L25 spawned...but...

[samoht]

sometime ago i posted about my observation that two male L25 were competing for a cave with a female inside...the larger, more dominant managed to secure the cave and spawning happened...

it's been many months after spawning...i harvested the fries...but realised that these fries are dying day in day out....till date...believed i had lost more than 50%....now i am really at a lost....

i made several mistakes along the way...some were rather silly mistakes...but i had been trying very hard to maintain the water quality...however i am still unable to stop the fries dying...another 2-3 fries are looking pale and out in the open as i am tying the post....

i had tried bare tank...added small pebbles...removing these pebbles....adding heater...water changes everyday (or was it too much) and many more other stunts...but all were in vain....i had read about bacteria affecting the fries but i was unable to determine it....i had also pondered if the cause are due to bad genes from the parent fish....i had also been pondering if i should add medication...but question is i do not know what is the cause of death....

oh yes...cannibalising also happened in one of the tanks.....nearly 60% were gone...no carcasses were found....this tank were only left with a handful bigger ones.....

anyone has similar experience....anyone can advice what should i do? it is really very disheartening to see fries dying and all i can do is just watch.........

[PseudaSmart]

First, nice job on the successful spawn! These are not very easy to spawn or easy to raise fry. This year I lost two L600 spawns after several years with no issues. I would lose 3-5 a day until they were all gone. I use to believe in the ‘mystery disease’ idea but have realized over time that I was not digging deep enough or paying enough attention to my tanks. You asked very good questions so let’s get to them.

High confidence observations
Water stability is critical and is slightly more important than water quality.
Water quality is the next critical factor to success. Pseuda fry tend not to recover when overstressed
Cycled tanks with a thin substrate work better than bare tanks.
Adding gravel or pebbles to a bare tank will take several weeks to show results
It takes a lot of food to keep them all happy.
Remove all ‘death traps’ from your tank. Any place where their head can get wedged in can be fatal.
I have personally witnessed a group of pseuda’s being spooked into a small cave.
The back of the cave was not flat but angled. The first ones in were wedged into the back and suffocated
within a few minutes. I lost 14 in total. As they drifted out of the cave it looked like there was nothing
wrong with them.
I only use flat back caves with pseuda’s of any size.
If there is not enough cover then they will fight over the limited cover.

I have some other suggestions but not enough time.
Good Luck,
Jim

[samoht]

Thank you so much for replying Jim...you mentioned water stability...I must have messed it up with the many water changes because I only had water quality in mind...I had been doing a lot of water changes which had likely lead to too much fluctuation of pH and temperature.

Indeed, these fries are goner the moment they are stressed...they will simply just become pale...parked in the open and eventually death.

What would be a suitable substrate to use for raising pseuda fries? I had tried small pebbles which ended up with more problem due to trapped waste and food.

The other problem I faced was how much food is enough for them??? Too much food; left uneaten leads to high-bioload....too little food; cannibalising happened!

This is no easy task; I just hope that I am able to sustain the remaining fries....Thank you once again.

[Taratron]

Can you keep cherry shrimp or scuds in the tank for the fry to munch on, instead of each other?