Shellie Babies

FishDreamer48

FishDreamer48

AC Members
May 25, 2009
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Kentucky
I looked in my shellie tank last night about to turn off the tank and I could see shellie fry. Yay babies. I look more closely this morning and there are several different batches and one is big enough that you can see its little blue eyes! I am so excited. I am in the process of ordering some more shellies to diversify my gene pool.

Want is an easy food to get for them other than crushed dry tropical food which is what I am feeding them not since I didn't realize they were even breeding yet?

If I have to culture something it cannot smell since it will get put in the basement. And has to be easy and inexpensive to care for, but I would prefer something I could buy at the store if possible.

Thought, opinions, constructive criticism.

I am upgrading to a 40 gallon long which has just had the first touch of a heater on it yesterday which is up to temperature. But my other question is when is it safe to move these guys and gals and fry?

Yay, babies!
 
Congrats! It's always exciting to find a surprise spawn! I suggest culturing microworms, but they do smell if the culture isn't re-established frequently. The smell however isn't noticable until you open the container to swipe out some of the worms. Brine shrimp is another option, although those are a lot more work IMO. They seem to be doing fine without live food, so your other options would be to continue with crushed flake and get some decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I also recommend New Life Spectrum fry starter. It's a very fine powder that my fry do great on.
 
Well I have had microworms before and they kind of took over (I didn't have anywhere to sell them) so I would rather not go down that path at least not until I live somewhere where they can be in a play that gets more airflow than the basement : ) However, will continue the crushed flake and I know a local petstore that has new spectrum supplies if they don't have the fry starter they could probably order it for me. The decapsulated brine shrimp eggs is the type you don't have to hatch right? If so I might see if I can pick some up.

Thanks so much!
 
Yep, the decapsulated shrimp eggs you just feed directly to the fry without hatching. The NLS Fry Starter is new, so it might be a little hard to find. I ordered mine online. Crushing up the larger NLS pellets into dust would have the same effect, and that's what other hobbyists I know have done. It's just easier for me to buy the powder. Good luck with your babies! (don't forget to post pics!)
 
Okay, thanks. I will post pictures of the babies, new setup, and the new shellies once they are moved to the 40 gallon since the 10 gallon is kinda hard to photograph where it is.

Is it safe to move the babies?
 
I haven't moved new fry, and it's hard to say exactly how old the fry are that you have. I usually put my spawning fish in a tank of their own, and then try to pull out the parents when I see there are babies. I wait several weeks before I actually move the fry. My multis haven't spawned for me yet so I can't speak specifically for these fish; right now I'm raising tiny calvus fry.

If you think the fry are at great risk of getting eaten, I would remove them. If it's only the parents in the tank, I wouldn't worry so much. Might be easier to remove the adults in their shells if they dive in when you put a hand in the tank. Then try to guide the little babies into a cup with a net. To avoid stressing your adults, I'd try not to rearrange their tank too much. Then put them and their shells back as closely to how they had them before as possible.

Maybe someone else who's had more experience with moving fry could be of more help...
 
I don't know at what age it is safe to move the babies....I personally don't ever move my shellie fry, and they never get eaten. Shellies seem to be really good parents. I personally would wait till they were at least juvies to move them, and it sounds like they are getting close to that age. When my fry are first hatched, I can barely even see their eyes....the whole fry looks like a little tiny eyelash to me.

As far as food goes, I feed my fry crushed flake and bbs eggs, but I use cichlid flakes. All of my shellies seem to enjoy the cichlid flakes much more than the tropical flakes, and IME they seem to be softer and easier to crush and powder for the fry. Congrats on your babies and good luck. - Ash
 
Shellies won't eat their young so I am not worried about that. I have read to move shellies just pick them up shell and all when they dive into it, but I am unsure whether moving newborns and slightly older fry is too stressful for them and if I should wait. I don't plan on putting them in there until I get the other fish so they can all go in at once and I won't have any home front advantage problems, but I need to know if they can be moved now or should go in first to settle in since they have fry to guard even though the new ones should bother them.
 
Okay I will probly get them some cichlid flakes too then. When I say move them I mean moved everyone (babies and parents) to the new 40 gallon long I upgraded too, which is my new shellie setup. Babies will stay will parents.
 
Oh - in that case, yes I'd move them if you can do so by moving the shells they are in. Just make sure that you move as much of the water as possible, substrate, decor, etc. as well as the filter they are using right now, to prevent cycling. Wouldn't hurt to add a bacteria supplement to the new tank also, if you haven't had any other fish in it to cycle it out. If you wait for the smaller babies to grow before you move them, you're probably going to have the same situation with a younger spawn anyway.
 
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