# Help my fry keep dying



## thebigdaddy (Apr 12, 2006)

I have nine RBP in a 75 gallon and they keep breeding like every two weeks. I read what I could on here . I have 3 ten gallon tank with sponge filters right now. I just bout a 20long and a 55 gallon to grow them out into. I suck out the eggs after 24 hours I seen them so that they all are nice orange color. I keep tanks at 82-84. I am getting almost all of them to hatch. They get thier little tails and then I see the eyes i start to feed baby brine shrimp. The first batch of babies I was feeding twice a day and changed water 10% about every other day. They were going fine then about 7th-10th day they all started dying. I have like 10 outta that whole batch. Now I have batch 2 and 3 going. Im feeding smaller amounts of brine(about 1/2 cube) 3 times a day and doing water change 10%every day. They are 2 weeks old and now Im seeing them starting to die. My 3 batch just hatched today. need help to save them and future batches. There are several thing Im guessing at , maybe i need to test daily for ammonia? more water changes? more frequent smaller water changees? anyone who REALLy know what to do I would appreciate the help.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

are you feeding them adult brine shrimp and not freshly hatched 'baby' brine shrimp? I read that you've fed them "about 1/2 cube". The freshly hatched fry have incredibly small mouths and cannot eat the adult brine.


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## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

I find it hard to beleive that 9 rbp's breeding in a 75gallon.
But hey, I've heard of weirder stuff happening.
I'm short on time, so I'll post up something helpful later.








Prestine Water conditions are key.


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## LarryMoeCurly (Feb 19, 2003)

It's been a while since I had to deal with fry but here are some things that may help. (Some things you may have covered but I listed anyway just to make sure.)

see eggs

fry hatch 2-3 days

yok sac last about 5 days

about the 7th day from seeing eggs feed them newly hatch brine shrimp 3 times daily (you can see that they have eaten because their stomach are now orange/red.
Buy your eggs online your going to need A LOT. You can also purchase a 85-90% hatch rate too.

I think I did daily water changes from the parent tank at 20% or 40% every other day.

Best of luck


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

my advice would be to check the water parameters, if the tank is not often used then the filters may not be working.

also check the food you are using, frozen brine shrimp is possibly too large and you may be better as pervious people are suggesting hatching your own brine shrimp and feeding them on the baby newly hatched brineshrimp.

I guess it wouldnt hurt if you tried some liquid baby food either.


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## TheTyeMan (Aug 9, 2004)

I feed mine fresh brine 3 or 4 times a day I also do 2-3 10% water changes a day. you gotta remember to suck up all the dead babies every time you clean the tank or they will kill them all. thats why I do 2-3 water changes a day.


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

the_skdster said:


> I find it hard to beleive that 9 rbp's breeding in a 75gallon.
> But hey, I've heard of weirder stuff happening.
> I'm short on time, so I'll post up something helpful later.
> 
> ...










I have 3 pairs in a 55gallon and 4 in a 125gallon


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

I feed mine a little differently. I usually hatch anywhere from 3 to 6 sets of eggs at a time in an incubator I made. I feed them live brine shrimp that I hatch in a 5 gallon saltwater tank. I get mine from brineshrimpdirect.com Pretty cheap, like 20 bucks or so for a 1 pound can that has a 90% hatch rate. I feed up to 5 to 6 times a day. I also do daily water changes with R/O water as well. As stated before, you can tell they are eating due to their stomachs changing to a orange/red color. I feed, then come back in 15 to 20 mins. If there are still brine shrimp in the tank I wait..... and keep checking every 20 or so. If there aren't any fry with empty stomachs I know they are full and quit. If the tank is empty of brine shrimp and fry are still swimming I (clear stomachs) I continue to feed.

I notice a big jump in survival rates when I switched to hatching my own brine shrimp. As well as switching to R/O water too. Hope this helps.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Quick question, if you're using R/O water, since the water is cleansed from everything other than water, you can just put fry in it without using water from the parent tank?


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## TheTyeMan (Aug 9, 2004)

StryfeMP said:


> Quick question, if you're using R/O water, since the water is cleansed from everything other than water, you can just put fry in it without using water from the parent tank?


no still use the parent water for the transfer so that they dont get shocked because of the change. even though it is pure water it is still different from what they are used to.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

So, clear this up for me TTM, for your fry you use water from your parent tank but when you do water changes you use ro water to replace the water lost from your parent tank?


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

Nope, I don't use any water from parent tank. I will explain how I get my eggs out lol. After parents drop them I wait usually for 3 days, right before they go into the rocks or shortly after. Reason being is as soon as they start to wiggle and move a bit they no longer have the adhesive property they did after first being laid. Plus, they haven't scattered yet. I take a 5 gallon bucked, syphon, and turkey bastor for the rest of the job. I hit all the nests in the tank and keep the end of the syphon in the 5 gallon bucket at an angle to cause a constant swirling action. After getting all the eggs I let the bucket set for 3 to 5 minutes. The swirling action takes a while to die down and as it does it focuses all the eggs into the center of the bucket. After they have settled I take the bucket and syphon out the center into yet another small bucket. I then hop into my STI and drive it like I stole it down to my shop. Drain all the water I can from the fry bucket, and use a turkey bastor to extract the eggs/fry and place them into my incubator. I never use parent water cause I take at the egg stage. You can ask AKSKIRMISH about my success rate. It works, and has worked time and time again. I 4 generations hatchet right now that are eating as you read this and 6 more gens waiting to hatch in the other tank. Hope this helps! If not let me know!


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Yep all true-

Now tell them about your setups-That will kill em-LOL


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

Sounds like you don't have a CYCLED sponge so after a few weeks amonia starts to spike and kill the fry. just having a spong in the tank won't do a thing it hasn't been cycled for a few months. Fry are very sensitive to amonia so if you can measure it in your fry tank they will die eventually. Try a few drops of prime in the tank every 3 days. If you sponge isn't cycled it will help reduce amonia spikes.


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

Sounds like you don't have a CYCLED sponge so after a few weeks amonia starts to spike and kill the fry. just having a spong in the tank won't do a thing it hasn't been cycled for a few months. Fry are very sensitive to amonia so if you can measure it in your fry tank they will die eventually. Try a few drops of prime in the tank every 3 days. If you sponge isn't cycled it will help reduce amonia spikes.


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

LOL , no that's Why AKSKIRMISH said tell them about your SETUPS. I was describing how I get my fry, not my setup. Yes, I have a cycled sponge as well as over filtration and UV on all my tanks. What where you saying about amonia now??? lol


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## LGHT (Nov 9, 2005)

CROSSHAIR223 said:


> LOL , no that's Why AKSKIRMISH said tell them about your SETUPS. I was describing how I get my fry, not my setup. Yes, I have a cycled sponge as well as over filtration and UV on all my tanks. What where you saying about amonia now??? lol


Not sure you this was addressed to, but I was applying to the guy who posted the topic. To be honest I didn't even bother reading your post as it didn't seem to help or make any suggestion to fix the problem.


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

LGHT said:


> LOL , no that's Why AKSKIRMISH said tell them about your SETUPS. I was describing how I get my fry, not my setup. Yes, I have a cycled sponge as well as over filtration and UV on all my tanks. What where you saying about amonia now??? lol


Not sure you this was addressed to, but I was applying to the guy who posted the topic. To be honest I didn't even bother reading your post as it didn't seem to help or make any suggestion to fix the problem.
[/quote]

Ahh, if you would have bothered to read my posts, especially the second you would see that I was offering help to fix his problem.


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## magicprincess707 (Aug 18, 2005)

CROSSHAIR223 said:


> I find it hard to beleive that 9 rbp's breeding in a 75gallon.
> But hey, I've heard of weirder stuff happening.
> I'm short on time, so I'll post up something helpful later.
> 
> ...










I have 3 pairs in a 55gallon and 4 in a 125gallon
[/quote]

I'm amazed your piranhas haven't eaten each other yet. I have 4 in a 180gallon and it is obvious that even a tank that size is too small for them (they are about 10" - 12" big now... about 2 1/2 years old.) I'm looking to get a larger tank for them soon too...


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