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I have a group of red lizards that has become very prolific and need to find a way to raise the young. I am single and work a lot and dont have the time to dedicate to these guys as I have read about.

There may be three breeding females in there because every time I remove the tube with the eggs, another clutch shows up in a matter of days.

I have had zero luck with what I have done with the fry. Has anyone developed a technique or seen an article I can use to try to raise some of these little guys. My guess is there are 40-50 per clutch and found another tonight. If I am not mistaken, there is another gravid female waiting in line to get into that tube.

Any help would be appreciated.

An idea is to get some pieces of slate and smear a mixture of agar, spirulina, water and egg yolk powder on them. This will set quickly and from what Ive heard of others experiences is a great food for finicky eaters, like the L10a fry.

"I mix 2 parts spirulina to 1 part agar (and 1 part egg yolk if i'm using it)
its easy to make up and use, and works a treat.
Simply add the mixture to a cup with a splash of boiling water, mix to a runny pulp, then rub into a piece of slate..." - Link

By leaving a whole slab in at a time you will only need to change it twice a day

Here is what I do for my Rineloricaria sp. Peru which is a very close relative. This was taken from an article that I wrote for my local club.

“Feeding the fry is not a problem once you know how to do it. I left the first brood of fry in with the parents and found out the hard way that they will be eaten if left in the main tank. It took me two broods after that to figure out the best way to feed the fry. The way that works the best for me is Grindal worms. They are the perfect first food for these fish. Whiptail fry have very small stomachs and need to eat very small meaty foods many times a day. Foods such as frozen daphnia or rotifers are good for growing the fish out but not for the first 3-4 weeks as they go bad quickly if left in the tank uneaten. Grindal worms on the other hand will live in a tank for at least a day (actually many days). These worms allow fry the ability to eat at their own pace without having to feed 5+ times a day. I feed my young fry twice a day and try to make sure that there are enough worms in every feeding so each fry will be able to eat at will without running out of food until the next feeding.

At 4-5 weeks you can transition the fry to frozen foods such as daphnia or to pellets. After about 3 months I feed almost all pellets and only feed frozen foods 3-4 times a week. These fish will grow fast if kept in a large enough tanks or if enough water changes are done. At the 4-5 month mark you should be able to have fry that are 2-3” long and ready to sell. “

I hope this helps. I would love to get down to a Michiana auction and buy some so I am hoping you can get them to a point where you can sell them.

thanks for the info. Thrifty, I think I bought some of your sp.Peru at the OCA show last year?

I understand the red lizards to prefer meaty foods so I will have to pick up some grindals. The last batch I bought never took off. Again, probably victim to my weird work hours.

Any other advice is still welcome. Bring it on!

Thoughts on this article? If this is what I have to do, I may have to sell this bunch. I dont think I can afford the time

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... cle_id=419

Have others had to work this hard on L10a ?

JS

Could you clarify which part of the article you find so difficult?

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Mats

I haven’t been to the OCA (Ohio Cichlid Association Extravaganza) for two years. I really want to get back maybe this year if I have a job. I was at the Catfish Convention last year and did sell some of them from my room. I have also sold bags of them at Michiana auctions. I have a bunch of F-1 that are breeding but I need to thin out the males some, with 3-4 males per cave the eggs don’t last long. Next spring I will have more for sale.

I understand what you mean about the time with cleaning the fry tank 2 times a day and then the work hatching brine shrimp for the first month.

I would take the first step of feeding the fry meaty foods. I will be at the Michiana auction in a couple weeks and should be able to bring you a culture or two of worms. You may also want to contact Rich Eberly as he always has live food cultures.