# URGENT: Sumbu shell bred. What to do with the fries?



## sumertiw (Dec 20, 2013)

Hello everyone,

So I was doing a water change like 10 minutes ago and what I see is a shell (in which my female lives) has something wiggling in there. I take a closer look and find that there are many small fries. They have egg yolk attached to them. I took out my camera and took a few photos. I will post them later.

Now the question is, what do I do?
Shall I let it be just like it is? Means let the female take care of them? No other sumbu go there neither the female comes out of that place. Its liks a secluded corner of my tank under a lot of rocks.

If you suggest to take them out, what setup shall I prepare to keep them in? I have a 2.5 gallon tank ready with a sponge filter running. I cannot get BBS until Monday (if no LFS would have it around which I am sure they would not).

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I am sorry I was not ready for this and it suddenly happened.
Please respond.

Thanks,
Sumer.


----------



## Mschn99 (Dec 24, 2012)

2.5 gallon will work great for the fry. You are rushing things. If the others are leaving the fry alone, let them be at least a few more days. Alto fry is EASY to kill. When you do move them, take water from the current tank to fill the fry tank. I like to move alto fry when i can BARELY tell there is an eggsac left. Easiest way is to try to separate the female from the shell, ideally i do this when i feed by getting a net in between the female and the shell when she comes out to eat. I feed my baby alto's decapsulated brine shrimp with a turkey baster. Lots of small water changes, daily 5-10% is ideal, but no major changes. During these small water changes, get all extra food off of the bottom, and also use a turkey baster to remove any dead fry if you lose any. Getting them to about 4 weeks after the eggsac is gone is the hardest part when your learning.


----------



## sumertiw (Dec 20, 2013)

Mschn99 said:


> 2.5 gallon will work great for the fry. You are rushing things. If the others are leaving the fry alone, let them be at least a few more days. Alto fry is EASY to kill. When you do move them, take water from the current tank to fill the fry tank. I like to move alto fry when i can BARELY tell there is an eggsac left. Easiest way is to try to separate the female from the shell, ideally i do this when i feed by getting a net in between the female and the shell when she comes out to eat. I feed my baby alto's decapsulated brine shrimp with a turkey baster. Lots of small water changes, daily 5-10% is ideal, but no major changes. During these small water changes, get all extra food off of the bottom, and also use a turkey baster to remove any dead fry if you lose any. Getting them to about 4 weeks after the eggsac is gone is the hardest part when your learning.


Sorry for the late reply here.
I read your comment long ago. As you suggested, I have ordered the decapsulated brine shrimps and all that stuff.
This friday it will be a 10 days from their birth date. Do you think they would have eaten their egg sack by then? I am not sure if I'd be able to look into the shell again or not. I can just pick up the shell and put all of them in the 2.5G tank.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Sumer.


----------



## Mschn99 (Dec 24, 2012)

Figuring out when the are completely free swimming just takes time and experience. ....it took me a couple spawns to figure it out.


----------



## sumertiw (Dec 20, 2013)

Hello guys,
I am very happy and proud while writing this post.

Let me start from the day I posted this thread:

So I was excited and worried when I saw those fries with a big yolk sack attached to their bellies. Mschn99 and Russ had replied to my posts and I went ahead according to their suggestions. I let the fries be in their shell with the mumma for 7 more days.
Here's what I had seen that day:



























In those 7 days I gathered all the important stuff that I was about to need:

a 2.5 gallon tank from petsmart
a 50W Eheim jager 
small sponge filter
Brine shrimp hatchery base
Brine shrimp eggs from brineshrimpdirect.com
aquarium salt, epsom salt to hatch the brine shrimps,
a turkey baster (I did not realize the importance of this tool when someone suggested me to buy this. It is undoubtedly the most important tool you can have while raising fries)

I filled this tank with the water from the main tank. After 2-3 days of testing, I was also able to match the temperature of both the tanks to +- 0.2F.
On the 7th day, I took out the shell (Sumbu mom was still inside the shell) and placed it in the growout tank. Sumbu mom took an hour to get out of the shell. She came out, I caught her and put her back in the main tank.

The fries were not coming out at all. I waited till the next day but no luck. So I had to turn over the shell to get them out. They all came out nicely and were sitting on the bottom. I had BBS ready. I cannot explain the joy I had when they ate BBS for the very first time. They were literally jumping to eat BBS. They were like small gobies that would sit on their pectoral fins.
Their tummies were orange.
I change water every night. Sometimes I change 40% sometimes 60% and sometimes 30%. I wash the sponge filter everyday with the water that comes out of the tank. It sucks up all the uneaten BBS. Then I add the water from the main tank with 5 ml Seachem stability to replenish the bacteria.
So its been 23 days since I posted this thread. Roughly they are about 26-28 days old today.
Since last 4-5 days they have started swimming a bit. They do sit at the bottom for most of the time but now they swim and explore around the heater and filter. They are still eating BBS three times a day with daily water change.
Here's a video of them:





Now a few more questions for you all:

*When can I change their food? And to what? Shall I start feeding Repashy spawn and grow? Or crushed NLS thera A+ or cichlid formula?

Now they go and hide behind the sponge filter everytime I make a sudden movement. Shall I add some shells in there? I am thinking of covering the sides of the tank.
When would be the time for them to go in a bigger tank?
*

Thanks all for reading and special thanks to Russ and Mschn99,
Sumer


----------



## steve617 (Nov 10, 2003)

Congrads on the spawn they are very nice. Awesome video. Id like to share it with my friends on my calvus and comps fb group. Russ really helped me a lot as well on my comps first spawn. If it was me, I would add some shells. Also when I started feeding my comp fry crushed NLS flake food at about 6 weeks and had them totally converted in 2 months of age. However I think the sumbu would take longer due to their size.


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

NICE video btw


----------



## sumertiw (Dec 20, 2013)

Thanks for your appreciating comments friends.
Its you guys and this forums which helped me a lot in this whole process. I couldn't have come this far without your help.

Thanks,
Sumer.


----------



## anthraxx4200 (Aug 16, 2012)

i know this post is old and its a longshot, but could u perhaps share your source of sumbu? *** been looking for some for ages it seems but nobody ever has any. thanks and wonderful fish


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Great job! Awesome video!


----------



## Chili_girl (Jan 19, 2014)

Very nice video, very professional. I have also been looking for some Simbu shell. If you know where to get them, please send PM. Thanks.


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Wow! Nice video.

Couple suggestions:
1) I would to feed freshly hatched BBS while they still have the yolk sac. I had a couple BBS hatcheries going at the same time and really tried to feed while they have the yolk sac (so much more protein,... So I am told).

2) I would also add some environmental enrichment to the tank too. New altolamp fry are programmed to seek shelter. In a bare tank, that is a stressor (IMO).

Do you have an update on this batch of fry?

Cheers,
Russ


----------

