[chrisb]

It depends on the tank environment.
I raise mine without special feeding, but the tank is 180 liters and there are lots of plants, moss and of course live food (infusoria, etc) for the fry in there.
I only feed the adults (with crushed flakes that i some times wet with tiny amounts of liquid vitamins).
So, if the tank is full of microscopic life, you will get very fat and active fry without any special feeding.
Problems with such a scenario might be:
– having only fast growing plants or lack of large amounts of moss
– the filter intake killing the fry
– resent medications or other reason that caused lack of infusoria and other microorganisms.
– small tank
– too much tank cleaning (glass, substrate, algae removal, etc)
– lack of oxygen in the water
– dangerous surface films (e.g. due to lack of surface agitation)
– too much surface current (exhausting the fry which stay and hunt close to the surface)
and probably others

I’d say that just a few fry in a tank with lots of healthy moss, would not need special feeding.

a cheap student microscope would be very helpful to evaluate the biodiversity on your mosses in case of doubt.

I think it is better if the mosses reach close to the surface, with the help of vertical wood, or a moss wall, because the fry stay and hunt close to the surface.

the added advantage with such a raising setup, is that any problematic genes will be naturally screened and this is the only way to hope for a good future of the kind. raising fry with quantity as a priority, can only harm the species.

[chrisb]

improving feeding variety will be good of course, but i think the reason for not getting any fry for so long is not about feeding.
maybe you should check the water parameters and the fact that you have lots of fish in there and probably couples do not get the time and space they need to spawn successfully. overpopulation of adults could also lead to eggs being eaten as soon as they are laid.

do you see fat females carrying eggs?

i will just state my setup and feeding in case it helps:
i have 10 adults (6M, 4F) in a 180 liters heavily planted, single species tank (plants include lots of moss) and i get lots of fry, while i feed only crashed tetra pro veg flakes. – no live food at all and no special fry food.
every other day, i pre-wet the flakes in a very weak liquid vitamin concentration.
fry are fat and active and grow ok.
i have seen adults chasing fry, but never eating them when they get close.
filter intakes are covered with materials finer than air driven filter sponge.
Ph 7,2, GH 9, KH 6, TDS 160ppm, Temp 25C, (CO2 for the plants on a Ph controller)

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