Feeding ABN fry....

[tremper]

I've finally had a few ABN clutches come to fruition and have been trying to bulk them up via pre-boiled zucchini. They love it, it's like a chow line in the military. It is making my water very slimy however. I'm doing frequent water changes etc but its quite a mess.

Any recommendations / alternatives?

That said, these fry are pretty awesome (to me at least). About 70% are long tail, the remainder tweens (not short, but not long either). Most dark black, a few lighter brown / green it seems, and about 15 or so percent (genetically it can't be 15% but I'm clueless on how the gene thing goes) are albino, most yellow, some much closer to true white which I've been looking for so woo hoo.....

So if anyone is looking for ABN youngsters in Sept, let me know.....

 

[jonclark96]

I found that most of the plecos I've kept enjoyed the Xtreme catfish scrapers. Maybe worth a shot.

 

[Becca]

I feed mine a combination of things:

Raw cucumber
Dried Banana leaves (find them in frozen section of international grocer, thaw, hang to dry, tear into strips)
New era pleco food
Ken's catfish sticks
Ken's algae wafers
Sinking shrimp wafers (Hikari, I think)
Little bits of banana
Steamed broccoli
Raw or lightly steamed zucchini

I'm lazy about water changes and don't find that they make too much of a mess with any of this stuff, but I do run 2 sponge filters in a 10 gallon tank for them and keep snails around for clean-up.

 

[toddnbecka]

I've bred and raised thousands of BN (and even more snails, lol) on a staple diet of NLS Grow pellets, and occasionally Ken's Premium veggie flake or canned green beans for variety in their diet.

 

[tremper]

Thanks guys.... not sure why the zuchinnis are creating a pretty decent slime but I'm trying a few other things that seems to be a bit more water quality friendly.

That said, if anyone needs some abn fry, good grief, let me know.

 

[toddnbecka]

Tiny BN fry can be safely eaten by larger fish, it takes some time for the spines to develop and make them dangerous. I used to toss excess BN fry into cichlid tanks, and while most get snatched right up there were always a few that grew out.