feeding fry (L. thayeri)

[Piabinha@aol.com]

alright folks, my stupid pair of Laetacara thayeri went through 3 batches of 
eggs/fry, giving up on them 3 times, eating all the fry or eggs, since they 
are living in a 55gallon tank full of predatory tetras and catfish.  so this 
morning, as i looked over a cloud of detritus and fry from their 4th batch, i 
put in my syphon and sucked out all (or most) of the fry into an empty 10 
gallon tank.  the mother was traumatized, checking out the syphon and not 
being afraid of my hand, i almost took her out of there manually (i thought 
she might want to be with them, but i think 10 gallons is too small for her).

the fry (at least 50 or so) are now in this barebottom 10 gallon tank, with a 
heater.  i vacuumed a lot of the detritus into it.  there's some floating 
dead leaves of Vallisneria and pieces of java fern.  no lighting.  

what do i feed the damn pests?  i never had to feed fry before, they always 
find their own food in the tank.  i sucked lots of detritus into it to 
provide them with infusoria or whatever it is they pick in there.  i also 
sprinkled some flake food.

should i light this tank (to encourage algae growth)?  what else can i feed 
them?  unfortunately i don't do live foods (lack of space and time).  please 
advise.

tsuh yang chen, nyc, USA


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