3 week old platy fry

[Bindel2303]

Hi, I have 8, 3 week old platy fry, and they are doing fantastic. I have been feeding them Hikari First Bites which is formulated for their balanced nutrition and it has been working well, they have grown a lot. I was just wondering if I should start switching them to something a little larger. They are still pretty small but the microscopic pellets seem maybe to small for them, plus i think its what keeps causing the tank to turn a funky green and killing the plant in there. I was thinking about switching to baby brine shrimp for one meal a day but if i do how does that work, I've never hatched them before. Any suggestions people are willing to throw me about raising fry I am all ears and appreciative.

[JustOneMore20]

You could crush up some flakes to feed them. Thats all I fed my 2 Platy fry. Mine were probably around 3 weeks when I found them in my tank.

[darkfalz]

My baby platys were finicky eaters at first. They liked Sera micron only. But after getting their appetites stimulated by microworms (very easy to cultivate) then they accepted Sera mikropan readily and other crushed foods. Rearing fry is much easier in a bare bottomed tank.

[emc7]

They should be big enough for flakes crushed with your fingers.

Other things you could try:
Azoo artificial artemia is a little larger than first bites and easier than baby brine. It not a replacement for bbs for new-hatched, but since yours are already taking powdered food they should go for it, make them nice and red.

Powdered liverbearer fry food (not the liquids)

Hikari frozen, encapsulated daphnia. It comes in neat cubes and has vitamins added.

The plant-killing green water is algae and is likely keeping your nitrate from skyrocketing because of all that extra food. Its the amount of protein rich food, rather than the specific kind, thats feeding it. Reduce your feeding, as fry get older they eat bigger food less frequently. You could try changing water or blackout (also bad for plant), but by itself green water won't hurt your fish (It may be a sign you should change more water). If you are ready to try culturing live food, harvest that green water and feed it to a daphnia or monia culture.

[Bindel2303]

Ok, thats a lot of info and I'm still pretty new to this. I've done a lot of reading but I'm not quite sure I got everything. First what are Sera Micron and Sera Mikropan? I have heard of microwroms and that they are easy to cultivate but how do i get them and do that, and if I do how much should i feed them. Same thing with bbs, how do i hatch them, how often, and how much should i feed my fish? I was thinking about starting crushed flake food but wanted to make sure they are still getting the protein. Is Azoo artificial artemia just like first bites but in larger pellets or is it something else? Also I keep reading people mentioning daphnia but haven't been able to figure out what that is.

As far as the alge goes, I am doing regular water changes, but you are right the problem is too much food. I have tried limiting it as much as possible, but with a food so small it is kind of difficult, especially making sure they get enough to eat, since they don't like to eat of the bottom, even though it is a bar bottom tank. I am glad to hear though that it should be keeping the nitrate down. At the end you said something about using the watter to cultivate something, how?

Sorry for all the questions, I've done what i can from reading, but this always seems to be more helpful. I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can. Thanks for any input.

Chris

[emc7]

Daphia are small filter feeding crustaceans that among other things eat algae in the water. Some people go to great lengths to get a "green water culture" to feed to their daphnia which they feed to their fish. Put some of your tank water out in the sunlight, add more water and see if you can keep it going.
If you can, you can get a daphnia culture and try to keep than alive. Artificial artemia is a floating powder thats intended to be a replacement for bbs, its larger than first bites, but its still very small. For microworms, you need a plastic container, a starter culture, a starchy medium such as instant potatoes or baby oatmeal, and yeast. You can get the culture mail order or from a local fish club and the rest from the grocery store. Usually you can get detailed instructions for raising any live food from the places that sell starter cultures.

Live food is great, but most people don't bother with it until the have several tanks of hungry fish. Once you get it going, live food can be cheaper than flake and frozen.

I suggest you try the frozen daphnia. All the fish in your tank should eat them. Just be careful not to overfeed. In the past frozen foods didn't have a lot of nutrition, but now the makers supplement them and they still smell appetizing to fish.

Have you got a "mini-siphon? (a one-inch diameter tube attached to a small hose). I find it helpful for siphoning my bare-bottom fry tank. Also squeeze out your filter media every water change. Its really amazing how much fry food a sponge can hold.

[Bindel2303]

The only siphon I have is to big for the small tank I have my fry in. I've been cleaning the tank every 7- 10 days to prevent too much build up. I dont replace all the water when i do that but do about a 25% water change.

Do they sell daphnia or bbs in freeze dried form, and if they do what do you think about that? do those work ok. The only reason I ask is because I have dealt with frozen food before and its just such a hassle.

Do you think I should dabble in bbs or stick to one of the others you suggested?