By accident lol...

[MadMaxi]

Haven't been on here in a long time. TL:DR Version is I had some tank crashes due to some sort of contaminate, but I was able to finally get things to bounce bank. Having to start my RCS colony over, got some red endlers and CPDs in there now. New plants that are doing well and not dying off. So its been a bit of an UP and down. Started really focusing on maintaining water parameters and keeping an closer eye on them while we are doing DIY remodeling still. Its been a rough up and down stretch. But while I was turning lights on the other day and checking fish out making sure everyone was happy. I noticed my CPDs were rather fat. Then I started looking at everyone else and noticed something stuck onto the glass. I've seen 2-3 of these little guys so far.  NGL. I was pretty shocked and giddy about the fact there was fry in this tank somehow.

The sad part is I am not really setup (prepared) for fry and think they probably are not going to make it. So I am putting together a list of things to get like a specimen container and stuff to start hatching brine shrimp and other fry foods. Again. Excitement then then. Oh....wait. This sucks.... Now they do have a decent amount of hiding space. I have a rather large clump of moss that is about 8"L x 4"T x4-5" W, which the CPD use as shelter when they get spooked. Like 4 Cryptocoryne Wendtii (Greens I believe), two Temple plants that have started to take off again, and a metric butt ton of duckweed all in a 20g tank. My hopes are that while there may not be a ton of fry the ones that are in there are either great at hiding (because I hardly find them), or the CPDs are being cannibal little turds.

Just wanted to share my child like excitement and the potential doom and gloom (which is also semi-humorous) with y'all. Next stop is to get fry supplies and see if I can get this little guys to start a population boom.

Good lord. Fish keeping is frustrating at times but the sheer excitement I get out of it is stupid lol.

Also. Apologize for the fuzziness of the pic, but that was AS CLOSE to a clear picture as I could get. I was rather shocked at how small these babies are.

[Guppysnail]

Congratulations. CPD fry can be easy. Sera micron is all you need to start. Use a large Tupperware bowl, a clump of moss  and a small sponge filter in a pinch. Keep water at least 72-73. When they are big enough first bites. 
Though of course live BBS and other live foods are better they do just fine with only micron especially since they take weeks to get big enough to eat BBS. 
Congratulations again. 

[MadMaxi]

No congratulations yet. Not setup for them but I am trying to play catch up at this point lol. Going to start working on getting food for fry and trying to get more babies going.

[MadMaxi]

So new update. I went out and picked up some plants from the LFS due to cold weather and not wanting to risk in mail orders (sorry Corey and the gang). Went home turned the fish tank lights on and planted my new Cryptocryne Spiralis in the back of the tank to give my little frens a bit of a curtain and to break things up plus add some tall plants. After mucking up the water getting them split and planted along the back. I sat back and watched a group of 3-5 males spend about 45 minutes chasing the ladies in and out of my moss bed. I saw 5 different pairings and spawns happen. Was super neat again not quite ready for all this I am culturing fry food (I hope) as we speak and should have it in about a week. Either way. Apparently they are happy with how things are. Now its time to start hatching brine shrimp and filling up those bellies with some good food. LOL I'll keep y'all updated.

I did get a fry tub built and floating in my main tank, so if they do hatch and get out into the open I can carefully scoop them up with my brine shrimp net and transfer them over.

[MadMaxi]

Alright another update:

I was able to catch 10 fry/eggs from my egg container. Transfer them to a fry grow out tank with an air stone and have been feeding them some 'green water' which I've made using Sera Micron Nature and vigorously shaking it in a dropper. Of those 10 I've lost a couple. We have 7 strong free swimmers as of 04Mar23, if they continue to do well I'll be able to start feeding them baby brine shrimp here soon. Once they get a little bigger I'll start snagging more pictures for you all. As it is now they are just swimming lines lol. Still having fun feeding and changing water by the 10ml eye dropper.... /s

[MadMaxi]

Well unfortunately today I kinda threw the towel in. Was cleaning the fry container because the water was getting cloudy and funky smelling. In the process of trying to catch them and transfer them over I ended up killing two of them. So lots of frustrations mounting I decided to go the 'let nature take its course'. So instead of getting rid of them I put them back in the tank with adults. Immediately saw two of them get gobbled up still two left trying to survive. Ah well.

Any tips/pointers from those of you who have raised them?

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/12/2023 at 6:37 PM, MadMaxi said:

Any tips/pointers from those of you who have raised them?

Use a turkey baster for a lot of things.  Even a smaller pipette does wonders.  I would use the pipette to gently push the junk to one side and then use the turkey baster to siphon it out into a specimen container or something. 

If you're moving fry, especially smaller fry, then you can just use the turkey baster.  They will try to swim up river so to speak and escape, but it's pretty easy once you get used to it.