I have a theory that I wanted to bounce of everyone.
I have raised several spawn since last Christmas of Blue ram fry. ( they sure sell fast!)
Anyways I have been having trouble getting a good survival rate from the fry. Out of 60+ free swimming fry, I will see a huge sudden die offs in about weeks 2 to 5 to as little as 20 survivors . These seem to correspond ( possibly) to too large of partial water changes. They all seem to eat fine and are growing well when they die. None look sick and then boom - disappeared..
details of how I am raising them
1. Eggs removed from parents after being layed
2. Eggs placed in a 5.5 gal tank full of Java moss and some pond snails ( tank well settled)
3. Eggs hatch fine, good hatch rates, good free swimming fry rates. Fry eating "golden pearls" to their hearts content
4. I start getting concerned about pollution from feedings at about 3 to 4 weeks of age - no partial water changes done at all)
5. a Day or so after partial water change 50% seem to disappear. pH seems stable, temp stable etc.
6. Next week - every survivor seemingly to thrive, I do another PWC and see even less fry a few days later - pH and everything else stable
question - Are these fry more sensitive than most to partial water changes? I use Seachem's PRIME directly into tank water and never had a problem with doing PWC with all my other types of fry. Observation. After doing a PWC with PRIME, there are lots of gasses in the tank. Could this be related to some physiological condition that rams have that other fry do not seem to care about?
Fry I have rasied - Apistogramma sp "Papagei", Angel fish, Swordtails, Platys,Molys, Guppies, Serpae tetras, Perennial Killifish, two species of Kribs, and a few more
Or do you think I am off base with my theory that the water changes are causing my problems? Does anybody else see the same thing?
I have raised several spawn since last Christmas of Blue ram fry. ( they sure sell fast!)
Anyways I have been having trouble getting a good survival rate from the fry. Out of 60+ free swimming fry, I will see a huge sudden die offs in about weeks 2 to 5 to as little as 20 survivors . These seem to correspond ( possibly) to too large of partial water changes. They all seem to eat fine and are growing well when they die. None look sick and then boom - disappeared..
details of how I am raising them
1. Eggs removed from parents after being layed
2. Eggs placed in a 5.5 gal tank full of Java moss and some pond snails ( tank well settled)
3. Eggs hatch fine, good hatch rates, good free swimming fry rates. Fry eating "golden pearls" to their hearts content
4. I start getting concerned about pollution from feedings at about 3 to 4 weeks of age - no partial water changes done at all)
5. a Day or so after partial water change 50% seem to disappear. pH seems stable, temp stable etc.
6. Next week - every survivor seemingly to thrive, I do another PWC and see even less fry a few days later - pH and everything else stable
question - Are these fry more sensitive than most to partial water changes? I use Seachem's PRIME directly into tank water and never had a problem with doing PWC with all my other types of fry. Observation. After doing a PWC with PRIME, there are lots of gasses in the tank. Could this be related to some physiological condition that rams have that other fry do not seem to care about?
Fry I have rasied - Apistogramma sp "Papagei", Angel fish, Swordtails, Platys,Molys, Guppies, Serpae tetras, Perennial Killifish, two species of Kribs, and a few more
Or do you think I am off base with my theory that the water changes are causing my problems? Does anybody else see the same thing?