[Nlewis]

Hello all. I'm looking for some advise on feeding newly hatched fry. First off the fry that I have are apistogramma cacatuoides and this is there second batch of fry which is only a few days old.

With the first batch they had the fry lasted about a month and slowly diminished in numbers along the way. Sudden done day I came home to no living fry. I tried feeding them Hikari first bites and frozen baby brine shrimp to no avail. They wouldn't eat either foods and would rather graze upon the algae and Java moss. Now I did read the other day that Apistos and other cichlids really tend to feed off of movement. With that in mind I did order a starter culture of microworms which should be here next week. At what point in time do I need to worry about them not eating the food I'm providing? Are they just to young now to eat the food?

 

[bsherwood]

try hatching out brine shrimp....
I raise angels from time to time and they chow down on the live brine shrimp.

 

[garfieldnfish]

You could make some green water and add that to the fry tank. Boil/microwave some lettuce put it in a glass jar with tank water and set it into direct sunlight. Within a few days you will have green water with tons of micro critters. Add a little of the green water to the tank each day. If you have more time plant clippings put into tank water in a glass jar or empty clear plastic bottle set in direct sunlight will do the same but it takes a little longer. I always have micro worms, banana worms and vinegar eels on hand for unexpected fry even so my CPDs grow up fine on crushed flakes.

 

[Nordic]

I was just going to say, go scoop some green water from a green swimming pool or somebody's fish pond.

I am currently raising a tiny batch of zebra danio fry... those little buggers are tiny. So far they are growing steadily with nothing but the green water they are swimming in.
In a day or two I think they may be ready for first bites ground down and mixed with a little water, or at least some egg yolk.

Some fish do insist of moving live food though.

 

[ghyti]

Newly hatched baby brine shrimp is by far the best food for almost any type of fry. Some people report success with other types of food but baby brine shrimp will get you more, bigger faster, healthier fry.

 

[Warhawk]

I agree with others brine shrimp are a great choice. There are also a few different worms you can get cultures for and feed those also.

I will say I have raised Angel and convict fry off of dry fish food. You have to grind it very small, I use a coffee grinder and normal cichlid pellets. I know with this I don't get as many survive but my current angels are just under 3/4" and I have 50-75 that made it plus more that are smaller.

 

[Bushkill]

If it helps any, Jehmco sells a strain of Brine Shrimp eggs that hatches at a much smaller size.

 

[Nlewis]

I did pick up some instant baby brine shrimp yesterday. This will have to do I guess until the microworms arrive.