Baby Feesh!

[Kabuki]

Halp!

I saw something wiggling in a waterlily pot and thought "Oh NO, its more mosquito larvae", and it turned out to be a baby fish. I'm always moving plants from pot to pot when the goldies and shubunkins chew the roots off of the frog bit and water hyacinth, so that's how the eggs must have transferred. So I scampered to the back for a fish net,  and I noticed in my big galvy pot with a few lilies, there were -lots- of babies in there, too. They are so small I have no idea what they are, and they might just be minnows, which is a fine thing since the mosquito dunks I threw in my pots are not working at all and I've got a monstrous colony of larvae growing in my lotus tubs. These little guys are smaller than some of my larvae so I'm concerned about tossing them in the tubs yet. I have them with a bubbler in a turtle tank feeding them crumbled up fish flakes. Even the smallest filter causes too much water agitation. If they are minnows I will be happy since they cost about 50 cents a piece and I was going to have to buy a few more since my goldies ate most of the ones I have in the upper falls.

Will the bubbler be enough with frequent water change? I've never been a fish mom before!

[miguynmkoi]

We are trying to save as many baby goldies too.  After spawning we transfered the hornwort to a small aquarium to hatch.  I used a little fungus prevention for the non fertile eggs that will rot and any dead fry.  A couple of days after they hatched I started to fed them baby high protein powdered food - very small particles.  I have a small air bubbler going at 1/4 rate and the fish are still getting tossed around.  So I basically have the air tube tied to create a very gentle bubble.  I do a partial water change every other day. 

Today is the second week of this process and it seems that many of the fry are dying.  Don't know why.  From a few thousand down to less than a thousand.  Is it worth it?  I hope my 8 turtles appreciate it 'cause at 25 cents a pop I cannot keep buying feeders or minnows for them.

The ones that survive in the pond seem to do better than the ones we baby.  I'm hoping someone here has a good insight as to how to raise fry without killing them.

[Kabuki]

Oh! I did some reading today and found that mosquito fish are live bearers. These must be goldfish or shubunkin. Its all that I have in that tank other than some young wakin. 

[reptilegrrl]

  I hope my 8 turtles appreciate it 'cause at 25 cents a pop I cannot keep buying feeders or minnows for them.

Why buy feeder minnows at all?  They are not the best food, especially for an adult turtle.  Feeder minnows are typically not very healthy, and an adult turtle's diet should be mostly vegetation.  My RES is 8 and I don't buy him any feeders anymore.  He gets all the pond plants he can eat, as well as collard greens, red leaf lettuce, some fruit, some turtle pellets, cuttle bone, and snails and worms from the garden.  Every once in awhile he eats a misquito fish, but for the most part he cannot catch them.

[miguynmkoi]

My turtles are about 2 years old and still love the chase with goldies.  Both minnows and goldies are 25 cents a pop and bought them as treats (and also the fun  of watching the chase - I know, morose).  They do eat mostly water plants from the pond, veges and some pellets. 

I know most of the aquarium fry will not make it but what I end up with will be culled.  The culled small feeder size goldies will be free treats until the turtles grow up. 
Still it would be nice to know exactly how to raise fry with less casualties.  Parents are pretty and I hope to have a few pretty ones to keep.

[Kat]

I empty out most of my ponds in the spring of all fish so I can put my watonai eggs in each pond & try to make sure the ponds are empty for about a month so there is some natural food sources in the water like algae/bugs.  I don't do water changes & I feed them ground up koi food.  There are some that die but not that many.  At around 2 months the tobies are an inch big or bigger whereas some of the fry is 1/2" to 1" big.  At that point I start culling & the ones I want to grow out I'll put them in the largest lily ponds.  The bigger the water volume you can put the eggs in the quicker the fry will grow.  If I did water changes I'm sure the fry would grow even faster because of the higher water quality.  No filtering, no air during the spring months.  Once the temps start to get into the 80s daily, then I bring out the air pumps.

[Kabuki]

I think by the time I found the babies in my galvy water lily tub that they were 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch. Few have died, and about 30 are now all about 1/2 inch in size, feeding at either the top or the bottom. I noticed those that feed on the bottom have bigger bellies. Some are darker, some are transparent, but they all seem to have a long tail. The parents are two sarassa, a shubunkin and an orange and white short tailed sarassa (I think). Attached are pics of the four parents (The largest four in the picture), and their offspring. And now the questions. How long before I can start seeing more color on these fry? None seem deformed, but then, I only found them after they had been surviving in still water of a lily pot, so they might be the strongest survivors. I'm grinding up dry goldfish food for them and they are all eating. Still smaller than big mosquito larvae. I'm all excited!   

[miguynmkoi]

OK you need to tell me how you do it!  I've tried so many times to raise fry and they end up dying after a few weeks.  They look like they are eating but they don't grow!  Of the thousands that hatched I am down to 4. 

Any update photos of your fry?  Please?

[Kabuki]

The fish are fine, I have about 15 now, all are growing, but they are still very small. I have three sizes, though the biggest are not big enough to eat the smallest. Some are top feeders and some are bottom feeders. I've added some floating plants, and I use a bubbler for a day, do water changes, and use a small filter the next day. I might use the stocking trick and leave the filter inside. The ones that I thought were weak or not growing seemed to die on their own. One with a curved spine eventually died, too. I will confess there was a couple of water change and filter mishaps and I lost some of the smaller ones.  The rest seem robust, aggressive and strong swimmers. They don't get blown around any more. They already are beginning to swarm up to the surface to be fed. Fifteen small goldfish are far more than I was anticipating when I started this. I'm already looking for a big used rubbermaid water tank to put in the garage for them.  I'll try and get some clear pics.

This hobby never ends, does it! 

I can't get a good shot of these wee fishies. You can still see I have three bigger ones, almost an inch long. One is very light, while the other two are very dark. Hoping at least one will be a shubunkin.

[miguynmkoi]

Why?  How?  What happened to mine?  All I can think of is the temp of the water.  We hardly get any sun lately.  Today we had another hatch of fry.  Hopefully the weather warms up a bit.

Thanks for the update!  I can't wait to see these guys a little bigger to see what kind of parentage they have.

[SueSTx]

Every summer I put small lilies in 25 gallon tubs to grow off to give away.  I place the tubs where they get afternoon shade.  I usually top them off with a bucket of pond water when necessary.  They always wind up with fry and I simply feed them with flakes when I think about it.  They grow off nicely I guess.  If I loose any I don't know because I don't count.  I always have too many anyway.

I do syphon off water from the bottom to do water changes occasionally.  There is no filter or pumps in these tubs either. 

[Amy]

Sorry I have no advice but congrats on your babies and good luck! How exciting!