Fry are disappearing!!

[yashinfan]

I had 10 Zebra Danio fry alone in a 0.866 gallon tupper ware container with an air stone in the water. They had been in the container since the 24th (so for four days) and today when I went to check on them there were only four in the container. I know they are hard to find so I sat there for half an hour looking for more. I am sure that they are not there.

What could have happened to them?
If they had died would their bodies not still be in the container?

The four that were left were swimming around find and happy so I added another three fry to the container for a total of 7 now. I would really like to know what happened so as not to end up with 0.

I added some more tank water to their container last night and also accidentally left the light on in their room. Do you think either could have affected their health??

[wetmanNY]

Such small corpses disappear rapidly. Some cannibalism too.

What plants do you have that you could put in with them? Java Moss would be ideal.

Are you changing half the water every couple of days? When do they get a grow-out tank? You don't want to stunt them.

I wish I could send you some vinegar eelworms or some microworms. Does anyone nearby have some live food cultures?

[yashinfan]

Really?? cannibalism? wooww.. I didn't think those fry would be big enough to eat eachother. They are probably about 3mm total length right now. They get a grow-out tank whenever I think they are big enough but it does not appear to me that they have grown at all in the past four days.

I don't have any plants except pond floaters? Would those work? I could maybe get some hornwort from my boyfriend. Microworms would be ideal to feed these guys but I'm not having any luck finding some. So I'll just stick to 3 drops of Wardley's Egg-laying Fry Food three times a day.

Yesterday I added about 1/4 more water to the bucket but did not take any water out. Should I do this? The water is starting to smell like the food, which is pretty bad.

[yashinfan]

I just did a 3/4 of a cup water change, I added water from the tank they were rescued from previously.

[petes]

yashinfan,
i would suggest putting in fresh tap water when changing water. old tank water usually has nitrates in them... and the purpose of changing the water is to get rid of nitrates (and other harmful fish toxins). toxins can build up pretty quickly in a 1 gallon container.