Royal Farlowela

[Bioaquatix]

Here are some pics of what we bought as Sturisoma aureum over 10 years ago. We have been breeding this fish over the past ten years with some success. We have double our efforts on this fish over the past 2 years to make more progress with raising the fry. As most of you know this fish is easy to spawn but raising the fry is very difficult. We figure we are up to 75% survival after hatch now.

[Bioaquatix]

They have been breeding very well this year since we moved them to a different system. They are being kept at 80-82F (hot summer), ph 6.8, 130-150uS. They are being kept with clown loaches and seem to get along fine. They spawn on stand pipes and other pvc pipes laying on the bottom.

The parents are very healthy but the fry seem to be super sensitive to water quality and parasites. We can hatch them in the same water but they die with in a few days. If we used softer water they will live a few days longer. Hatching in harder well water they die right after hatch. We think that they develop some ammonia in the egg and once they hatch in harder water it kills them.

We have a few other tricks that we are using to get them to live after hatch. We learned to pull the eggs when they are nice and dark just before they hatch. The male does a great job of keeping them clean. We hatch in a separate container with a good amount of air flow. After they hatch and absorb their yolk sac we move the container onto a larger system with a fluidized bed filter. Then we start to feed. The good thing is there is no shortage of eggs to try different methods of raising the fry.

[Mountain]

They look a little like the ones I bought over 10 years ago under the name of Sturisoma aureum and they turned out to be something like Sturisomatichthys columbia II or so.....
How do you feed them that they reach the age of more than 6 weeks - I'm just trying Chlorella.

[Bioaquatix]

Before 6 weeks we feed some live brine, spirulina powder, and Zeilger AP Larval Diet 100. The AP larval was designed for shrimp but we use it for small fry. We feed the spirulina to the brine before feeding it out.

After that we use some algae disks and otohime. Once they are 2"+ they get purina aquamax.

[Barbie]

Do you have access to any Repashy Superfood? The Soilent green should be an excellent option for them. I guess when mine spawn I will let you know. The females are finally gravid!

Barbie

[Shane]

Repashy might work. Based on Larry's (Apistomaster) advice I went to earthworm sticks a couple of years ago. Work great for Farlowella and Sturisoma fry.
-Shane

[Bioaquatix]

I do have access to it and plan on getting some repashy. I am raising more bushy nose and probably will start buying that in bulk. A buddy of mine used it when raising africans and noticed a significant difference in the health of his fry, not a huge growth difference but keeping them healthy and alive is important.

I have had other people tell me about earthworm flake and pellets but have not tried them yet.

My sturisoma are producing like crazy right now, i am running out of pvc to swap out in the vats and containers to hatch the fry in. The hatching process is taking up a lot more room than i planned on.

[Barbie]

I grew F2 Copadichromis borleyi fry from eggs to spawning size in 6.5 months. Granted, they were spawning smaller than I realized they could, but they were fed only Repashy foods. It was pretty impressive.

Barbie