newcichlid Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Hi All Was curious to know from successful breeders the mortality rate for altolamprologus frys. Please state the variant (eg. Calvus black, compressiceps) and the approx rate (or your best guess). Thanks Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I've had absolute disasters with black calvus in the past but always due to negligence or stuffups but generally speaking there's no reason for altos to be any more or less fragile than any other similarly sized fry. The current batches of Alto comp kigoma "firefin" I have in my growout tanks have had better than 95% survival. I observed 1 or 2 deaths in each spawn of 50+ fry as a consequence of transferring from the shell to their fry-tank but have observed no casualties since. but.... they're still small (taken from the shell late in october and mid november last year) so there's plenty of opportunity for disasters yet :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Any tips on that transfer to the fry tank Laurie? Not hijacking, still somewhat on topic I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Agree with chorrylan. Not really any different to any other fry. I think most of us have had disasters at some stage. Altos I have bred (black calvus, gold comp, goldhead), and breed have survival rates of 95-100 percent. I usually use a large fry saver (10+ litres) and leave it in the main tank for at least a month. This way they are a decent size (close to 1cm) when transfer time comes. I find they begin to get fairly hardy about then. My fry saver is a plastic container with mesh at each end. I can lift it clean out of the water, and there is a couple of cm of water still in the bottom. Just carry the whole thing to the fry tank which has just been filled with that same water and drop them in. Never had any wipeouts from a transfer process. Like Laurie, its before or after that and is always from doing something stupid. I have found with altos that it helps them alot to be with something else that is a more exuberant feeder. This helps them be more enthusiastic about feeding. once they are with their new pals in the fry tank for a day or two, they are hanging around at the surface at feed time like the other fish, trying to tank it from your hand. They seem to grow a little quicker in this environment also. cheers, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAL05T Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 . I have found with altos that it helps them alot to be with something else that is a more exuberant feeder. This helps them be more enthusiastic about feeding. once they are with their new pals in the fry tank for a day or two, they are hanging around at the surface at feed time like the other fish, trying to tank it from your hand. They seem to grow a little quicker in this environment also. I raised a batch of black calvus with a batch of N. cylindricus and found the above to be very true, the calvus were shy at first but once the cylindricus went in they became more outgoing and fed with more vigour and as far as I can tell faster, I sold them at 2.5-3cm and it did not take long at all to get to that size. Cheers, Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Thanks for the info/input guys. How would half a dozen 6cm Tropheus Duboisi go with a trio of adult size Alto Comps? I have no interest in breeding the Duboisi at all. Would the Duboisi interfere with the Alto Comps breeding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcichlid Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Altos I have bred (black calvus, gold comp, goldhead), and breed have survival rates of 95-100 percent. I usually use a large fry saver (10+ litres) and leave it in the main tank for at least a month. This way they are a decent size (close to 1cm) when transfer time comes. cheers, Jason That may explain why i have 100% mortality rate so far. I kept my calvus frys in a 2L frysaver in the main tank, and they start dropping like flies after about a week. By the end of the month, all dead. Now I am getting a bigger frysaver (about 6-7L) to transfer them into soon. They are about 1.5 weeks old and i have lost 7frys already (this 2L frysaver has about 80+frys). The other 2L frysaver has 55frys and going ok so far. Also changed from frozen to live bbs. Having better results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricyellowz Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I dont think so at all. My calvus and comps have bred in tanks with other fish and by themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YAL05T Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Also changed from frozen to live bbs. Having better results. Live bbs are great, but I also put some nls grow in a mortar and pestle to make a really fine powder and they go crazy on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamzaLH Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Alto's are lazy feeders ... My first batch of Gold Comps did the same thing ... slowly dropped like flies ... That was 9 years ago ... Now i dont lose a single 1 that i know of ... I have tried adding more active fry in the mix and have found that to work, but nothing beats freshly hatched baby brine ... The little wrigglers tend to excite them into feeding ... Annoying little pricks at times ... Only fish that i know thats too lazy to go eat and will die because of it ... Hamza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Having the exact problem with tret fry...too slack to get 3 inches off the bottom, or even look for food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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