Larval fish care

I'm a dummy in this area and I've noticed that a lot of people on the forum seem to have a pretty good handle on breeding fishes. I get the impression some have had experience breeding tropicals and applied this knowledge to NA native fishes.
I doubt one topic can cover all of the species but I would really like a place to get started and start from the beginners point of view (water, food, moving fishes, cover etc). So how do you guys and gals take care of your larval fishes?

Undergravel/sponge filters should be used(I'm sure you probably knew that, but just to be sure) to prevent the larvae from getting sucked up by the filter. Green water with microorganisms(cyclops, small daphnia, etc) works best. Some can be started on baby brine(most sunfish). Pond water will also work, as it has tons of little critters in it. You just have to look out for predatory insects. Live sand/gravel helps out by having small organisms in it for the larvae to graze on, and so do plants like elodea.

I'm a dummy in this area and I've noticed that a lot of people on the forum seem to have a pretty good handle on breeding fishes. I get the impression some have had experience breeding tropicals and applied this knowledge to NA native fishes.
I doubt one topic can cover all of the species but I would really like a place to get started and start from the beginners point of view (water, food, moving fishes, cover etc). So how do you guys and gals take care of your larval fishes?

Thought I would chime in here since I am presently growing out 200+ Spotfin Shiner fry. Some are now 2 weeks old and seem to be doing fine. For food I have been using Walter Worms, Banana Worms, and Golden Pearls(50 - 100 micron range). They seem to be growing okay. I will start adding a small amout of hatched BBS tomorrow and see if they can eat them yet.

Bill F.

... Walter Worms, Banana Worms, and Golden Pearls(50 - 100 micron range)...

What are "Golden Pearls"?

What are "Golden Pearls"?

Here is where I get them. Be easier for you to read the paragraph about it that for me to copy it. Basically it is a replacement for BBS in various sizes.

http://www.kensfish....cialtyfood.html


Bill

What are "Golden Pearls"?

I decide to look into the Golden Pearls a little more. Here is another website that has more information.

http://www.artemia-i...ontentID=582#gp


Bill

i've been using the 50-100 um golden pearls all winter raising a few species of rainbow fish,and odessa barb fry. my mortality rates have been low. I keep the main bag of pearls in the freezer and use one of those opaque film canisters to put a smaller amount in so it stays better longer. After ~1week the rainbows were big enough for vinegar eels. I feed a combination of the pearls and vinegar eels 2-4 times per day. Once they were large enough they began to get frozen baby brine shrimp that I got at the LFS, pretty convenient (just don't have time to keep up with live bbs cultures for 100+ fish). Now they get the bbs and powdered flake. I want to get a larger worms than the vinegar eels (micro or banana worms) then step it up to grindal worms, just need cultures. Anybody willing to send/sell cultures?

My former experience breeding tropicals was mostly with maternal mouthbrooding cichlids and live bearers so I never worried about larva.
I'm no expert with breeding natives but I'll share my recent experiences FWIW. I'm learning as I go.

The SRBD larva did fine down among the rocks in the artificial chub nest. Once they swam up, I used flake food and freeze dried krill powdered in a coffee grinder to get them up to size to eat BBS. Now I give them live BBS, live daphnia and cyclops, frozen daphnia and cyclops and powdered spirilina flake. I moved them into a 55 gallon tank to grow out.

Rainwater killie larva apparently need shallow water when they swim up or they don't seem to get their swim bladders filled enough. The fry are huge for such a small fish. They aren't picky about food either. I've removed five so far from the canister filter on my salt tank where they apparently find enough to eat until I rescue them. They're doing fine mixed with the SRBD fry in the 55.

Right now I'm working with central mudminnow fry. I've never dealt with them before but they're pretty easy. The eggs were layed somewhere in a solid mat of algae and and pond plants in a 15 gallon tank. I never saw the eggs, I just noticed the change in behavoir and appearence of the parents that led me to believe they had spawned. I removed the male at that point.
Once I spotted the first larva I removed the female. I left the larva alone for several days while they absorbed the yoke sac. Once I saw little slivers darting around I decided to remove them to a smaller tank so I could be sure of how well they were feeding.
I carefully removed all the plants and algae then used a brine shrimp net to round up the fry. I'd scoop 'em into the net but leave it in the water and used a pipette to remove them into a beaker of tank water. I would have just caught them with the pipette if I could have but they were too fast.
I moved them into a five gallon tank filled with the brood tank water and a aged box filter. Just a thin layer of sand for substrate and a few sprigs of a stem plant for shelter.
The fry were able to take BBS right away. Having them concentrated in the small tank allows me to use a pipette to direct the food to each fry to be sure they all get enough.

All this talk of raising larva is helping me get my nerve up to try saltwater damsals. My bluespotted sunnies are dancing at the moment as well so I may get to experiment with little sunfish larva too.
Let's hear more about micro food sources!

I'm a dummy in this area and I've noticed that a lot of people on the forum seem to have a pretty good handle on breeding fishes. I get the impression some have had experience breeding tropicals and applied this knowledge to NA native fishes.
I doubt one topic can cover all of the species but I would really like a place to get started and start from the beginners point of view (water, food, moving fishes, cover etc). So how do you guys and gals take care of your larval fishes?

Frequent water changes. Food available as frequently and continously as possible. Foods always fresh. Rear fewer for high quality versus quantity with reductions in numbers made early.