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Hello all,

I have about 20 ancistrus fry. Their yolk sacs are almost completely absorbed now. Maybe a stupid question but what should I feed them? The "regular" things that I feed the parents, like pellets, soaked spirulinaflakes (crushed), cucumber,... ?

Regards,
Wim

Yeah, the same stuff you feed parents. For the first few days, I usually feed blanched (boiled very little) courgette(zucchini), along with a little bit of algae wafer every third day or so. After about two weeks, they can chew the courgette(zucchini) by themselves and it doesn't need to be cooked at all, just slice of a suitable slice and attach it to something that makes it sink to the bottom.

If you have algae in some form that they can eat, that's good too.

Mixing in some other vegetables now and again is also great. Mine ate some barlotti beans the other day when I was cooking a chili-con-carne [I took a few out of the tin before it went in the chili, haven't tried with chili'd beans... ].

Other suggestions for food is available in my feeding article.

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Mats

I know this a bit of topic but i heard that drift wood makes up part of bristlenoses diet would fry need drift wood or not?

Same as the adults. I feed mine cucumber slices that have been frozen....it breaks dow easier, sinking shrimp pellets, algae wafter, peas and lima bean (frozen ones, just thaw and remove shells) The young ones (not newly hatched) that go in with angel of blue ram fry get microworms or BBS and love it. Makes them grow fast, but I make sure they have veggies to.

If the adults are in with them make sure there is plenty for the babies.

My tiny fry don't get driftwood, but after a month or so they are in the larger tank with some wood.

Driftwood (or wood in general, perhaps we should say) is an essential part of Panaque spp. and Hypostomus spp in the Cochliodon group . Other Loricariidae should be perfectly fine without wood. However, opinions differ on this. Certainly it's true to say that I've got wood or similar (bamboo for example) in all but one of my tanks, and the bristlenoses seem to like sitting on, and chewing on, pieces of wood, so even if they don't actively EAT it, they seem to like being on/around wood, so it's probably not a bad idea to have it in the grow-out tank.

If you keep them in a net-breeder for a short term 'til they can go in a grow-out tank, I wouldn't think it's necessary to have wood in there. On the other hand, I keep a few pieces of bamboo for shelter [1], and I'd be surprised if some bits of this isn't being chewed off by the little babies in my net.

[1]I just cut some bits about 3-5cm(1.25-2") in length of a 15mm(~1/2") piece of bamboo. Soak it for several days before it becomes water-logged and sinks - preferrably soaking in a different container than the tank, just in case there are some pesticides or similar in the bamboo, and drain/replace the water several times before you put it in the tank. Obviously, as the fish grow bigger, they need bigger hiding spaces, so eiter bigger bamboo or other pipe structures become necessary...

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Mats

Hello all,

Thanks for the response,I'll let you know how they are doing...