oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Hi - i have a few questions about my Swordtails and their babies. The first couple of "batches" mostly got eaten by my hungry severums because i didnt know what the signs were for the mother giving birth - I've managed to save 2 babies but they seem to be growing really slowly - i think they are about 2 months now and only marginly bigger than were when they were born - is this normal growth rate? im currently feeding them luiqifry about 3 times a day - is this enough ? if not how often should i feed them and also whats the best food to feed them ? i know theres a few questions in there and im sure i will have more shortly... cheers Skip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Freshly Hatched Baby Brine Shrimp, or Microworms. Lots of feeds during the Day and lots of Small water changes. What size Tank do you have them in?? They should be alot bigger than that by now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 I haven't had any experince with swordtails but they are closely related to platies, right? I fed my 5 surviving wagtail fry microworms for the first few weeks but then move on to crushed flake and crushed pellets. Now they are eating big fish food with their mother. I think they are two months old also. Much bigger than when they were first born. Try feeding crushed up flakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Yeah they pretty much look the same as platies ive been doing 30% water changes bi weekly - is this enough or should it be less than that daily or every 2 days ? * are freshly hatched brine shrimp the same as decaps brine shrimp ? are either ok ? * where do you get microworms from and how to you keep them ? * i think the tank is a 50L i must measure it again to confirm * do they need to be a certain size before they start eating crushed pellets or flake ? i will take a photo of the little buggers tonight when i get home and post a link cheers Skip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 You will need to Hatch some BBS, easy enough to do Decpasulated Drine Shrimp Eggs are abit easier to Hatch. Microworms: you will need to get a culture off somebody, then you can continue to grow your own. They will pick away at Pellets, Flake etc... But always a good idea to give them a good start by feeding them up on BBS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Crushed flake food is fine from birth. They are too big to bother with microworms, brine shrimp, liquifry etc. They are not getting enough food. Liquifry is not enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandysme Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Skippy, what part of the country are you in, it would help to know as people may have a microworm culture to offer to you, as I do, but dont know where you are... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Crushed flake food is fine from birth. They are too big to bother with microworms, brine shrimp, liquifry etc. They are not getting enough food. Liquifry is not enough. that could explain why they are stunted i better start feeding them more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Skippy, what part of the country are you in, it would help to know as people may have a microworm culture to offer to you, as I do, but dont know where you are... just updated my profile so the location is shown in there - cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 You will need to Hatch some BBS, easy enough to do Decpasulated Drine Shrimp Eggs are abit easier to Hatch. You dont hatch decap :-? Im guessing you justworded it wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 you can hatch decap. its done alot in aquaculture facilities, whereby the decap-eggs give a better hatch ratio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Oh :oops: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 you can also take your normal brine shrimp eggs and expose them to chlorine for up to 8 mins to remove the shell, then use sodium thiosulphate to stop the reaction, then hatch as normal. ive got the exact concentrations to use in my aquaculture book somewhere if people are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simian Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 The commercially bought decap cant be hatched as the chemical process produces heat which kills the egg. Apparently if you decap them yourself before hatching it increases the hatch rate and the nutritional value as less energy is expended by the embryo in getting out. Personally I cant be bothered :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 same chemical process, which is why you usually do it in small batches when you want to hatch them. i suppose the comercial guys dont have the time/space to do it properly without over-heating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 heres a picture of my massive 2 month old baby http://tinyurl.com/pw77tb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandysme Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 If there is no one locally in welly with microworm culture then PM me and I will post you some... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 You can Buy Smallish Granules for Smaller Fish, I would just crush some Flakes, and feed those. I remember when I was breeding Swordtails I never bothered with all the other stuff, I just used fine flakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 You can Buy Smallish Granules for Smaller Fish, I would just crush some Flakes, and feed those. I remember when I was breeding Swordtails I never bothered with all the other stuff, I just used fine flakes. do you mean the micro granuals ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 When I had guppies I just used finely ground flakes. I have only used mircoworms because I had them, if I didn't have them then I'd use flakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 You could use those, or Mini Bits. Crushed Flake will be fine too though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oO SKIPPY Oo Posted September 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 i think im going to try a little bit of everything - these little guys just aint growing and i feel mean now knowing they should be bigger. so my list of things to try now is daily water changes - approx 10% more feeds during the day - currently doing 2 or 3 giving them different food - crushed micro granuals / crushed flake / microworms or Decapsulated Brine Shrimp is there anything i have missed ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Don't feel bad, we all make mistakes. Just keep the water clean and the feedings regular and they should be okay. They prolly won't be as big as the could have been but size doens't always matter. If my fighters ever spawn, I'd be terrified of making a mistake. They're so sensitive. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy_49nz Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 I find they usually grow pretty rapidly on the decap brineshrimp eggs. I have one that must be close to 3 months old now and since putting it into a grown up tank it seems to have stopped growing. I know its eating because it rivals some of my plecos for crapping in the tank. I figure now its up to him. Either he grows or he can just get eaten when I put it in the big fish tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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