5 Months Update Baby Food, Shrimplets, Brine Shrimp, Infusoria, NO filter, NO CO2, NO Ferts 5 Gallon

This is 5 months update. The fish are called Sparkling or Pygmy gourami.

How to hatch brine shrimp: It’s very straight forward. I used lukewarm tap water. No water conditioner. Cheap sea salt - same as aquarium salt. The brine shrimp lasted around 3~4 days in the plastic bottle after they hatched. The temperature in the tank was around 27°C or 81°F. I did stir the floating eggs a few times after setting it up.

How to culture infusoria: I used water from this planted tank. I siphoned water around the plants and around the gravel to catch some infusoria. I boiled the fresh spinach for around 10 minutes until the leaves were completely soft. I did this so that the bacteria would break it down much easier and quicker. You can use other veggies like lettuce or cabbage. I also added an algae wafer. But it seemed like it’s not completely necessary. Just after 24 hours of setting this up, the water had become cloudy white. That meant the bacteria bloom had occurred. Infusoria eats bacteria. This thing later did stink, though. It took around 6 days for the enough infusoria to colonize for me to use it.

About the baby pygmy gouramis:
In hindsight, I should’ve moved the babies to their own tank in the beginning.
But I didn’t want the pair to keep breeding.
In hindsight, I should’ve removed the parents earlier.
In hindsight, I should’ve made infusoria first.
In hindsight, I should’ve known an Amano might get to the fry, allegedly.
I think some were eaten by the parents, then lack of food, then the amano, all contributed to the dwindling numbers. I didn’t know there were less of them. I always thought some were hiding in the thick foliage.

The ones that survived are all different in size. Several are big and healthy, and there’s one that looks exactly the same size as a month ago! That one only eats infusoria, still. But all of them are doing well.

I’m still feeding TetraMin Baby every day hoping they would eat it one day. The uneaten food is used up by the shrimp.