Have Apisto. Caucoides fry, hatching BBS, need some advice!

[mightymizz]

My Apisto. Caucoides have spawned. First we saw eggs in the "rock cave", then we left and returned and all of the free swimming fry were on the other side of the tank on the substrate with mom swimming over them.

We bought an intank breeder box (net kind), put some moss in it, and are starting up hatching some brine shrimp now. I had to siphon the fry into a bucket, then dump that into the net breeder box.

With this setup, is this the best way? Or can I move the cave rock with the eggs into the net box and wait for them to hatch, then remove the rock? It just seemed that siphoning them out was a little more invasive/hard on the fry than it needed to be.

Should I feed BBS everyday? I have heard that I can keep some of the hatch alive in the fridge for a couple of days before their yolk sac is all absorbed. Is this true, and is this a good method of feeding the babies without constantly making BBS that wont all get eaten? When will I know to stop feeding them BBS and can start feeding them frozen daphnia/ ground up flake food?

THANKS for the help, I looked for stickies to read, and appreciate any replies and advice!

 

[regani]

The breeder box is not ideal, as other fish in the tank may still be able to get the fry trying to suck them through the net or damage them in the process, another tank is the better solution. But if that is not an option see how you go. If there are too many problems an acrylic breeder box to hang on the side with an overflow and a riser tube and an air stone pushing water in may be worth the small investment.
If the fry are not in a community tank it is actually quite safe lo leave them with the parents for a few weeks.

As far as feeding is concerned, BBS, microworms or similar are the best way to go. Fry are usually not that good with dried or frozen food, they need the visual stimulus of something wriggling in front of them. many small feeds over the course of the day are better than one big one for young fry. If you are not in during the day do one feed in the morning, one in the afternoon or evening, that works for me.
After the first couple of weeks you can start to introduce finely crushed flake as food to make your life a bit easier. The fry will grow better on life foods, though.

 

[mightymizz]

Great info!

What about keeping the BBS in the refrigerator? (At least until they absorb their yolk sac?)

 

[regani]

I have heard of other people doing it but don't have any first hand experience. I have several smaller hatcheries going in parallel, each one holding enough BBS to feed all the fry in my fishroom. I stagger starting the hatcheries so that I can harvest every 12h or so, that gives me the two feeds per day.

 

[danbb]

Feed BBS every day, I feed my fry 3 times a day. Try to give them fresh BBS, as long as you keep them more days the nutritional value is dropping. (I start a new culture every 24 hours, you just need 2 recipients)

 

[mightymizz]

Thanks! The fry are already free swimming, so I hope they don't starve before I can put some BBS in.

1. Some recommend to rinse the BBS with fresh water before feeding, Is this correct?

2. Also, can anyone comment regarding the catching the fry? Can I move entire rock, or wait to siphon them?

 

[danbb]

The fry won't eat BBS from their first free swimming day, but you can start a culture (you may need starting with second day)
1. Yes, allways
2. Better wait and siphon them

 

[regani]

Yes, rinse off the brine, otherwise you will end up raising the conductivity/TDS in your tank which is what you want to avoid in a soft water tank.
I siphon fry after 2-3 weeks. They have grown and are more robust by then but are still not strong enough to escape the siphon, they also stick together still. Wait longer and they will start to scatter more and get progressively more difficult to catch.
I feed freshly hatched brine shrimp to the fry once they emerge from the cave the first time. They always seem to go for it right from the start.

 

[Mike Wise]

Cacatuoides fry will eat newly hatched brine shrimp once they become freeswimming. Any extra not eaten by the fry will be eaten by the parents and other fish. There is no reason to produce more than 1 day's worth of BBS at a time.

 

[mightymizz]

Well, I was thinking that with only one system set up to make one batch of BBS at a time, I can only hatch new ones every 2-3 days. That is why I was asking about keeping some in the refrigerator, to help cover the day(s) inbetween fresh hatches.

 

[Mike Wise]

I use a system of 3, 2L bottles. It takes a little more space, but the results should be better than with 1 bottle and a refrigerator.

 

[mightymizz]

Yeah, I'm thinking that I need to get a 2nd bottle running. It just seems to be such a waste since I can only feed so much at one time, and the number of BBS that you get from each hatch is just a ton.

 

[regani]

there is no need to have a 2L bottle as a hatchery, smaller setups work just as well.
here is what I use

just a few glass jars with holes poked through the lid. they sit in a waterbath with a heater hiding in the black pipe at the bottom to keep the temperature up in winter

to harvest, I just take the jar out, let the BBS settle for a few minutes, the siphon them off into a filter made from kitchen paper towel.


once they are in the filter I give them a quick rinse with tank water


then take the filter and invert it into a small plastic container with a bit of water in it. The it is easy to use a small pipette or syringe to suck up some of the BBS and squirt them right to where the fry is. that way they always get a good feed and the mother will keep the other fish at bay while the fry are feeding.


the filtered salt water can be reused, but I usually don't bother. I have my salt water on tap, so refills are easy.


I use about 1-2 quarter tsp of brine shrimp eggs per jar which gives me enough for a good feed for several tanks.
I use a 36h hatch time so that to feed every 12h or so I have three jars which I just rotate through.

apologies for the crappy pics, I just thought I quickly get this out there and took pics with my phone. hth

 

[Mike Wise]

It just seems to be such a waste since I can only feed so much at one time, and the number of BBS that you get from each hatch is just a ton.

Why hatch more eggs than needed? If you only need to feed 1 tank then only use enough eggs to feed the fish in 1 tank. There really is no rule that says you have to use a set amount of eggs. The quantity of eggs I hatch really depends on the number of fish (and their size) I will feed that day.

 

[danbb]

My advice if you want fresh BBS: use 2 cut plastic bottles (1L) and only 500 ml of water in each. You have fresh BBS every day, depending on how many fry you got you add the eggs (normal, when the fry are bigger, the eggs must be more). When the eggs in bottle 1 are hatched, you can start bottle no 2.

 

[regani]

Umm, didn't notice that some of the pics are upside down when I posted - must be the Southern Hemisphere Effect

 

[mightymizz]

Wow, Thanks so much for the pictures and ideas!!

I appreciate it, they give me some things to think about!