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Lately I have a batch of sturisoma fry, which I hatched in a nursery tank. This nursery tank was just resting on top of the main tank. I had a pump to pump water from the main tank into it, and the water will subsequently overflow back into the main tank.

I had accidentally released 2 fry into the main tank while I am cleaing the nursery tank daily. Just earlier on, while I am doing the daily cleaning, I noticed 1 of the fry in the main tank have grown much bigger than those in the nursery tank. It had reach a TL of about 1" in barely 3 weeks, while those in the nursery tank was only about 3/4 of an inch.

My thoughts were, the superb growth rate of the fry in the main tank could be due to the size of the space it's living in and also probably due to the strong current as I am using a wavemaker in the main tank. As for those in the nursery, due to confined space, their growth was not as good.

What do you guys think?

I am not sure if I should release these fry into the main tank. I have actually prepared another tank as a grow up tank for these guys, also sharing the water from the main tank. Should I release them into this grow up tank? Or should I wait till they are bigger?

That one fish was lucky to live.
The best way is to move the fry from the net breeder to a 10 gal tank with strong currents. I keep my fry in water no deeper than 8 inches until they reach 2" and then no deeper than 12". Keep moving them into the next size up(15 gal( as they grow until they reach 2-1/2"/ At 2-1/2 inches they are able to thrive in most any peaceful tank.
Those in the net breeder were not being fed enough or often enough or their growth would have been just as good.

The 10gal tank for the fry you mentioned, should I add in some gravels or should I just leave it a plain bottom tank? This size seems big as in floor area, so I am concerned how I should feed the fry. I am currently feeding them decap brine shrimp eggs, algae wafer in powder form, and tiny pellets from New Life Spectrum.

I prefer sand/gravel substrate over bare-bottom, and many experienced fishkeepers appear to be the same way.

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Mats

Hey, thanks for the advice. I have added in those 2mm sized Dennerle gravel.

Any advice on how I can feed them in this grow up tank? Is it possible to just throw in those Hikari sinking pellets and the fry will find their way to the food? Cos currently I am feeding them powder food, which actually spread all over the place in the nursery tank. As such, the fry can easily find the food. I wonder what is the best way to do things once they are in the grow up tank, which is much bigger.

I use bare tank during the time it takes the fry reach about 1-1/2". They keep the glass very clean.
I do add a couple of pieces of drift wood for them to hang on in the current.

I have said it a number of times and have started to do some basic experiments to see if there is any truth, but I am a firm believer that fry in deeper tanks tend to grow faster, I dont kow if it's food availability in more established tanks or if it is to the pressure of the water.

Firestorming wrote:I have said it a number of times and have started to do some basic experiments to see if there is any truth, but I am a firm believer that fry in deeper tanks tend to grow faster, I dont kow if it's food availability in more established tanks or if it is to the pressure of the water.

I have a few of my Sturisoma in my L128 breeding tank, which is 48" x 24" x 15" (they got caught by accident when I caught some corys, and I have so many Sturisoma babies that I thought "What the heck, I'll just see what happens"). Well, they are definitely a lot larger than their brothers/sisters in their original tank (24" x 18" x 15"). So depth of the tank is the same, but the size is different. Also, there is more food readily available in the 48" tank, since the L128 aren't the most active when it comes to getting to food (they are quite shy).

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Mats

Sturisoma in nature spawn in the riffles of stream with rather shallow water. I have used this information to learn how to raise them in quantities. In fact, I owe Shane an article that is more comprehensive than my various posts on raising Sturisoma fry. My approach is to minimize losses and maximizes survival rather than drawing any conclusions about a particular fry that happens to survive despite being in deeper water.

I have not transferred the fry to the grow up tank yet. But I have changed the nursery tank to a bigger sized one. I have actually 2 of these nursery tank, measuring 11inch by 13inch and the water level is about 4inch or so. What I did is I will transfer the fry from 1 nursery tank to the other on a daily basis (if I have the time) so as to ensure they have the cleaniest living enviroment. Do you guys think this method will benefit them in any ways? Or will it do any harm to them by transferring them to and fro daily? I didn't want to leave them in the same nursery tank without any cleaning as based on past experience, I notice the tank can get pretty dirty if there aren't any cleaning.