# Invaded by Peacock Gudgeon fry- now what?



## ced281 (Jul 6, 2012)

I don't see why your LFS won't take the peacock gudgeons. I thought they're pretty rare?

Yes, the tank is overstocked when you consider the fry. If you don't feed them, I doubt many of them will survive. Are they already free swimming? Have their yolk sacs disappeared? If the answer's yes to either of them, then they are ready to be fed.

From my experience, it's easiest to catch fry using a turkey baster. The parents might not be happy about it, but it's the most efficient way I've learned to do it. It's also easiest to do it while their wrigglers since they wont dart away or try to avoid you.

You can try feeding them hikari first bites if you don't want it to be time intensive. If you want to be gungho about it, you can feed them newly hatched brine shrimp. That comes with it's own hassles, however.


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

ced281 said:


> I don't see why your LFS won't take the peacock gudgeons. I thought they're pretty rare?
> 
> Yes, the tank is overstocked when you consider the fry. If you don't feed them, I doubt many of them will survive. Are they already free swimming? Have their yolk sacs disappeared? If the answer's yes to either of them, then they are ready to be fed.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the quick answer.
I bought these gudgeons at the LFS round the corner, this fall.I had seen them there ,didn't know what they were at the time ,and I already had shrimp in my tank.I thought they were some sort of killifish so I had doubts about buying them as shrimp roommates.I asked the guy what species they were and he showed me a photo of Apyosemion Gardneri.I had doubts about that too ,cause the mouth placement of Gardneri was not the same as the Peacock gudgeons.]
I don't blame the guys at the store for not knowing ,as it's rather a pet-shop ,not a fish-only store ,they have all sorts of creatures ,from pythons to parrots to tarantulas and chinchillas to take care of,they are all doing a great job ,and they are nice and patient to their customers.

I didn't buy them at that time ,still believing they were some sort of kili ,until one day ,I said what the hell ,and bought them.I posted a pic on this forum and it was then I got the right answer eacock Gudgeon
As I also found out they are kinda rare ,I thought they had no chance of reproducing in my tank ,and somehow hoped they would keep my shrimp from overtaking the tank ,eating the babies ,yet shrimp numbers still increased.

The fry are a 2 maybe 3 days old ,all I have as fish food are some flakes and frozen bloodworms.Should I already try feeding them finely grinded flakes?


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## ced281 (Jul 6, 2012)

If they are free swimming then you should be feeding asap, if you have the intention of raising them. Are there any other fish in the tank that could eat them?

I have no experience with peacock gudgeon fry, so I can't tell you if the parents are expected to eat the fry after they reach a certain size. I know some fish are good parents and will parent their fry for several weeks. I also know that some fish are really bad with their fry and will eat them on sight... You should do some research on your own to see what the peacock gudgeon's parenting habits are.

The closest experience I can relate to your situation is my angelfish breeding setups. I used to feed them freshly ground flakes and pellets, but had horrendous mortality rates. 70% of the fry wouldn't even touch the flakes and pellets. When I switched to Hikari First Bites, my mortality rate plummeted down to ~10%. If read similar experiences throughout other forums. However, this is my experience with angelfish fry, not peacock gudgeons so please take that into consideration. I think Petco/Petsmart should carry the First Bites.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Most stores will take the fish once they get large enough to sell, but if you know a non-chain store they'll probably give you store credit for the babies. You may be able to do that with extra cherry shrimp, too.


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

ced281 said:


> If they are free swimming then you should be feeding asap, if you have the intention of raising them. Are there any other fish in the tank that could eat them?
> 
> I have no experience with peacock gudgeon fry, so I can't tell you if the parents are expected to eat the fry after they reach a certain size. I know some fish are good parents and will parent their fry for several weeks. I also know that some fish are really bad with their fry and will eat them on sight... You should do some research on your own to see what the peacock gudgeon's parenting habits are.
> 
> The closest experience I can relate to your situation is my angelfish breeding setups. I used to feed them freshly ground flakes and pellets, but had horrendous mortality rates. 70% of the fry wouldn't even touch the flakes and pellets. When I switched to Hikari First Bites, my mortality rate plummeted down to ~10%. If read similar experiences throughout other forums. However, this is my experience with angelfish fry, not peacock gudgeons so please take that into consideration. I think Petco/Petsmart should carry the First Bites.


Normally ,the father remains with the eggs ,fanning them ,then it is said most of the newly hatched babies are eaten by the father.Not in my case ,the fish leave them alone(3 adult gudgeons and 1 oto).Can I continue to raise the fry in the 10 gallon ,along with the crowd?I don't know if I should make more larger\often water changes?


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## TraceyW (Apr 3, 2012)

If I were you I'd move the fry into their own separate tank. Less stress on your main tank and you can better concentrate food to them. Sooner or later in the current tank someone is going to want fry snacks. They're like potato chips, you can't eat just one. =D


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## GBRguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I would buy 3 or 4 if some survive


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

ced281 said:


> I switched to Hikari First Bites, my mortality rate plummeted down to ~10%.


how long do you feed this for? I'm currently feeding some kribensis fry this once a day and they're growing very well. they'd probably do alright with crushed up flake at this point though.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

I would say there is pretty good market for Peacock Gudgeons, I'd be willing to even purchase some from you.


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## sleepswithdafishez (May 23, 2013)

Thanx for the replies guys ,I would give them all to you for free ,but sadly ,I live in Europe.None of my friends is into fishkeeping ,so maybe LFS is my best option.


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## Melted (Nov 22, 2013)

Interesting fish, do they hunt down shrimp if they arent amanos?


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## ced281 (Jul 6, 2012)

scapegoat said:


> how long do you feed this for? I'm currently feeding some kribensis fry this once a day and they're growing very well. they'd probably do alright with crushed up flake at this point though.


For my angelfish I think I feed them this until they are around the time they start hooding which is ~3 to 4wks. Why don't you try feeding them the crushed flake and see how they respond?

Another non-scientific way I like to check if they're ready for a food switch is if they are getting full from the hikari first bites. If it gets to a point where it takes a substantially large amount of hikari first bites to get their bellys swollen, then it means I gotta switch to a new food. The challenge is finding what the new food is.

I would advise against switching completely to crushed flake because you might have some runts in your group that are growing slowly and can't fit the crushed flake. You might have some oddballs too that won't eat the flakes. Also, flakes from my experience tend to foul up the water faster, but that might just be from the fish not eating it up as readily as the first bites.

My typical progression for angelfish fry are:

- Day 1 of free swimming -> hikari first bites
- Appearance of caudal fins (~4wks) -> hikari first bites + ken's golden pearls (very fine grade) + frozen baby brine shrimp
- Then I think at around ~1.5 months I start experimenting with different foods like crushed pellets, crushed flakes, whole tiny pellets, etc.

The most difficult part I've always had to overcome is getting the fry to the point when they can start eating standard food. Then there are so many different things you can feed them. And if they're happy and healthy, they'll eat anything that can fit in their mouths!

My favorite food to feed my fry when they get large enough are live blackworms. I get almost explosive growth when I feed them those, but I'm not 100% sure how healthy it would be for them as a staple food. I feed a large variety in general to make sure I'm at least somewhat balanced in nutrients and am getting them accustomed to eating different types of food so they're easier to manage.

Hope that helps!


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