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Care of Fry and Breeders After breeding, the female especially will be quite badly torn up. Sometimes some of her scales may even be missing. To prevent any secondary infections by bacteria, place the female in clean water and add a couple of drops of anti-bacterial solution and anti-fungal solution. I personally use MarOxy. Other commonly used medications include common aquarium antibiotics like Tetracyclin. Do daily water changes for the female, and re-medicate every day for a period of 5 days or more, depending on how bad her wounds are. Feed as usual too. It is recommended that no live foods be introduced during this healing period as the open wounds are easy access for any parasites or pathogens. The male may also need similar treatment if he is wounded. After the eggs are laid, the male will hang around under the nest, picking up any fallen eggs and replacing them into the nest. An infusoria culture can be set up at this time, so that it will be ready just in time to feed the fry. Feed the male very sparingly during this period for fear of polluting the breeding tank. When the fry hatch in about 24 hrs to 48 hours, depending on the temperature, they will still have a small yolk sac attached, and during this period they need no feeding. During this period they will hardly swim at all, but instead hang on the walls of the tank or under the nest. Some of those that fall will be able to wriggle their way up, or helped by the father. Most of them would have completely used up their yolk sac in another 24 hrs, and become free-swimming. However, to be on the safe side, I personally add a few concentrated drops of infusoria to the breeding tank about 12 hours after they hatch so that some of those that become free-swimming earlier would have food available to them - fry that do not receive food within the first 24 hours after becoming free-swimming are highly unlikely to survive. As soon as most of the fry become free-swimming it is time to remove the male. I've had males that I let remain in the tank for up to 1 week following the spawn (too lazy ! =D ), but there's still the very, very, very high risk of the male eating his fry! For the first 3 days to 1 week after the fry become free-swimming, feed them with drops of concentrated infusoria at least 3 times per day. Their bellies should appear to be full at all times. Other types of fry food can also be used in place of infusoria (however, I prefer infusoria, they are so easy to culture!), such as Liquifry No.1 (For Egglayers) or even the traditional recipe of placing a piece of hard-boiled egg yolk in a piece of cloth/muslin and squeezing the powdery stuff into the water. The traditional method I have heard of from some of the old plakat breeders in Singapore involves spreading milk powder on the surface for the fry to feed on! The last few methods will almost inevitably result in very, very polluted tanks and dead fry, but they may be the best way to go if you've forgotten to prepare the infusoria in advance. Near the end of the first week I introduce some microworms to supplement the feeding. Some breeders also use vinegar eels. I've never used the latter before, but I plan to try them out, and will post my results on these pages. From Day 7 to Day 10 I use a mix of newly hatched Artemia (aka Baby Brine Shrimp, BBS) and some microworms. The microworms are put in to allow some of the late-developers to be able to feed. However, some other breeders feed their fry with BBS straight on Day 1. Naturally some of the fry will die from starvation, for not all will be able to rip and tear the BBS apart, but those that do survive probably are the stronger ones. This may be a good method to naturally cull weak fish. The fry are fed with BBS for as long as 3 weeks to 4 weeks, but I provide them with live chopped tubifex worms as soon as they will accept them. After about 6-7 weeks, the fry are feed with almost exclusively live tubifex, frozen bloodworms and flake foods. |