[blazinrhino79]

My Apisto Cacatuoides egg's just hatched yesterday and I was wondering what's the best way/food to feed them? Should I be grinding up some flakes? I also have some frozen daphnia if thats small enough.

 

[khanzer22]

Haven't seen an Apisto fry yet but based on my experience with discus, I feed their fry with baby brine shrimps that I bought from a LFS (You can also try Petco/Petsmart)...

 

[FrostyNYC]

Like Khanzer, I also have never seen apisto fry, but from personal experience with fry, I've done the following: first paramecium/green water (apisto fry are probably large enough to skip this step), then step up to microworms/banana worms/walter worms/vinegar worms, then step up to brine shrimp nauppli, then step up to crushed flake or a special fry food/powder. From there, there would be a lot of options.

I don't think newborn apisto fry are going to be able to swallow adult daphnia, but you could try.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I'd grind up flakes, and try the frozen daphnia if they're one of the small sized daphnia... you might could grind those up, as well.

Boiled egg yolk is small enough for most fry. That stuff can be very messy and pollute a tank quickly, though, so go easy with it. Keeping snails in the tank can help with uneaten food cleanup.

 

[khanzer22]

Boiled egg yolk is small enough for most fry.

Just remembered when lauraleellbp mentioned about eggs... A friend of mine (breeding Angelfish before) told me that he use egg whites instead of yolks... What he does is he spread the whites (just a few) on a piece of ceramic plate of some sort, let it dry (like flaky) and put the plate (w/dried whites) or hang it in the tank and the fry will peck on it...

 

[NJAquaBarren]

Cyclops-eeze was recommended recently.

 

[F22]

i like hikari first bites along with cyclops

 

[blazinrhino79]

I'll try the Hikari first bites first, I've seen that at the LFS. Thanks for all cool ideas!

 

[wkndracer]

Hatched baby brines work the best for me. Two days after free swimmer stage feeding two - three times daily. I tried the Hikari first bites the first couple of spawns without a very good success rate.

 

[F22]

Hatched baby brines work the best for me. Two days after free swimmer stage feeding two - three times daily. I tried the Hikari first bites the first couple of spawns without a very good success rate.

What happened with the first bites?

 

[wkndracer]

First bites were easy to get because the LFS had them on the rack so in a pinch after the first spawn was successful I tried them. Using a flat tooth pick I tried to feed only small portions trying not to muck up the tank with uneaten food. Some free swimmers ate them most did not right away.

Feeding in the first week is very important in development as the fry grow rapidly. Subsequent spawns I've tried several different prepared foods including Angelsplus decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. While I'm sure they are good quality products the only food I've offered that all fry without hesitation have eaten has been live baby brine shrimp. With everything else there seems to be a learning curve.

Using a cheap and easy to use hatchery I now only feed BBS. This gives the fry one of the highest protein starter foods possible and from what I've seen an immediate acceptance and desire to feed. Later I add powdered adult flake when feeding but by this time the little guys are trained to surface when the lid opens so feeding something less natural is easier. The success rate and quality of the tank raised spawns has put me in the adoption mode finding homes for the now more that I can keep baby angels.

 

[lauraleellbp]

With egglayers (since they're so much smaller than most common livebearer fry), I usually start off with Green Water for the first week or two before moving fry on to bigger foods.

I find I have a much higher success rate.

 

[Bugman]

First food I feed my apisto fry is bbs.

 

[wkndracer]

With angels first day free swimmers have no problem eating BBS. The egg sack isn't completely gone at this point so I don't start feeding until the following day after the last ones release. They're gobbling up BBS on day two like cops eat doughnuts:icon_roll. Currently both my pairs are parent raising in planted tanks so predation by the clean up crew is more an issue then anything else. Low and slow swimmers are culled in days and a dark tank at night will end a spawn cycle. Currently growing out about 60+ in three tanks so no room for more anyway. Parent raising along with being in a planted tank is way harder than breeding in an empty breeder environment but more rewarding too. (IMO)

OP congrats on your spawn and best of luck.