Albino Bristlenose cannibalism

Rickzfish · Post by **Rickzfish** » 02 Jun 2005, 03:59

I have had a number of batchs of fry hatch, but seem to loose some of late when new born. Is it possible they are being eaten by the older fry or parents while they still have the yolk sack and have first emerged from the cave?
Thanks in advance for replies.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 02 Jun 2005, 10:05

I don't think the parents will eat their own babies if the babies are healthy. However, you may have better luck with removing the eggs and hatching them "yourself" by putting the eggs in a small container with an airstone and hatch them that way.

--
Mats

Rickzfish · Post by **Rickzfish** » 02 Jun 2005, 22:31

They hatch out just fine, the dad is quite good at parenting. But once they leave the cave, some just disappear, and thought other sibblings or mother may be eating them. I will try removing them sooner after they are free swimming. Thanks

Post by **Barbie** » 03 Jun 2005, 05:39

I have a group of ancistrus in a 55 gallon, where I grow out their subsequent batches of fry, and weed out the larger fry as they get large enough to sell. They rarely have any noticable losses, but you'll find it takes quite a bit of food to get the fry through that critical period while they're growing enough body mass to last any time without food in front of them. Those fish can put away an amazing amount of food, which in turn requires a large volume of water and good filtration, IME.

Barbie

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 03 Jun 2005, 09:03

As soon as the fry are free-swimming (no egg-sack), you need to start feeding, and it's a good idea to have "permanent supply of food", such as Zucchini (courgette) that has been lightly boiled. Stick a slice in and when that's finished (or after 24 hours, whichever comes first) replace with a new slice. Add a algae wafer now and again for some extra protein, and some frozen dapnia or, when bigger, live bloodworm maybe once a week.

I haven't had any noticable loss after I removed the goldfish that had a habit of eating small fry.

--
Mats

Post by **Coryman** » 03 Jun 2005, 20:42

As Barbie says, plenty of food and plenty of clean water. My albino's produce regular batches and at the moment I have fry ranging from just hatched to 1 1/2 inch (Starting to shift the larger ones to my lfs). I make 50% daily water changes and feed heavily twice a day. They are not fussy eaters from what I see, and everything that goes in is gone very quickly.

Ian

ZebraPleco · Post by **ZebraPleco** » 03 Jun 2005, 21:07

Depends on what you mean by canabalism. If you mean that they are praying canabalist, no they are not. But I think most fish practice canabalism. I've yet to see a fish that did not eat off their already dead sibblings. So in this case, yes, their siblings will eat their dead and so will the parent.
If you find that your first batch was a big success and your second and third batch aren't as successful. It's because your tank is too small. Most of the later fry are intimidated into hidding or chased of from the food. These usually die. Only the strongest will survive. However, if you grow each batch from a separate tank. Then the survival rate will increase significantly.

Rickzfish · Post by **Rickzfish** » 03 Jun 2005, 22:19

Thanks for all the advice and comments. I will start moving each batch to a separate tank and see how that goes. I already feed quite heavy on the veggy side and algae wafers, and keep up on water changes every other day.
Thanks again folks!
Rick