lately, i have been using hair algae for growing out my fry. until they are large enough to eat grindal worms, i have not been feeding them anything at all, but they still grow, faster than they were when i was actually feeding them. it works best with tanks with a lot of flow, which is why i have taken a recent liking to internal filters with a spray bar. the surface agitation is pretty good, and the overall flow seems to keep the algae healthy and the fry growing quite fast. i also leave the lights on 24/7.
i tried something similar with moss, but it didnt work nearly as good as the hair algae. anyway, has anyone else used a tank full of hair algae to grow out fry in? it seems to me to make the whole process much easier. i just pull fry out of the tank with the adults, drop them in the tank with the algae, and ignore them until they are large enough to eat grindal worms.
if anyone wants to try it, its quite simple. its pretty much my new favorite method of growing fry. i dont even really need a separate tank for different types of fry, they hide so well in the hair algae that i can put day old fry in with inch long juveniles and still have a lot of them survive.
algae for young fry
Started by
Guest_Auban_*
, Jan 27 2013 04:55 AM
6 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_Subrosa_*
Guest_Subrosa_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 January 2013 - 07:50 AM
It's more likely the hair algae provides food and shelter for microorganisms than a direct food source for fry. When I raised Bettas, which are really small as fry, I found the best growth occurred in tanks which were left filthy. I never vacuumed detritus or scraped algae, I just did water changes.
#3
Guest_Auban_*
Guest_Auban_*
-
- Guests
Posted 27 January 2013 - 08:37 AM
thats what i meant... i have taken a look at the algae under a microscope and find that there it supports a LOT of life. on top of that, it pulls out ammonia faster than anything else i have seen. really great stuff, it allows the small fry to graze nonstop, traps particles, provides refuge, oxygenates, etc...
#4
Guest_Auban_*
Guest_Auban_*
-
- Guests
Posted 19 February 2013 - 04:41 AM
so, i have finally gotten around to building a breeder rack and am going to be breeding my four species of native properly. i will be using hair algae to raise all their fry. the basic plan is to have a tank for breeders, a tank for non breeder adults and juvies, and a tank for fry. every so often i will be draining the breeder tanks and collecting all the fish in a net. adults will go back into their tanks and fry will go into the fry tanks. i will also be draining the fry tanks in a similar manner, with all fry large enough not to get eaten going into the non-breeder tank. from there, most of the fish will be going out to hobbiests, donated to local clubs, traded, etc.
the key to raising the fry(in my case at least) will be the algae. lots and lots of it, with high surface flow. i have already seen it working its magic in another tank, i cant wait to see how many fish i can produce when i am actually trying to breed them. pictures of the breeding rack are soon to come.
in the mean time im working on writing some articles on a few topics, so why not include my experiences with the algae? maybe not something everyone wants to read about, but i dont know of too many other methods of bringing up 100 fry in a ten gallon tank, without ever feeding them until they are large enough to eat grindal worms.
the key to raising the fry(in my case at least) will be the algae. lots and lots of it, with high surface flow. i have already seen it working its magic in another tank, i cant wait to see how many fish i can produce when i am actually trying to breed them. pictures of the breeding rack are soon to come.
in the mean time im working on writing some articles on a few topics, so why not include my experiences with the algae? maybe not something everyone wants to read about, but i dont know of too many other methods of bringing up 100 fry in a ten gallon tank, without ever feeding them until they are large enough to eat grindal worms.
#5
littlen
-
- NANFA Member
- Washington, D.C.
Posted 19 February 2013 - 08:24 AM
What species of fry are you rearing with this method?
Nick L.
#6
Michael Wolfe
-
- Board of Directors
-
- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 19 February 2013 - 10:14 AM
in the mean time im working on writing some articles on a few topics, so why not include my experiences with the algae? maybe not something everyone wants to read about, but i dont know of too many other methods of bringing up 100 fry in a ten gallon tank, without ever feeding them until they are large enough to eat grindal worms.
I think that most of NANFA owuld be interested. Please consider doing this... and get with Fritz and Konrad... we need this kind of stuff in teh American Currents
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#7
Guest_Auban_*
Guest_Auban_*
-
- Guests
Posted 19 February 2013 - 10:53 PM
elassoma gilberti, lucania goodie, lucania parva, and heterandria formosaWhat species of fry are you rearing with this method?
I think that most of NANFA owuld be interested. Please consider doing this... and get with Fritz and Konrad... we need this kind of stuff in teh American Currents
will do. for a while i have been wondering about what exactly i would want to put into an article... i think the algae is a perfect place to start. i know far more about the algae than i do about the fish....
1 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users
NANFA Youtube Channel 
