Filtration for fry tank??

[Ronne]

I have a 20 gallon tank setup for fry. I am currently only using a small floss/carbon filter with a small air pump. The filter media and gravel is from my 55 gallon and is fully cycled. I do 25-30% water changes every other day on the fry tank.

Is this enough filtration/water movement? What else can I use?
Thanks for any input and suggestions!

 

[Bantam]

what species of fry are they? how big are they and how many of them do you have?

you may be ok as you are depending on what fry you have. the biggest problem i've had with fry is uneaten food rotting on the bottom. there again i don't filter fry tanks at all, i rely on heavy planting and frequent water changes.

 

[VoodooChild]

If you could take out the gravel that would help. Much easier to siphon leftover food.

 

[Bantam]

yeah i know but i like it in there for the plants and to have at least somewhere for the bacteria to live. i also think fry like to hide in the plants - although this probably doesn't have any benefit long term. thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Ronne]

The fry are Bolivian Rams, 2 days free-swimming and there are about 100 of them I would guess. I am feeding them with liquid fry food and doing water changes every other day. The gravel is only about 1/2" thick, just enough to look ok as the tank is in the living room beside the 55g.

Would an air stone be of any benefit?

 

[wetmanNY]

Plants offer surfaces for biofilm, and fry can pick through it for the live food they need. Java Moss is great for this.

An old, thoroughly matured sponge filter works well too. More biofilm to pick through.

 

[Ronne]

Wetman:

Do you mean putting the actual sponge from a filter in the fry tank? Not sure what you're getting at there.

 

[Dale W.]

Here is a link to sponge filters.
http://www.finsnfurpetsupplies.com/hydrosponge.html

These are commonly used in fry tanks.

 

[wetmanNY]

Yep. I had in mind the simplest kind, with water drawn through the sponge by an air pump. Whatever filtration you use in a fry tank, it needs to have a sponge over the intake anyway, to keep em from getting slurped up. Sponge filters are the gentlest filters.

Ronne, get a microworm culture through one of the on-line live food culture sources. Cichlid fry need live food.

 

[Ronne]

Wetman and Reefscape:

Thanks a lot for your suggestions, I'm looking into the sponge filter and microworm culture first thing in the morning.

Thanks again and anything else you can think of will be appreciated!