How many fry to a 10g tank?

J

JamesBenjamin

Hopeless Romantic
Nov 7, 2002
114
0
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NoVA
www.thejoyofliving.net
Hey guys, here's a question for you.

I have a 10g tank with about 60 or so fry in it, from a few days old to about a month old (every week or so we find fry in the 'main' tank, and add them to the 'grow' tank)

My question is this, will they be ok in this tank till they're big enough to go in the 'main' tank? Most of the babies are swordtails, there are maybe 10 mollies. Ammonia and nitrites are at zero, nitrates are at about 10ppm, but with water changes, I can keep that down.

Should I buy a larger 'grow out' tank for them? Or just keep them in this one with frequent water changes to combat nitrAtes?

There is also a whole mess of java moss, and some hogwart (hornswart?) in there too, as well as a whole mess of snails.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

My main concern in moving them would be the cycle of the 'new' tank.
 
I would get a larger tank or start selling or giving away the bigger babies. If they are a desent colored hten you may could get a few bucks for them at a store near you. Or if you have larger fish you could use some of the babies as feeders. I would keep the mollies and swordtails seperate because as the mollies get older they will need more of a brackish water. Hope that helped. Have a good day.
 
I raise my guppy fry in 10 gallon tanks till they are about 1". Then they get moved to the 30 gallon to grow up. I've had as many as 56 fry in a 10 gallon at one time. I know it's way over crowded. So I don't need that pointed out.

The setups on the tanks are as follows. I have 3 10 gallon tanks.
Each has 2 small tetra filters, a heater, a airstone, and lighting. I'll split the fry up if it's possible, and I'll also only run one filter if I feel both aren't needed... But the guppies I have keep them full most of the time.

They all end up in the 30 gallon though except the males. I only keep the attractive larger males for breeding purposes. I've given away a lot in the past or I'll take them to a local store for store credit, but the recent purchase of a tiger shovelnose will end that.

The 30 gallon now holds 2 males and about 9 females of various sizes. The tank setup is a emporer 280, heater, lighting, airstone, and a medium size tetra power filter that I use when the tank gets too overcrowded.

In my honest opinion (and I may be wrong) a 10 gallon tank can hold 60 fry. But once the fry start getting bigger they should be moved. And I don't do that till they are about 1 inch. Filtration is a must though. I've never been a fan of sponge filters and I don't have a problem with losing a lot of fry to the power filters. At the most I'd say I've lost 2-6. But I can't blame it on the filters since I've never seen them inhaled in the intake before.
 
Yeah, once they get a little bigger, we'll be moving them into the large tank, and I was thinking about getting a cichlid of some sort sooner or later, so some will end up as feeders too.

Thanks guys!
 
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