Journal of the American Killifish Association

Fry care and feeding

Developed eggs are taken from the petri dishes and placed in a portion of peat sufficient to form a 5 to 10 mm layer at the bottom of a hatching container. Fresh water is added to the peat and eggs. I use RO water that is at room temperature. The peat with eggs is swirled, large clumps of peat broken up, and left to stand overnight (I normally hatch eggs in the evening). In the morning the fry are removed to a new container. To collect the fry the water of the hatching container can be poured into the fry-rearing container. Most fry will flow out with the water. The remaining fry can be spooned out of the shallow water of the hatching container. The hatching container is refilled and stirred. This is repeated three times over three days. On the fourth day the peat is redried. The same portion of peat is reused multiple times with developed eggs added to it and then inundated. Once the fry are removed from the peat they can be fed. Feeding the fry over the peat can result in uneaten food dying in the peat, fouling it, and killing any remaining eggs in the peat. The fry are large enough to eat newly hatched Artemia nauplii and microworms (Panagrellus species). I have found that a mixed diet of fresh Artemia nauplii and enriched microworms or small Grindal worms is able to get the fish to sexable size in three to four weeks, and that growth on the mixed diet was faster than on Artemia nauplii alone (Figure 4). A diet of unenriched Artemia alone does not achieve this rate of growth. Artemia can be enriched using a product such as SELCO2 .

Microworms have high levels of fats, especially arachidonic and gammalinolenic acid (Table 2) that are needed for growth and nervous system development. The use of microworms on their own is not recommended due to the low fiber content of the worms which could cause intestinal issues.