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So, my Caudopunks have finally produced fry! I think they hatched yesterday, and the five or so little babies I saw were about pin-head sized. It's my understanding that they'll be allright on crushed flake, and I plan to start some baby brine shrimp for them this evening. I'm also setting up a 10 gallon grow-out tank for them, since I anticipate having lots and lots of fry very shortly, since one of the other pairs in the tank have been acting like they're expecting eggs to hatch very soon, too.

Is there anything special I need to do for the fry right now? I'm hoping I'll be able to coax them into shells and move them to the grow-out tank that way. Will that disturb the parent fish too much? Will the parents eat fry if they're stressed or spooked?

Since this is the very first fry for these fish, I'm not going to be heartbroken if I don't have great success with this batch. But I'd like to give it my best shot, and I'm just not finding a whole lot of information about what to do for pin-head-sized fry.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Two words to keep in mind for future fry batches ... Infusoria Culture.

Required: 1 gallon pickle jar (US) or sweet jar (UK)

Fill around 2/3rds full of water.

Add small quantity of powdered dried lettuce leaf, scrapings from inside of banana skin, plus modest sized piece of lettuce leaf that is weighted to sink to the bottom. Add a couple of snails.

Sit back and wait 72 hours.

Water will go cloudy at first as the plant matter rots, then it'll clear. You should see a zone about midway which, upon examination under a microscope, yields lots ot tiny creatures milling about. These are infusorians, a whole range of life forms ranging from tiny Paramecium through to much bigger Rotifers that are prime baby fish food for any fry that are too small to take newly hatched Brine Shrimp.

The culture will pong a bit by the way. I'd keep it away from any areas where this will be a problem, particularly if you happen to be still at school and living with your parents, as they might not appreciate that your jar of pongy water is in fact a baby food factory for your precious fish fry! Even if you're like me, old enough to remember when Elvis was young and fit, and live alone, the less than delightful stench that an infusoria culture can create in its first 48 hours of life is DEFINITELY an acquired taste!

As for transferring the fry, well, if they'll stay inside a shell while you transfer them, that will make your life a LOT easier than is the case with me and Panda fry, which have to be netted and then coaxed into containers while the net is still underwater (sheesh) ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks Calilasseia. Great tip on making baby food.

Dahnis

Quick give 'em to me! Oh, u are in the UK... never mind

Congrats on the babies. Good luck with making baby food

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Well, baby brine shrimp just didn't work out at all... what a mess, and only maybe half the eggs actually hatched. My room isn't warm enough, and I don't have a handy incandescent fixture.

Culturing my own infusoria sounds like a great idea... but I have cats that get into everything, and they LOVE plant-water... so they would probably see an open culture of green funky water as a treat. No kidding... stupid cats

So I went to the pet store and got two different varieties of fry food, one is a paste that you mix with water, and I didn't have too much luck with that, plus it's a mess. The other was hikiari first bites powdered fry food, and that has worked out great. It hasn't polluted my whole tank the way the paste started to, and I still have over half the fry I started with two weeks ago, and better than 50% survival sounds good to me.

I still have no idea what I'm going to do with the babies...

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

So, what happened with the fry? Any grow up into biggies?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

The first-bites powdered food worked out really well with the baby brine shrip as treats on weekends when I have time to hatch and feed them. I get a few survivors from each spawn, except from this one particular pair that are more prolific than the other pairs, but are apparently lousy parents. I have about 30 juveniles total now and the first 10 are about ready to be sold after 3 months. There are still some bitty-babies hidden in the shells that I havn't been able to count yet, too. The adults have grown a great deal since I got them, too, and they are finally very comfortable in their tank and not nearly as skittish when I approach, which makes them more fun to watch. The juveniles are even bolder than the adult fish and almost never hide.

I've been meaning to take new pictures soon, and I'll get some of the grow-out tank, too.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...