Days 8-9 | 'Independence' Siamese Fighter Spawn Log | HMPK Mustard Gas Female x Blue Veil Tail Male

If I hadn't already named this spawn the 'Independence' spawn, I'd have to call them 'The Horde'. It's now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the JBL NovoTom fry food is working for these little Siamese fighting fish fry. There's no way my tank would be thronged with dozens upon dozens of fish if it didn't.

In just two days, the fry have almost doubled in size. You can compare the picture below to the one taken two days previously on the last spawn log.

Also, to my immense joy, because the JBL NovoTom sits at the top of the water and doesn't sink (it is a very, very fine powder that makes use of the surface tension of the water to keep itself afloat), the fry are also, for the most part, at the surface of the water, swimming about there. This is good because unlike with other foods that sink (baby brine shrimp and microworms both sink fairly quickly, drawing the baby fish down to the bottom of the tank with them), these fry are not being encouraged to wallow about at the bottom of the tank because that's where their food is. That means that they're not swimming amongst their own filth, as often happens when fish fry spend all their time at the bottom of the tank, which can lead to illness and deformities.

I've continued to do approximately 30% water changes, pretty much convincingly busting the myth that young fry are too weak to do water changes on. I've read advice in the past that tells fish keepers not to do water changes until the fry are two weeks old and then to only do very small, very gentle water changes. This advice is bad news.

Since the fry were 3-4 days old I've been doing these fairly large water changes daily, and I have not seen the fry suffer for them at all. I have been somewhat careful not to dump the clean water right on their heads, however I also haven't been super careful and dripping the clean water into the tank through a slow siphon as some guides suggest. I simply use a glass to remove the dirty water (making sure that no fry come with the dirty water) and replace the water in the same way. It's a system that appears to be working.  These are the happiest and strongest fry I've ever had, due probably to good nutrition and constant clean water.

I'm hoping this positive trend continues throughout their growth process. Again, I've had to revise estimates of how many fry I actually have. It looks like there may be a hundred or more in there, all greedily gobbling food day and night.