sponges works the best as the fry tends to graze on the sponges for micro organism's/algae and so on.
-Light does not really mater as long as the fry can see the food.
-Depends on the Geo sp. you might want to up the temp by 2 -3 degree's for beter growth.

PS ... remember water changes.

 

for the time being ad a algae wafer to the net, fry wil start pecking at it. what i do with al my fry is i get some sort of powder food, ad to a syringe suck up some water shake like mad, then ad some dabs of food, will see the fry chasing after the particles, live food is best but a hassle to cultivate. as for the light try and put it behind the tank at just under water level to promote algae growth on glass. theyre own little garden.(if you plan to move them to other tank that is)

 

Thank you everyone for the advise... ok have set up a tank for them with a sponge filter as advised and not the corner filter. thanks @MadHatter...
lfs had some live bbs for sale, o got some of that for tonight wile I get the bbs eggs to hatch, also got some tetra mini baby food..

at the moment I have the tank at 28deg is that ok....
how often do I do water change..
@Reedfish... they are geophagus surinamensis.... agreed with bare bottom, have the tank like that...
have also read up on feeding egg yolk and will do that....

 

@Cesar

try to do water changes every day / every other day.

fish do release GIH (Growth Inhibitor Hormones, i think its called)

mainly for the reason in the wild if there are too many big fish say in a small pond, the GIH will build up to stunt other smaller fish and prevent starvation ext.

so depending on how big the tank is ( shouldnt be too big anyway ) and amount of fry.

would say a minimum of every other day wc.

to promote growth.

 

congrats,first dibs when they big enough to sell

 

@Madhatter.. Thanks for the advice. Have done the first waterchange tonight.
@Reedfish... Going to be a bit difficult to do two a dayin the week as im out early and back home later, once a day will be done andover the weekend i can do two. Yes they are stunning fish and have filled outquite nicely...
@OscarFreak... will keep you in mind once they ready to go to a good home....

 

surinamensis:cry: one day is one day

 

Evening everyone

Just an update. been doing water changes every day (once ) and feeding a combination of BBS and Tetra prima pellet's crushed and they are all growing and looking health... Have a total of 20 healthy baby Geos...

 

@Reedfish... yes they are growing quickly, cant go near the tank and they come begging for food... this is a first for me and I agree, think its wonderful to watch how they develop and grow...