[biggerbang]

My newly added electric blue balloon rams and endler's both gave me fry in the past week. I was surprised when the rams laid eggs. I was even more surprised when they hatched. I had around 40+ little guys swimming around. But at the end of the second day, their numbers dwindled until there were none left. All 8 of the endler fry are still alive though. They're swimming around in my 20 gallon long near the top, relatively unscathed.

Next time my rams have eggs and they hatch, I want to be prepared. Is a 10 gallon aquarium big enough to be a fry tank? Should I keep it planted or just put a bunch of java moss in it? I have a 10 gallon that's already cycled, but it has an infestation of pond snails. Once I get rid of that, I think I'm going to make it into my fry tank. Are there any tips of raising ram fry or fry in general?

Here are some pictures. They were taken with my phone and one was with dirty algae covered glass.

 

[Diana]

Endler fry are quite large, and can eat many of the foods the parents eat. Their mouths are big enough. I have fed them those little green envelopes of fry food, and also raised them without feeding anything special, just crushing high quality flakes for them, and in general feeding a rotation of good foods.

Ram fry are very tiny and must have prepared foods. If there were any microorganisms in the tank for them to eat the Endler fry probably are them.

I would set up a tank specifically for the Rams. The parents will care for the fry, and you can add as much specialty food as needed. I would get a culture of microworms started, and a culture of green water. The green water also has other things besides algae to feed the Ram fry for a few days, then feed them the microworms. Baby Brine shrimp are next size up foods, perhaps when the fry are a week or two old.
Do not feed any one food exclusively. They might be missing some nutrient or other.
Here is an example of a blended food that is fine enough to feed to fry that small.
http://www.almostnaturalfishfood.us..._id=41&zenid=5cf58693f320d2ae58d12559ffb28e9d

 

[biggerbang]

Thanks for the informative post. If my ram are in a community tank, is it possible to only remove the fry or would that stress the rams? I do not like the idea of moving fish between tanks if it can be avoided.

 

[Diana]

You can remove the Ram fry to a nursery tank. They do not feed off the parents like Discus. They just live with the parents' protecting them from the other fish.
It might have been the other fish eating the fry at night that killed them.

Optimum set up for a nursery tank:
Bare bottom. Easiest to clean. Put the tank on a dark surface, or put a dark towel or something under it so the bottom is dark. I find a thin dusting of fine gravel works OK, but not more than a single layer, and not even fully covering the floor of the tank.
Lots of fine plants like Guppy Grass or similar. Microorganisms will live among the leaves and the fry will feel safely hidden.
Less water movement. Fry are not strong swimmers, and need to use their food-energy for growth, not fighting a current. Sponge filter is great. It will grow microorganisms the fry can nibble on when they are between meals. Mature the sponge filter in the main tank so it will have a good growth of stuff on it when the fry need it.

Feed them many times per day, and vacuum the floor of the tank daily. Air tubing is probably the safest- so small it won't suck up fry.

 

[PlantedRich]

To remove the fry without crushing them, try a siphon. Just a short length of clear tubing works for me. I fill the tube with water, cap one end with a thumb until I get the end near the fry I want. Open the second end over a nice large bowl and suck off as many as I want. I find a nice round bowl with smooth sides so the fry don't hang in any grooves, etc. I normally leave half or more with the parents. How many fry can I possibly grow out anyway so I am not greedy. 20-25 of one type is more than enough for me. Be sure to check the tube for fry stuck on the side. I hate to kill them needlessly even though they are sure to be eaten in the main tank.

 

[John K]

If all you have in the tank are the endlers, you can try letting the rams spawn and raise the fry in that tank. It's a learning process for them, so it could take them a few tries. But if you're not in a hurry or trying to raise them for sale, it can be interesting to watch them learn. And if they don't get it, you can always try a separate tank later on.

Create a nursery area for them away from the filter, at the end of the tank that has the least water flow. Use plants like java moss and fast growing stems to block the current even further and give the parents an easily defensible section of the tank that's about a foot long. You want the water to be barely moving, so if you still have too much current, you may need to find a way to turn down or baffle your filter.

Put a small piece of slate in the middle this area, and they won't be able to resist laying eggs there. Then prepare an infusoria culture and practice raising brine shrimp.

 

[biggerbang]

I also have 8 emperor tetras in the same tank. I know for a fact it was the tetras that ate the fry (though I did see the male ram eat some fry when he seemed panicked at one point). I was planning on just letting nature take its course on the fry, but at one point, I'm going to attempt to raise them. So I wanted to have a general idea of what I was going to be getting into. I was thinking about setting up a brine shrimp tank, but what's the minimum size for that size of tank? All I remember is that they are raised in brackish conditions and that deterred me from looking into any further detail about that.

I can't seem to get my emperor tetras to spawn, but as of right now, I'm busy with everything else giving me fry. I'm kinda unsure about what to do about the endler fry though. I was assuming that some of them would have perished at the hands of the emperor tetras, but surprisingly none were. I can already see the female endler's getting darker so I'm expecting another batch sometime in the near future.

 

[LB79]

What, EBBRs are fertile? (Okay, joking aside) Yeah, a ten's plenty big enough. Just do large water changes and you should be fine.

 

[PlantedRich]

For temporary food supply brine shrimp, I go with a small DIY hatchery. Made from soda bottles, it provides good food for the short time needed for many fry.