18
One advantage of live versus dead food could be the movement stimulating
feeding behaviour. Another possible advantage is that live food does not pollute
the water as much as they stay alive for some time, compared with dead food,
which pollutes as soon as it is introduced.
So, the first two weeks that the fry were free swimming, I fed them infusoria.
From the second week of free-swimming onwards, I started feeding microworms. Newly hatched baby brine shrimp were occasionally fed another
week or so onward. However, microworms are so much less of a hassle than
brine shrimp. I don‘t think the extra cost and hassle of hatching brine shrimp are
really that worth it. I did feel the urge to spoil them with brine shrimp every now
and then though. You can tell that the fry are eating by bulging tummies the colour of the food (white for microworms and orange for baby brine shrimp) and
poo hanging off their bums.
Because I was feeding only live food, I didn‘t feel the need to do as many water
changes as some sources recommended. I did 25 to 50 % water changes once
a week on the weekends, though I occasionally did a mid-week water change.
Water changes in the first couple of weeks were more fiddly. Though I was siphoning with an air-hose, I occasionally sucked some fry up accidentally.
It is now August and the fry are more than three months old. In the first couple
of months their main diet was microworms. In the last month, larger worms such
as live grindal worms, whiteworms and blackworms have been their main diet.
Only in the last couple of weeks have I been weaning them on to dry foods such
as micro pellets.
The interesting thing is that I now think I can sex some of them, even though
they are only 30 mm long. I can even recognise what I think is a pair engaging
in mating rituals! I am not going to attempt to save their spawn even if they manage to. The little 38-litre tank has been rather overcrowded with the 40 survivors
that I have.
To help ease the overcrowding, I brought eighteen of these juveniles to the
CDAS (Canberra and District Aquarium Society) auction on Tuesday the 17th of
August and sold them.