Larval survival

[christian lawrence]

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hi -  you should begin to feed them immediately after swim-up (4-5 days  
post fertilization, depending on water temp). fish should go on some  
type of system with slow drip. or static container with regular water  
change.   live diets in high densities are best - paramecia, rotifiers,  
etc.  frequent feedings - 3-4 x daily.  at around 8 or 9 dpf, introduce  
artemia (brine shrimp) nauplii (newly hatched 1st instar).  do not  
overfeed artemia. slowly increase flow as you wean them.  can be weaned  
completely onto artemia by 3-4 weeks.    can use formulated powdered  
diets exclusively to get fish to point where they are feeding
exclusively on artemia, but water quality must be carefully maintained.
  powdered feeds should also be liquified before feeding because zfish
larvae do not feed efficiently at the surface if at all. these diets   are
best used as a supplement to live feeds.  regular fish system water   is
sufficient for raising purposes.

On Wednesday, Jul 7, 2004, at 03:33 US/Eastern, Esterhuyse MM
<mme2 at sun.ac.za> wrote:

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>
> Hi - I have read one message on this topic and wanted to know if I   could
> get some more advice.  I started breeding Zebrafish in our experimental
aquarium, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.  The breeding stock  
are
> doing well in terms of quantities (and quality, I think) eggs.
> Unfortunately, the hatched larvae only survive about 2 week - after   this
> period the die  - almost all at once.  I'm not sure what and when to   feed
> them, whether it require aeration, water changes etc. I tried to rear  
them
> in both embryo buffer and later the biological water from my Tilapia
culturing tanks.  Larvae from the latter survived even longer.  I'd be
very happy if someone could help me out.
> Marna Esterhuyse
>

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