Help me approach a tiny fry situation

[beastie]

Hi guys

SO once again I managed to have a fry and I am unsure what to do with it right now. I collected pseudomugil luminatus egg around the beginning of May. I checked my infusoria bucket (1liter tops with moss and not changed water) last week and figured ok, didnt take. This week however, I have a fry. It is ofcourse super tiny, like a pin top, basically all the fish is just an eye.

Now what shall I do next. I trust the bucket has some infusoria enough to sustain it for a little while, I try feeding microworms, I think they are still too large.

I can move the fry to a 4 liter box to which I can put moss and plants and established water, but no filter.

I have a 10 liter box with filter and moss and plants that has been running, but tbh, I think it is a bit too large for the fry at this very moment.

How much longer should I keep the fry in the infusoria bucket? Should I move it to the liter box and do daily water changes plus feeding with the water from the infusoria bucket? What are the guidlines for raising this tiny tiny fish? I managed to keep the last one alive in the one liter box for 7 weeks before moving to adult tank at a reasonable size, but I moved it right away when I found it and I have no idea how long it was in the infusoria bucket 🙂

[Chris]

I had good luck when raising pseudomugil Cyanodorsalis fry by using vinegar eels, Sera micron, microworms, and eventually baby brine. As hatchlings, even the eels are a bit big, but I've seen them rip them in half and even eat eels that are longer than the fry are. The Sera micron was just pecked at, but kept them alive on days when I was short on live food or didn't have time to do a full feeding. 

[beastie]

On 5/21/2024 at 5:35 PM, Chris said:

I had good luck when raising pseudomugil Cyanodorsalis fry by using vinegar eels, Sera micron, microworms, and eventually baby brine. As hatchlings, even the eels are a bit big, but I've seen them rip them in half and even eat eels that are longer than the fry are. The Sera micron was just pecked at, but kept them alive on days when I was short on live food or didn't have time to do a full feeding. 

I feed basically the same if I think about it, except I have hikari first bites and when it was bit larger, just grinded whatever else. But the first bite doesnt sink, and if the fry is too scared to go to the surface, was a bit tricky. I will feed it again tomorrow 🙂 

Edited May 21 by beastie
no idea why I typed sync instead of sink :)

[Odd Duck]

I don’t know if this will help you any since you already seem to grasp sizes, but here’s some info I compiled a while back on various live food sizes.  Please forgive the font and spacing wackiness with this copy / paste.  “Notes” doesn’t play well with the forum software on my iPad.

Live Fish Food Sizes

Worms: Sizes by length x width, (binomial), survival time in freshwater.

Vinegar eels - 1-2 mm x 0.005 mm (Turbatrix aceti), up to 7 days, possibly more [tend to stay at the top of the water].

Banana worms - 1.5 mm x 0.004 mm (Pangrellus nepenthicola), over 12 hours.

Walter worms - 1-3 mm x 0.005-0.01 mm (Panagrellus silusioides), over 12 hours.

Microworms - 2-3 mm x 0.005-0.007 mm (2 sp. - Pangrellus redivivus and Anguillula silusiae), over 12 hours.

Grindal worms - 10 mm x 0.5 mm (Enchytraeus buchholzi), several days.

Whiteworms - 2-4 cm x 1 mm (Enchytraeus albidus), several days.

Blackworms - 2.5-4 cm (up to 10 cm) x 1.5 mm (Lumbriculus variegatus), indefinitely.

Other Live Foods:

Infusoria - 0.005-0.5 mm (multiple different organisms), indefinitely for the overall culture, days for individual organisms.

Baby brine shrimp - 0.4-0.5 mm x 0.15 mm (Artemis sp. - in US is A. franciscana), 30 minutes or so. 

Adult brine shrimp - 8-20 mm x 4 mm (Artemis sp), 30 minutes or so. 

Fairy shrimp - 6-25 mm (multiple species - like a freshwater brine shrimp), lifespan - 1-8 weeks. 

Daphnia - 0.2-5 mm (multiple species), lifespan - 10-30 days. 

Moina - 0.7-1.4 mm (multiple species), lifespan - 3-6 weeks.

Scuds/amphipods - 1-8 mm (multiple species, some up to 3 cm), lifespan - up to 1 year depending on species. 

Fruit flies - 1.5-3 mm (multiple species and strains), can walk/float on water and will escape if not eaten or drowned. Live 8-15 days. 

Mosquito larvae - 3-12 mm (multiple species), 4-14 days before becoming adult mosquitos. 

[T. Payne]

I often start my fry off with 5-50 micron golden pearls.

[new_friends]

On 5/21/2024 at 1:16 PM, Odd Duck said:

I don’t know if this will help you any since you already seem to grasp sizes, but here’s some info I compiled a while back on various live food sizes.  Please forgive the font and spacing wackiness with this copy / paste.  “Notes” doesn’t play well with the forum software on my iPad.

Live Fish Food Sizes

Worms: Sizes by length x width, (binomial), survival time in freshwater.

Vinegar eels - 1-2 mm x 0.005 mm (Turbatrix aceti), up to 7 days, possibly more [tend to stay at the top of the water].

Banana worms - 1.5 mm x 0.004 mm (Pangrellus nepenthicola), over 12 hours.

Walter worms - 1-3 mm x 0.005-0.01 mm (Panagrellus silusioides), over 12 hours.

Microworms - 2-3 mm x 0.005-0.007 mm (2 sp. - Pangrellus redivivus and Anguillula silusiae), over 12 hours.

Grindal worms - 10 mm x 0.5 mm (Enchytraeus buchholzi), several days.

Whiteworms - 2-4 cm x 1 mm (Enchytraeus albidus), several days.

Blackworms - 2.5-4 cm (up to 10 cm) x 1.5 mm (Lumbriculus variegatus), indefinitely.

 

Other Live Foods:

Infusoria - 0.005-0.5 mm (multiple different organisms), indefinitely for the overall culture, days for individual organisms.

Baby brine shrimp - 0.4-0.5 mm x 0.15 mm (Artemis sp. - in US is A. franciscana), 30 minutes or so. 

Adult brine shrimp - 8-20 mm x 4 mm (Artemis sp), 30 minutes or so. 

Fairy shrimp - 6-25 mm (multiple species - like a freshwater brine shrimp), lifespan - 1-8 weeks. 

Daphnia - 0.2-5 mm (multiple species), lifespan - 10-30 days. 

Moina - 0.7-1.4 mm (multiple species), lifespan - 3-6 weeks.

Scuds/amphipods - 1-8 mm (multiple species, some up to 3 cm), lifespan - up to 1 year depending on species. 

Fruit flies - 1.5-3 mm (multiple species and strains), can walk/float on water and will escape if not eaten or drowned. Live 8-15 days. 

Mosquito larvae - 3-12 mm (multiple species), 4-14 days before becoming adult mosquitos. 

This is SO useful. Is there a way to bookmark posts? I couldn't find one but I might have to just print it out. Thank you for sharing this info! I've been adding vinegar eels for my annulatus fry but they're so small I can't tell if they are eating. I guess they must be since they're still alive....

[johnnyxxl]

You can follow the thread bottom of the thread left side.

Edited May 23 by johnnyxxl
Typo

[Sammy]

I started mine out with infusoria from my plant clippings bucket and vinegar eels. Started them on microworms at about week 3 and occasional mini- feedings of BBS... They thicken up fast from that point. Put them in with the adults at  around 6 or 7 weeks.

[Odd Duck]

On 5/22/2024 at 11:50 AM, new_friends said:

This is SO useful. Is there a way to bookmark posts? I couldn't find one but I might have to just print it out. Thank you for sharing this info! I've been adding vinegar eels for my annulatus fry but they're so small I can't tell if they are eating. I guess they must be since they're still alive....

I can only tell when fish are eating vinegar eels by feeding behavior and filled bellies.  I can barely make out the shimmer with my old eyes when they’re in the culture, but once they disperse in the tank water I CANNOT see them!  👀 [squinting]