Neha

I had first thought of doing a specimen container but decided to go with the fluval breeder box. I've covered the outflow with sponge but I'll put some polyfilter as well since they are sooo tiny! Thanks a lot for all the information! I really appreciate it!

Oh wow! I feel like this is my only chance to raise them for at least some foreseeable future (I'll be moving), I do hope they survive! I have 8 in a 1 gallon fluval breeding box and I'm changing water twice a day and cleaning the bottom once a day. What did you do different from your first two tries?

This is great info! Thanks so much! Let's see if I can raise my first set of fry successfully!

Thanks so much! I do have Xtreme shrimpee pellets, I'll try those for the ones in my main tank. I've started feeding the tank twice a day, maybe some in the main tank will survive. The ones in my breeding box are now about 1-2 days old. I think the oldest one just had its first meal, I put in some hikari first bites. Before this no one had wanted to eat, maybe others will eat through the night too! If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your pygmys to spawn? Mine spawned about the same time last year, maybe it's the rainy season that does it for mine. I would love to get them to spawn more! Thanks again!

Thanks much for your response! I actually have them in a Tupperware currently because all my breeding boxes seemed too large for them. I'm planning on moving them to my 1 gallon breeder box once all the eggs hatch (I have 8 rn). So there's no extra food for the fry. I actually did not have a lot of success with them in my main tank because I have a large shrimp population. Only one fry from the last spawn survived. I think I'll find hikari first bites and sera micron in my local fish store. In the meantime I'll keep their container clean. I can still see the egg from which they hatched, I assume they will eat that?

I have about half a day old fry and I have live bbs, but I have read a few places that pygmy fry are too tiny to eat bbs. Are there any other recommendations, not live, since I can't do any other live food. Or do you think I'd better stick with live bbs?

Hello! I just wanted to ask, what do I feed my pygmy fry? I have about 1/2 a day old fry and I have bbs going and ready but I've read that pygmy fry are too tiny to eat bbs. I don't currently have any other live food options. Thanks!

Just ordered one, thanks!

That is some interesting bit of information! Shrimp nanny made me crack up😂 Do you have a suggestion for a breeder box that has minimal maintenance?

I have a heavily planted tank with lots of christmas moss, java fern, dwarf hairgrass, and various cryts. The inhabitants are cherry shrimp, 4 amanos, and pygmy corys. Tank parameters are mid range gh, kh is very low but I'm working on it, pH is currently stable at 7.2 but I'm also struggling with this because of low kh. Now the shrimp are breeding like crazy and the shrimplets are also growing up okay. I have seen several cory eggs, cory fry, but no juvenile corys. I feed the tank with Repashy community plus, frozen BBS, and frozen cyclops. I was hoping to see some juvenile corys but I don't know if they are dying or just not growing fast enough, even though the shrimps are? I can't collect eggs and hatch and grow them out atm, but is there something I could do with the tank that will help cory fry survive?

Thank you very much!

Okay, so it's now been about a month since this over dose happened. I installed carbon, removed it after a week or so, fed them live bbs, frozen bbs, and easy fry food. They are very active during meal times and in general also doing okay. Week 3, I did 1 course of paracleanse because one of the tetras was looking a little big (just like the last one) and another one was having problems swimming from the start. I don't see any more bloating but the one that was having swimming problems is still the same. I have attached a video, he swims like this but everything else looks fine. I want to know if it is safe at this point to remove these from quarantine and add them to my main tank? I cannot afford any disease spread to my main tank where Frodo the betta fish lives. @Colu

I just realized that I overdosed the med trio by twice the amount on Saturday. I feel terrible. What do I do now or is it too late?

Thank you very much!

So I did not think much of the bloating and since the two were doing okay for the past month, I got 7 more ember tetras and medicated all 9 with med trio in quarantine tank. This was Saturday night. The bloated one did not look very good after medication and was swimming on the surface. Today, several don’t look very good, pale and not swimming very nicely. One was lying on its side but breathing. The one that is looking very thin is also from the last batch. I also saw some 2-3mm long stuff lying on the bottom, I don’t know what it is. I’ve added 1tbsp salt per 3 gallon and increased aeration. I could really use some advice here on what to do next. @Colu If you could spare some time to look into this again, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

So I managed to save 2 ember tetras from this group. They are doing good at the moment. One of them is seems a little bloated though, they were fed only small amounts every other day for the past 5-6 days because I was out of town. Before that they were being fed frozen brine shrimp twice a day. Is this something I should be worried about? It’s moving, eating, doing everything fine.

Just out of curiosity, could I have fed this medicated food while I was treating with Expel-P or would it have made it difficult for them to pass the parasites?

So it is now the third and the last day of Expel-P. I've lost 7 fishes since Sunday when I started Expel-P. The 7th one died this morning. I'm wondering if my diagnosis was wrong and if I've been treating correctly because they are not getting better, instead, just dying one by one? On the other hand I don't know what else it could have been, I don't see any external infection, although I'm not an expert in fish diseases. It is very disheartening to see loss of life but I feel kind of helpless. Is there something else that I can try? Or should I just wait and see? I'm almost certain that the remaining 3 will also die. I'm very lost..

Thank you so much for writing this. He is my favorite fish and also my very first. I am very attached to him, he's been with me through some very difficult times. I am happy that he's adjusting to his new tank now and doing much better. You have a great day too!

Two more dead, several are hanging at the top, anything I can do? Anything at all?

My final IchX dose is today, so do I change water before dosing again with Expel P or should I leave IchX in the water? Also for the 3 day treatment should I do a 25% wc everyday? What disease do you think this is?

Okay, bad news, 1 dead fish. One of them wasn't looking too good last night and I guess he passed away during the night. Another one is not looking so good today, he is hanging at the surface and breathing rapidly, I'm not sure what to do for him. I have attached his picture I still had about a day of ichx left that I wanted to do but since 1 fish died, I changed roughly 25% water this morning and dosed with Expel-P. It says to change 25% water after 24hrs and follow up after 1 week. Should I do something else in between?

He is doing much better. I spend more time with him and also give him mirror exercises, and he hasn't bitten his fins in a while. They are growing slowly. I also ordered a group of ember tetras for him but they are currently in quarantine. Thanks for asking!

So the ich is now almost gone but I’ve observed that they don’t really eat very much. I’ve tried a bunch of different foods: frozen brine shrimp, hikari micro pellets and easy fry food. Some of them look like they have sunken belly but I’m not so sure. Should I still wait for a week before starting maracyn and paracleanse? ps: I’ve no idea why one of the images in inverted, sorry.

So by water changing out the other medication you mean I should not add them when I do the 1/3rd water changes after every 24 hrs and only add ich X? Also, will ember tetras be okay with constant salinity in water? Also part 2, after I have treated with ich X 3 days after the last spots, do I put in maracyn and paracleanse 1 pck for 10 gallons, and leave for a week?