Not Again!!!!

[petcrazy213]

Not Again!!!! (updated)

:mad2 Ok, I'm beginning to think I just shouldn't worry about trying to raise any of the babies anymore unless I can make them a completely seperate home!

I get up to check the new additions this morning and find ... only 5 live swimming babies left in the breeder! There is one more alive but it looks as if it's belly isn't closed and it's just laying on the floor of the breeder. I suctioned out 4 dead babies but have NO IDEA where the rest have gone! I had the lid on this time so I don't know how anyone could have gotten in there for a snack and the little slits in the sides of the breeder are far too small for the babies to wiggle through. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!??

Has anyone had anything like this happen?

I'm gonna try to find a large enough container to try and seperate the remaining babies completely from the tank and see what happens I guess.

I'm getting VERY depressed about all these losses. :sad

 

[TonyN]

Do you have the kind of breeder that is a netting that goes over a plastic frame? If thats what you have, they could be hiding inbetween the frame and the netting. Thats what happened to me. You couldn't see any babies at all, then if you shake the breeder around they all come flying out.
Just a thought.

 

[Blinky]

You'd be surprised just how small a space fry can wiggle through. If there are slots in the bottom of the breeder, they very well could have gotten out, or even been pulled through by a really hungry fish if they were laying on the bottom (my fish have pulled food bits through the mesh of a net breeder, so I'm imagining that with slots, this would be fairly easy for them). If you do have the net kind (which are far and away the best kind, IMO), I've had the experience of them hiding between the net and the frame just like TonyN said.
Are they subjected to a lot of current where they are? Fry need water movement and filtration like any other fish, but for the first little while they're really delicate and swimming against heavy water flow can exhaust them. It's also possible that you've got a female who produces weak fry - livebearers are hopelessly inbred (that's how they get all the amazing colour strains, tail shapes, etc.) and some just don't produce healthy offspring.
Good luck with the remaining babies - your fish will continue to produce fry, so don't dispair, you'll get to try again if it doesn't work this time.

 

[petcrazy213]

Found Solution!!!

:thud: Well, don't I feel STUPID!!! :thud:

I have moved my remaining fry to a seperate 5 gallon where they seem pretty happy for the time being.

Anyhow, upon extracing the fry I notice the breeder has 2 holes on 1 side (I think where the airstone piece is suppose to snap on). Anyway, while the slits on each side are far too thinb for the fry to get through, these 2 holes are much larger and most likely where they have been escapeing ... becoming snacks for the tank fish. Well, you can imagine how stupid I feel! I will be fixing this problem before the next batch of babies comes and hopefully next time I'll have more then just 5-6 babies left to raise. It kills me that I didn't figure this out earlier as when the fry were first born and in the breeder I took time to check them all out and there were 3 very pretty PEARL color (all shiny white) and some really colorful marble type ones. I think I even recall seeing 1 all black one. Anyhow, the ones left aren't that striking so I can't wait until tey get bigger and I get to see what they look like. I REALLY wanted those PEARLY white ones!

Well, thank you for all the advice up to this point. I'll let you know how things go from here with the new babies.

By the way, how often should I change the babies water with tank water? Once a week? Twice a week? What would be good? Thanks!

 

[Blinky]

I'd do a small (~15%) water change every day, that way you don't risk shocking the fry in any way and you can clean up the inevitable uneaten food (fry need to have food floating right in front of them before they'll grab it, so you'll end up putting more in than they can possibly eat just to make sure they all get some, and they also need to be fed 3 times a day) from the bottom of the tank before it has a chance to foul the water. If you like apple snails, they're fantastic for keeping fry tanks clean - they eat a lot and won't hurt the fish.