growing on...

My last lot of fry I left with the parents too long and they beat the parents up something rotten, so as to not make the same mistake again, I moved the fry out earlier, but they seem to be growing very slowly, is it because they're in a 3' tank?? Have I overdone it??

I am directionally feeding them and they come up eagerly when I'm there with food, but everything seems too slow or am I just impatient?? They seem to have been in the tank for ages and are really not much bigger than a large pea??

Hi Linz , what age are the fry & how many are there? also how often do you give them a water change as I find youngsters grow quicker with lots of water changes.

I knew I should have made a note lol, but I think they're now 7/8 weeks from lift off, and there's about 50 of them, I gave them some decap brine shrimp today and they've all got orange bellies so I know they're all getting some food, they've been getting micro worms mainly, bbs when they were first swimming.

I've been doing water changes every 2 days as its such a big tank and they're so small lol but maybe I should up them?

Interestingly their parents spawned again the other day, and for the first time they munched them day 2, well I think Dad did, as Mum was doing all the fretting.

If you want really good grow out rates then feed 6-7 times a day, but the water changes are even more important the more the better. Obviously high quality food is a must to ensure they get the correct balance of protein etc.

Linz if poss syphone after every feed to clear any mess this will also help regard water changes as you can just replace the same amount of water that you have syphoned out during your clean up.Do not over feed as this can kill your fry,but i would feed around 3 times a day.If poss try to devide the tank so you have all fry in a smaller area this will reduce the amount of feed you are useing.

OK thanks Paul a good tip

Have you got them onto flake yet? I start offering flake anywhere as early as 3-4 weeks freeswimming. They soon speed up once they are taking it.

Another dried food worth trying is the tropical granular. It's very fine pellets like the old "Promin" food from the good old days.

My recent batch haven't seen BBS or micro worms since 4 weeks freeswimming.

OK will try them with that now thanks