Is it common to lose fry?

[Steve]

Since I am not into the breeding aspect of fish keeping yet I don't have the knowledge of fry/breeding that some here have. I have however had two fish hold and have fry in the past year and have another holding right now. The first fish was a yellow lab and she had ten fry. I moved her to a 10g tank all alone and removed her as soon as she spit. All ten fry survived and are doing great (almost 2" long now). The 2nd fish that I had hold was an OB peacock. I moved her to a breeding net, she spit about sixteen fry and I removed her. That was about five/six weeks ago and now I only have about four fry left that are about 1/4"-5/16" long.

Water quality and temps are fine so just wondering if it is normal to lose a portion of new fry and maybe I just lucked out the first batch where I didn't lose any? Or is it something to do with the first batch being in a 10g tank and this last batch a breeder net?

I currently have a labidochromis mbamba bay holding so just want to make sure I give her fry the best chance of survival when she spits.

[Steve]

Forgot to add- both batches were feed the same diet of frozen baby brine shrimp and ground up flake food.

[Ogre44]

What was in the 10gallon with the fry?
If there were plants etc. there would be infusoria for the fry to eat.

[Steve]

Nothing was in with them other a couple plastic plants. Tank was bare bottom as well.

[Marty]

There are a number of reasons fry don't survive, sometimes it's just a matter of experimenting until you figure out what works.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

Try a smaller tank (like a 2.5 or 5 gallon) for the first 4 weeks.  It will make it easier for the fry to find the food.

Try just feeding a fry meal or crushed flake until the fry are a little larger. 

Baby brine shrimp quickly lose their nutritional value because they're expending energy swimming around (unless you pack them with nutrients by moving them into green water after hatching).  I've also heard that hydra have a tendency to be more prevalent in tanks where baby brine shrimp are fed.  Hydra sting fish (I've seen adults skitter away after being stung, so I imagine it would be more traumatic for a smaller fish).

[Ron]

IMO, no.

A small part of me wishes they were harder to raise, because then they'd be worth more and I might be inclined to try breeding for profit instead of as a hobby (hobbies cost money instead of make it).

As Marty alluded to, restricting the fry to a smaller area to help them find food and avoid waste is a good idea. Even when I put newly spit fry into a dedicated 10 gallon tank, I'll keep them in a breeder net until they look like they could use more space (say 1/2" or so).

For all african fry I've raised (mbuna, haps, peacocks, shellies, lamps, cyps, etc), I've fed crushed flake to all as a starter food with success, with the exception of Altolamprologus sp., in which case I only found success hatching baby brine shrimp).

[Steve]

Thanks for the feedback. It's odd that the ones in the smaller area (breeder net) are experiencing such high loss and the ones in the larger (10g) didn't. Seems like everyone is saying it should be the opposite if anything. The breeder net is hanging in a tank that has around 20 Juvie yellow labs and 2 sub adult plecos....is there a chance maybe the other fish are chomping/biting a fry that gets in a corner of the net perhaps which could kill it? Now I am wondering if maybe that is actually whats happening.

[Dan K]

I was reading through the comments and noticed no one had asked yet where the net was hanging because you can/will lose many fry with it hanging in a tank with larger fish in it. They suck fry lying on the bottom right through, bit by bit.
Now that you've confirmed there are larger fish in the tank I suspect that's what's happening.

[Frontboy7]

Yes, Steve I would suspect that they became Scooby snacks. I've had no issues with using 55 gallon as fry grow outs. In fact, I have two Copadachromis Greenface batches growing out in a 125g. Maybe, I do over feed crushed flake in the beginning with brine shrimp but thank God there has been no loses.

[Steve]

Didn't even think of it at first, thought the breeder net would keep them safe but that seems to be the most likely scenario of whats happening it seems. I think I'll take advantage of the $1 per gal sale and go pick up another 10g to use as another fry tank for the remaining OB fry as well as the mbamba bay lab for when she spits.

[eden2020]

I use 10s.. I only have a couple right now with fry in them but I use a sponge filter, small heater, and sand/or aragamax. Sometimes I strip the females, other times I place the female in the 10 gallon and let nature do it's thing. When she spits I leave her in the 10g for a few days so she can eat and gain some energy before being moved back to the larger tank. Funny thing is, my yellow lab females usually eat while holding. No.. really.. I have watched my lab females actually eat. No other species of fish that I have bred do that..

Anyway- if you want to keep the fry in the larger tank use an internal or external fry box. I use the ones that hang inside when I don't have a spare 10g available. I don't breed to sell.. I am forced to save fry by my wife and 10 year old son.. LOL

I have equal success using the fry boxes and 10s. I also use Aqua-pharm fry powder for my fry. It is 67% protein and my fry thrive on it. It was created by a group that worked with fish hatcheries where success rates = $$$$.

Nobody mentioned it, but I have found that Mbuna fry seem to be much more aggressive feeders and grow faster than my haps.. just in case you opt to add groups together during grow out..

-Marc

[four_by_ken]

We use the hard plastic hang on the outside fry boxes.  Work great.

You wouldn't need yet another tank that way too.

[Steve]

We use the hard plastic hang on the outside fry boxes.

Got a pic or link Ken? I don;t think I have seen the ones that hang on the outside of a tank. How is it heated/filtered?

Eden it's funny you said that about your Y.lab eating while holding, mine kept eating while whe was holding too, right up till I moved her to her own tank and she spit about 6 days later. So she ate till about a week before spitting. I thought that was weird.

[Dan K]

I've put a layer of aquarium gravel over the bottom of a breeding net before to prevent that sucking through. It hangs a bit heavy but gets you through in a pinch.

[four_by_ken]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005QRDCP2

Marina is the brand.

It uses an air pump to cycle aquarium water through it.  I was concerned with the temp falling too much in my very cold basement... but it didn't drop a bit.

If you have any intention of putting the mother in, get the large size.  Heck, get the large size no matter that.  I got the medium for my two and wish I went with the large.