What do baby guppies eat in the first days of life? What to feed fry and juvenile aquarium fish Basic conditions for fry

One of the backup options for feeding betta fry in the first days is feeding the fry with egg yolk. The main advantage of this feeding option is its simplicity and readiness within a short time. Unlike yolk, obtaining a ciliate culture requires at least 3-4 days of time to obtain a decent density of the ciliate culture.

Cooking egg 10 minutes, cool in cold water, clean, remove the yolk.

Pinch off a small piece of the yolk and put it in a glass. Add a little water and grind (dissolve) the yolk to the smallest dust.

Let the water settle a little, the yolk settles at the bottom, drain the water and add it again. It is advisable to repeat this procedure 3-4 times. Then we collect the yolk mass into a syringe and add it to the aquarium with the fry.

It is necessary to feed in very small portions and at least 6 times a day. The fry are fed with yolk until they are 5-7 days old, after which the fry are transferred to more large feed, such as Artemia nauplii.

When feeding betta fry with yolk, you must follow some rules.

1) Do not add too much yolk mass to the aquarium, it spoils very quickly and spoils the water.

2) When feeding with yolk, the aquarium must be equipped with an airlift filter or a simple sprayer, this will allow long time do not let the yolk settle to the bottom. In the water column, the fry are more willing to eat it than from the bottom of the aquarium.

3) You need to add 5-10 melania snails into the aquarium; they will at least somehow fight the yolk that has settled to the bottom, preventing it from spoiling. Melania is left in the aquarium when feeding Artemia nauplii or other quickly perishable food.

The yolk is stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in foil or cling film. Getting ready every day new solution yolk. The yolk can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days, and this is quite enough just until the fry are transferred to larger food.

The fry begin to feed soon after birth. The most critical period of feeding young fish is the first 3-5 days after birth. The following can be borrowed from the experience of industrial fish farming: for the first 3-5 days of life, feed the fry around the clock with live food, without turning off the lights at night. During this period, it is especially important to have abundant and good nutrition. If the juveniles turn out to be “overstretched” from the first days, you cannot count on growing large, beautiful adult fish even with optimal conditions their maintenance and feeding.

The first food can be “live dust”, rotifers, artemia and cyclops nauplii, and in their absence - a microworm (preferably grown on finely grated carrots or oatmeal with carrot juice), finely chopped oligochaetes with a razor.

Of the live food substitutes, it is best to use feed mixtures industrial production, for example, supplied to pet stores from Germany. You can use MicroMin - this is a starter food for fry in the first days of life. TetraOvin is started when the fry are already a little older. The recipe for these feeds was compiled in strict accordance with the recommendations of scientists and contains most of the substances necessary for the growth and development of young fish. Thus, the composition of these feeds includes vitamin A, growth vitamin T, calcium phosphorous, carotene, etc. The manufacturing process of these feeds also includes mandatory treatment with ultraviolet rays.

In fact, there are no real substitutes for live food, although in its absence you can always include something in the fish’s diet.

You can also use substitutes for live food when feeding fry, such as yogurt, chicken egg yolk, omelet, etc.

Curdled milk. A small amount of curdled milk or weak milk is poured with boiling water to milk protein(casein) has coagulated. The clot is caught using a net from dense mill gas and washed with water. Then the net with the clot is lowered into the water of the aquarium and shaken slightly until a cloud of small food particles appears. Curdled milk does not spoil water and can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Yolk. A chicken egg is boiled hard. Take a piece of yolk and grind it in a spoon of aquarium water. Then they pour it into the aquarium with the fry. It should be noted that the yolk quickly spoils water, so it is used only as a last resort, in the absence of other feed.

Omelette. Two raw eggs mix with two teaspoons of dry nettle (ground in a mortar) or rolled oats, and then pour into 100 ml of boiling milk and beat vigorously. When the mixture has cooled, give it to the fish (as much as they eat). Store the omelet in the refrigerator for no more than a week.

Powdered milk. Powdered milk is a highly nutritious protein food for aquarium fish. You can prepare it at home. Place a plate of milk on a pan of boiling water and evaporate it. The resulting powder does not dissolve in water for several hours and is completely eaten by fish.

Cheese. Cheese can be used as food. Mild varieties of cheese are grated onto fine grater. Grated processed cheese should be slightly dried before feeding.

Feeding fish with dried gammarus, daphnia, bloodworms, as well as porridges, omelettes, crackers and biscuits is permissible only in extreme cases and for a short time. You should not eat stale food. They can cause a decrease in growth rate, and sometimes even illness and death of fish.

It is advisable to alternate feed. Gradually they begin to give small cyclops, cut, well-washed tubifex, etc. When feeding even live food, it is necessary to add a small amount of algae (crushed filament) and other components to the diet plant origin.

It is known that fish grow throughout their lives, only with at different speeds. In accordance with this, she eats. Here is the approximate daily feed consumption (at an optimal maintenance regime): from the moment of switching to active feeding until two weeks of age - 150-170% of the fish’s weight; from two weeks of age to 1 month – 80-100%; from 1 to 2 months – 30%; from 2 months until the moment of gender separation – 15%; from the moment of sex separation until full maturity - 5-10%; producers – 3-5%.

It is advisable to feed the fry 4-5 times a day for the first week, 3-4 times a day for the second week, and at least 3 times until they are one and a half to two months old. The initial two weeks (especially the first) are a very important stage in the life of juveniles and actually determine what adult fish will become. If at this time the fry are fed insufficiently and inadequately (for example, with one dry, finely ground daphnia, which is in principle possible), and starting from the third week as it should be, the grown fish will still have a cambered tail (the angle between the upper and lower edges); “The veil, and often the richness of the color, will not be what they could have been. If there is a shortage or inadequacy of food, it is recommended to select some of the best fry and feed them fully, and destroy the rest.

Breeding aquarium fish- the process is fascinating, but requires certain knowledge and skills. Each type of fish needs its own food and its own conditions of detention. Viviparous fish include guppy fish (a type of poeciliid fish). Once born, the fry are considered almost independent. They can feed themselves, but in smaller amounts than adults.

One of the serious disadvantages of this species is the eating of small individuals by older brothers and even their own mother. If the fry are not immediately transferred to another aquarium, it is quite possible that they will all be lost. Otherwise, the fish are peaceful and unpretentious in feeding and maintenance. Information about how long guppy fry grow, the rules of keeping, and what to feed guppy fry is disclosed in the further description.

Conditions, feeding and maturation of fry

Guppy fry for quick development They need high-quality water, food and a certain thermal regime. Guppy fry should be fed three to six times a day in small doses until sexual maturity (3-4 months). The aquarium for fry should be equipped with: a filter, a special water heater, and a compressor for air supply. These devices can be purchased at any specialty store. As well as food suitable for the age of the fry. The first four days the water should be 26-27 degrees Celsius. After temperature regime decreases to 20 degrees.

The optimal temperature for adult fish is 24 degrees. If the water in the aquarium is above +27 degrees, the fry grow up faster, but become small and live shorter. At temperatures below +21 degrees they ripen longer, but become larger. An aquarium for guppy fry should be lit for half a day. By one hundred and twenty days of life time lighting- no more than 9 hours. Water for babies should be from the same aquarium in which they were born. Filters need to be constantly cleaned and washed. Pre-settled water is added in the volume of a third every day. If the quality of the liquid in the aquarium is poor, the babies become inactive and eat poorly.

How long do guppies grow?

The length of the fry at birth is 2-6 mm. Guppy fry grow up to 7 months. At proper care this period may be reduced by 2-4 months. The growth, maturity and lifespan of these fish depend on proper feeding and care during this period. Babies swim on the surface, and then in deeper layers. Up to a week they need food in the form of dust, and then larger ones. For rapid growth babies are fed not only dry food, but also natural, For example:

Guppy fry can be fed with pureed chicken egg yolk, cheese, dry milk mixture, and algae. On sale there is a special food pureed to a very thick puree, which contains the following: Components: flour, grated fish and beef liver, brine shrimp and mosquito larvae, chicken egg yolk. This food contains all the microelements, proteins and vitamins necessary for babies.

Feed should be given little by little to prevent rotting of what is not eaten and settles to the bottom. For half a month, baby guppies provide a lot of food, sixty percent more than their body weight. From fifteen to sixty days, the weight of the feed should be up to one hundred percent of body weight. After 60 days - no more than thirty percent. With mandatory separation of males and females - no more than twenty percent. Adults should be given food no more than twice a day. To breed beautiful and healthy guppies, males must be removed.

The fry are released into the general container no earlier than ninety days after birth, when they have grown and become stronger. If there is no desire or opportunity to place the fry, it is necessary to create natural shelters for them from aquarium plants. Suitable for guppies the following types one flora:

• Brazilian pinnate;
• Riccia floating;
• Carolina Kamomba;
• Canadian elodea;
• Indian fern.

Benefits of breeding guppies

Positive moments of breeding guppies at home.

• unpretentiousness;
• beauty;
• survival;
• rapid reproduction.

At good feeding and leaving the female can bring up to a hundred or more fry, and in the first birth up to twenty-five. The males are distinguished by their beauty, the females are more inconspicuous. When properly maintained, fish differ from other breeds survivability and longevity. It is important to feed your guppies a variety of foods, alternating between natural and store-bought dry food. But you need to remember that poor nutrition and poor conditions can cause illness and death of fish.

As soon as the eggs hatch, you are just beginning your journey in fish breeding and raising fry. After all, raising a fry is often a more difficult task than getting a couple to spawn, and getting eggs is only half the battle.

On the one hand, most cichlids and viviparous give birth to fry large enough to immediately begin feeding on artificial food, but the majority of aquarium fish, for example, give birth very small fry which needs to be fed the same small food. Their fry are so small that they themselves could serve as food for a guppy or cichlid fry.

Also, juveniles can only eat food that moves and you will have very little time to train them to eat other foods before they begin to die of hunger.

Next, we will look at the many different foods that aquarists use to feed their fry. Each of them is quite nutritious on its own, but it is better to use several different ones to create a complete diet.

Boiled egg yolk

This is a simple and inexpensive food for feeding fry. Of its merits, it does not create unpleasant odor, what is wrong with live food and is very accessible.

To prepare the food, hard boil a chicken egg, remove the white, all you need is the yolk. Take a few grams of yolk and place it in a container or cup of water. Then shake or mix it thoroughly, as a result you will get a suspension that you can feed to the fry.

If necessary, pass it through cheesecloth to filter out large pieces of yolk. Then you can give the suspension to the fry; as a rule, they stand in the water column for some time and are eaten with appetite.

One yolk can be fed to the fry for a whole month, of course it will not be stored for that long, and do not forget to cook new time from time. Do not add too much mixture to the aquarium at one time, it decomposes quickly and can lead to the death of the fry. Feed egg yolk sparingly, a few drops a couple of times a day.

Another problem is that the yolk, even after filtering, may be too large for some fry, will not be digested and will begin to disappear at the bottom. The smallest parts can be obtained using a mixer or blender.

Dry egg yolk

There is no fundamental difference between boiled and dry. Widely used in fry food, but it is very easy to make yourself.

It is enough to boil the egg, dry and crush the yolk. It can be added by pouring it onto the surface of the water or mixing it with water and pouring it into the aquarium. It floats on the surface of the water, and the yolk mixed with water hangs in the water column for some time. Use both methods to give the fry maximum nutrition.

It is also good to feed small fish with dried egg yolk, as it is much smaller than the smallest flakes. The particle size of dry yolk is smaller than that of diluted in water, which is important if the fry is small.

Liquid artificial feed

This food is already diluted with water. Sometimes the particles are too large for small fry, but manufacturers are constantly improving the quality of such feeds. New generations of food are already suitable for all types of fry; in addition, their advantage is that they hang in the water for a very long time and the fry have time to eat.

Dry flakes

Widely available, but while they can be fed to large fry such as guppies, they are not suitable for most others. Often the particle size is equal in size to the fry itself.

Live fish food

Excellent food for any fry. They are easy to keep and very small (from 0.04 mm to 2 mm in length and 0.10 mm in width). Unlike a microworm, a nematode culture can be left unfed for several weeks without dying.

Nematode is a soil roundworm- Turbatrix aceti, can also live in mud. Since nematodes are live food, they are especially suitable if the fry refuses artificial feed. Nematodes can live in aquarium water for up to a day, so they do not quickly poison the water and can be eaten by aquarium fish fry within a day.

Nematodes live in very acidic environment, feeding on bacteria. To prepare a growing medium for them, take one to one apple cider vinegar and distilled water. Vinegar should be ordinary, without additives.

For example, we take half a liter of vinegar and half a liter of distilled water, mix and add a couple of spoons of sugar or a few slices of an apple without peel. An apple is needed to create a breeding ground for bacteria. After a week or two, the solution will become significantly cloudier, which means that the bacteria have multiplied rapidly and it’s time to add the nematodes themselves.

Nematode culture can be purchased on the Internet, from birds, or from familiar aquarists.

Add vinegar eels to the solution and place the jar in the dark. In a couple of weeks the culture will be ready.

The most difficult thing is to filter out the nematodes, since they live in a very acidic environment and adding them along with vinegar can be fatal to the fry. You can pour vinegar into a bottle with a narrow neck, seal the top with cotton wool and pour fresh water on it. Nematodes will move through the cotton wool into fresh water and can be caught with a pipette.

Another method of breeding nematodes is even simpler and more often used.

The nutrient medium is rolled oatmeal or oatmeal, which needs to be brewed until it becomes thick sour cream. After the oatmeal has brewed, you need to add about a teaspoon of table vinegar per 100 grams of medium.

Next, the mass is laid out in a layer of 1-1.5 cm in saucers or other containers and a nematode culture is placed on top. Be sure to cover the container so that there is a moist environment and does not dry out. In just two or three days, the nematodes will already be crawling onto the walls and can be collected with a brush.

One of the nuances of breeding nematodes in this way is that the culture should be in a warm place. The layer should not be too high, no more than 1.5 cm. If mold appears, then the medium was too liquid or not enough vinegar was added.

Of course, you need to feed the nematodes by adding fresh porridge from time to time. When? This will already be visible in the process. If the yield has decreased, if the medium has darkened or water appears on it, if there is a smell of decomposition. You can also feed with a few drops of kefir or carrot juice, even a couple of drops of live yogurt.

But it’s easier to have several containers with nematodes in stock and, if something happens, just switch to another one.

Nematodes are excellent food - small, lively and nutritious. They can be fed even to fry of different sizes, since the nematode itself is also different.

Zooplankton - ciliates

Ciliates are not the only microorganisms; they are a mixture of various microorganisms measuring 0.02 mm or more.

To start your own culture of slipper ciliates, place some hay, spinach or dry banana or melon peel in a bottle of water and place it in a sunny place.

The problem is that you cannot control the types of microorganisms in such a culture, and some may be toxic to the fry. To protect yourself, first boil the hay, spinach or banana peel and then add a culture from familiar aquarists to the water, which is dominated by the ciliate slipper. The water needs to be aerated to reduce the smell from fermentation, and siphoning off the residue from the bottom will extend the life of the crop for a few more days.

So fill it out liter jar water and bait - dry banana peel, pumpkin, hay and place in a non-sunny place. Add a culture of ciliates to the water, preferably from familiar aquarists.

If not, then you can even get it from a puddle or local reservoir, although there is a risk of bringing something else in. Wait a few days for the ciliates to multiply. You can catch it in two ways - filtering through paper and lowering it into water or darkening the jar, leaving only one bright place where the ciliates will gather. Then you simply collect them with a tube.

Ciliates are not as tenacious as nematodes, so you will have to start a new jar every couple of weeks. But at the same time they are extremely small and can be eaten by all types of fry.

Green water - phytoplankton

Ciliates can be divided into two categories: zooplankton (we talked about it above) are tiny microorganisms. Phytoplankton are tiny algae, ranging in size from 0.02 to 2 mm in length. Aquarists use green water as food, but it is actually phytoplankton.

Green water is extremely easy and simple to obtain. Simply take some water from the aquarium, pour it into a jar and place it in the sun. Sun rays will cause the water to turn green within a couple of days. When this happens, simply add some water to the aquarium with the fry. Instead, add water from the aquarium.

This is very similar to breeding ciliates, only even simpler. Any water from an aquarium contains both zoo and phytoplankton, but by increasing the amount of light we stimulate the growth of phytoplankton. One problem is our climate, in winter or autumn sunlight It won’t be enough, but you can just put it under a lamp, the main thing is that the water doesn’t overheat.

Green water is simple, accessible, very small in size, and fry eat it well from the first days of their lives. And most importantly, it does not die in the aquarium and serves as a source of food for the fry for several days. For greater efficiency, you need to keep several jars at the same time, in case the plankton suddenly dies in one.

If you have a microscope, then you can generally grow only the crop that you need, but in my opinion this is unnecessary.

Microworm

The microworm (Panagrellus redivivus) is a small nematode (0.05-2.0 mm long and 0.05 mm wide) that appears too small for a fry. But they have one quality that makes them stand out: they are very nutritious.

To create a microworm culture, mix cornmeal with water until it becomes thick sour cream, and then add a quarter teaspoon of yeast. Place in a jar with a lid, which has holes for ventilation, in a layer of no more than 1.5 cm and add a culture of microworms.

The easiest way to get them is from a bird or from familiar aquarists. But if there are none, then you can find a damp pile of fallen leaves in the nearest park, collect them and bring them home. In it you will find very small, white worms, which you need to add to the container with the nutrient mixture.

After a couple of days, you will see microworms crawling out onto the walls and which can be collected with your fingers or a brush.

The fry eat them voraciously, but like nematodes, microworms do not live long in water, and it is important not to overfeed. When you collect them from the walls, some may get into the water. nutritional mixture, but don't worry, it will also be eaten by the fry.

As a rule, it lasts for two weeks, after which the launch must be repeated. Rolled oats are also used as a nutritional mixture, but the smell from it is more unpleasant and the quality of our oats leaves much to be desired. However, there are many recipes for preparing the culture; you are free to choose your own.

Artemia nauplii

Newly hatched brine shrimp (0.08 to 0.12 mm) are used very widely in the aquarium hobby for feeding fry different fish. They are active in fresh water and can live quite a long time. Where can I get them? Nowadays it’s very easy to buy brine shrimp eggs, both from birds and from friends and online. What you need is non-decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. There are a huge number of opinions on how to properly obtain Artemia nauplii.

The easiest way is to pour about two teaspoons of salt, a couple of spoons of nauplii into a liter jar and turn on the aeration. Please note that it should be around the clock and the bubbles should not be too large, as they will lift the newly hatched brine shrimp to the surface of the water, where it will instantly die.

An important point is the water temperature, preferably about 30 C, since at this temperature the nauplii emerge every other day and at the same time, and at a lower temperature the output is stretched.

After about a day, two nauplii will hatch and can be removed using a siphon and added to the aquarium with the fry. Turn off the aeration and the nauplii will gather at the bottom of the jar, and the eggs will float to the top; they need to be removed. A little salt water in the aquarium will not cause problems, but you can transplant the nauplii into the intermediate fresh water or wash them. The fry eats them with pleasure and grows well.

This article describes simple and at the same time effective ways, with which you can raise the fry of many fish. It's not always easy, but patience and passion will always yield results. We hope that we were able to help you with this!

Instructions

It is recommended to feed the fry 5-7 times a day in small portions. In the first half of the day, feed should be given 3-4 times with an interval of 1-1.5. Then you can take a three-hour break. Increase the feeding interval in the afternoon to 2-2.5 hours. In the future, the number of feedings can be gradually reduced.

For feeding, you can use both ready-made and mixtures. As a rule, the first food for fry is “dust” - small ones that live in. It is recommended to include nauplii of cyclops, rotifers, and water “devils” in the “menu”. In the warm season, you can make “live dust” yourself. Take a container, fill it with water and leave it outside for 1-2 days. Take a strainer and carefully collect mosquito larvae and other insects.

It is allowed to use ready-made frozen food, similar to “live dust”. However, their nutritional value is slightly lower than that of living ones. You can also use special dry food, combining it with plant food. However, professional aquarists use ready-made dry food only as additional food.

If, for one reason or another, you did not have time to stock up ready-made feed or necessary ingredients To make up the mixture, you can use egg yolk for the first feedings. Hard boil the egg and let it cool. Remove the yolk and break off a small piece. Pinch it between your index finger and your sore finger, dip it in water and rub thoroughly. The resulting “dust” will serve good nutrition for young animals. The yolk should be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 3 days. You can also use egg and milk powder for “emergency” feeding. powdered milk.

Quite often, slipper ciliates are bred to feed swordtail fry. The introduction of this microorganism into the diet accelerates the development of fish, improves growth and makes them actively move. Boil and cool two liters of water. Pour into a jar and place the banana peel in it. Place, without covering, for 3-4 days in a bright, warm place. First, the water in the jar will become cloudy and begin to emit a sweetish smell, then it will become clear again. After this, the resulting solution can be added little by little to the aquarium using a syringe or spoon.

As the fry grow, they are transferred to larger types of food. From the second week, you can introduce finely chopped brine shrimp, bloodworms and tubifex into the diet.

An hour after feeding the fish, you should thoroughly clean the bottom of the aquarium with a thin hose, collecting any remaining food, and replace some of the water.

Sources:

• Swordtails - maintenance, feeding
• swordtail fry

Aquarists are busy people. Not only do they have to strictly observe the feeding time of the fish, but they also have to constantly clean the aquarium, change the water in it and decorate it as best they can. And if a fish brood appears, then the hassle increases.

Instructions

Purchase, collect or grow live food for fry in advance. Don't feed them dry food. Firstly, it is difficult to immediately determine its quantity, secondly, excess food can form a film on the surface of the water, and thirdly, such food is still too rough for them. They can be switched to dry food when they are a little older.

During the 1st week of life, the fry should be fed 4-5 times a day, in the 2nd week - 3-4. Up to 1.5-2 months, fry must be fed at least three times a day. If you find it difficult to spend almost all your time at home, try installing automatic feeder, but remember that you will have to clean up the leftovers and make sure there is enough food for everyone.

It is best to feed the fry “dust” (rotifers, nauplii and cyclops) or microworms grown independently on pureed carrots. Fry can be fed finely crushed bloodworms, tubifex or nematodes no earlier than the 2nd week of life, only for a very short time and in extreme cases.

Instead of live food, guppies can be fed with egg yolk (or omelet) ground almost to dust, sour milk, and cheese grated on a fine grater. But they should only be used as complementary foods. Please note: from egg yolk The water in the aquarium becomes cloudy, so it is better to give the fry other bait.

Pour boiling water over the curdled milk, wait until the protein curdles, and catch it with a net. Lower the net with the protein into the aquarium and shake it gently until a cloud of small particles of food forms. Cheese (or milk powder) is poured into the aquarium in the same way as any other food.

The fry are very independent creatures and can eat food without additional help. Main question consists in obtaining the food itself. You can make it yourself at home.

Instructions

Keep in mind that it is easiest to feed fry of viviparous fish, which include platies, swordtails, mollies and guppies. A month after fertilization of the eggs occurs, the females will have live fry. The young of such fish are able to eat traditional small food within a day after birth. In this case, it is important to keep the offspring alive from being eaten by others.