Yeepee, it's day four post-hatching, and the tiny creatures have started swimming around in the tank, and it’s such a beautiful sight to view. Just like babies, they look so cute and adorable in the tank, moving around like tiny dots.
IT's the first day of feeding, and I'm amazed that something so small carries life and has functional organs, though still in the early stages.
Technically, today isn’t their first day of eating. According to my brother, once the fries receive life, usually by day two after hatching, their first meal is actually the eggshell that covered their heads. Survival starts early for these little ones.
Catfish are naturally carnivorous, and this instinct shows from birth. Between days two and three, the fertilised fries feed on the unfertilized eggs that dropped into the water during the hatching process. If you look closely, the unfertilized eggs are the whitish spots and particles in the tank, while the living fries are the dark, moving specks.
By day four, we introduce them to their first real feed. It’s fascinating how quickly their natural instincts help them detect the food in the water. Because they’re so tiny, their feed size matches them. Lol
They start with Coppens Feed for Catfish Larvae (0.2 mm). This feed contains all the essential nutrients and vitamins they need for rapid growth, just like baby food for human infants.
Coppens feed is a high-protein formula (55% crude protein) with floating properties that make it easier for the fries to pick up. Although it’s more expensive than other brands, my brother, who’s quite the expert, vouches for its quality and results.
For the first two weeks of their lives, the fries will be fed four times daily. But since today is just the beginning, we’re starting with two feedings so they can get used to the feed and its scent.
Another vital part of today’s process was their first cleaning, known as siphoning. This involves removing the remains of unfertilized eggs from the tank. By now, the fries have fed on most of them, leaving behind white eggshells that, if left too long, can pollute the water and infect the fries, and we definitely don’t want that.
Cleaning a tank that’s half full of water and filled with such tiny creatures is a delicate process. It must be done with great care to avoid stressing the fish or introducing infection. For siphoning, we use two clean, disinfected buckets and a hose. All equipment is washed with soap and water, then rinsed with a salt solution.
The hose is lowered gently into the tank, targeting spots where debris has settled. The mixture of water, debris, and fish is drawn into the bucket. After adding clean water and letting the debris settle for about 10 minutes, the hose is used to draw the fish fries back into a clean bucket. This process is repeated twice before the fries are carefully returned to the tank. Then the debris is discarded.
It’s essential to note that siphoning stresses the fries, so they should not be eaten immediately afterwards. Feeding them too soon could kill them. In our case, we siphoned one tank that had more debris, so those fries skipped their morning meal. The other tank, which didn’t require cleaning, had its first feeding session.
From tomorrow, both tanks will begin their whole feeding routine, four times daily. I can’t wait to see how much they’ll grow in the next two weeks.