has any one heard of this

[Kaza]

Someone I know takes the young away from the parents and handrears them. He has a wonderful sucess rate using (I've forgotton the name) a kind of bacteria. Heres what he does, takes half a cabbage and bruises the leafs puts in a bucket and pours boiling water over the leaves. Then he puts the bucket outside and waits. Firstly it will go all slimy and smell horrid, stir it every day, eventually the water will go clear and nice smelling. It is now ready to harvest, some kind of bacteria are in the water which are suitable to feed to tiny fry. he just takes some water and adds to the fry tank twice a day. Thats all there is to it. Because these bacteria live in fresh water they dont die when added to the fry tank and so dont fowl the water, meaning the fry have food avaliable all the time. After ten days they go on to normal food. He floats the fry in the parents water in containers with tiny hole in, so the water is being refreshed all the time. Hey the way I figure it is worth a go. I maybe lose 1 in three lots of fry due to parents eating them.

[Littlefish]

Hi Kaza

Infusoria is probably the word you're looking for. To produce it in smaller amounts, place some aquarium water in a jar and add some vegetable matter (eg. lettuce) and leave in a warm spot. After a day or so the water will turn cloudy, indicating it is full of infusoria. Lovely fry food.

Fred

[Kaza]

have you tried it on tiny fry Fred, eg 1 or 2 days free swimming?

[Littlefish]

Haven't tried it on discus, but it seems to work for most everything else. Very small fry like, say, white clouds (which are almost invisible on hatching) thrive on it.

Infusoria is abundant in natural ponds and would probably provide the first meal for most egg-layers.

Fred

[AdelaideAnt]

If you have java moss in a breeding or growout tank or any tank for that matter Infusoria will always be present.

Anthony

[CMDiscus]

stir a boiled egg yolk in a water sprayer and then feed them by spaying ,I reckon that is an easier way.

[Littlefish]

Infusoria are present in any established aquarium, especially a planted tank. You may have seen fry picking at your sponge filter - they're eating infusoria. However there would not be enough to support a batch of fry.

The term 'infusoria' is generally used in reference to a range of microscopic aquatic organisms which feed on bacteria arising from decaying organic matter. The cloudy water effect in jar cultures indicates a bacterial bloom, which means lots of food for infusoria. The water clears when the infusoria population is large enough to gobble up the available bacteria. You need to keep a few jars so that you can rotate as the bacteria dies off.

The beauty of infusoria is that it consists of living, moving creatures that grab the attention of fussy eaters.

Egg yolk is also a popular fry starter and is often used along with infusoria, and later on BBS, newly hatched mosquito larvae etc.

Variety is a good thing.

Fred

[Kaza]

I am all for the easiest way of doing things, this same breeder also uses a good quality fry food, not sure what it is but I am going to see him next week. So hope to pick his brains.

[Merrilyn]

We'd all be happy to know what he uses Kaza. Thanks for the information.

[jim from sydney]

Let us know Kaza......i have used this method in a non-discus tank with new borns.......makes the water pretty cloudy sometimes as does egg yolk...but both are good for the young