what to do with fry

[jonny p]

help me with fry

hi need i some help
my swordtail just had her fry, but there only seems to be one, they must have ate the rest,
well this is the story so far
i came home from work today and when i went to do a water change, i was vacuming and all of a sudden i notice a baby half way up the tube on my syphon swiming against the suction, i stopped the syphon , then caught him and put him into a tubaware container. i put some stones and sponge into the container and im floating it in my tank.

below are links to pictures of the setup, theres about 2" of water

will he survive, if so how often will i have to change the water in the tubaware, i wont be able to get to a pet store till tomorrow to buy a proper breeding net, will my DIY fry tank work till tomorrow, how will i feed him

what i was going to do was put him in a 10 liter bucket and put a lot of gravel in the bottum and put it beside the radiator to keep it warmer than room temp, would this be a better idea?

edit i just found another one so theres two of them in there now

fry

tubaware picture

the tank picture

 

[Harlock]

hi need i some help
my swordtail just had her fry, but there only seems to be one, they must have ate the rest,

Congrats!

well this is the story so far
i came home from work today and when i went to do a water change, i was vacuming and all of a sudden i notice a baby half way up the tube on my syphon swiming against the suction, i stopped the syphon , then caught him and put him into a tubaware container. i put some stones and sponge into the container and im floating it in my tank.

Yeah, fry will sometimes get between large gravel. It's a relatively safe place for them as it provides a lot of camoflage if they remain still, which most fry are adept at. So down to business: Unless that sponge came from your main tank and is seeded with good bacteria, there's not much point putting it in there with the fry. If the stones are from your main tank, that's good. They should be carrying some of the good bacteria with them. A bit of filter media from your main tank would be very beneficial to help cycle or even instantly cycle the tupperware (after all, the bio load of two fry is really minimal). It may work until you can get to the pet shop. Fry can sometimes be fragile and a lot of times they expire for no reason you can determine. Chalk it up to bad genes or being the runt, who knows? So, remain cautiosly optomistic

below are links to pictures of the setup, theres about 2" of water

That should be fine for now. Good surface to air ratio. I have heard of some folks using tupperware or Rubbermaid to house fry even for growout tanks, but I don't suggest it as it seems only the fairly commercial types do it that way.

will he survive, if so how often will i have to change the water in the tubaware, i wont be able to get to a pet store till tomorrow to buy a proper breeding net, will my DIY fry tank work till tomorrow, how will i feed him

Well, that's a lot of water and two small fish. I doubt nitrites and ammonia would skyrocket. I it were me, I would think one day would be fine. As for feeding them: Crush up some flake food very fine. Basically, you want to make it powder. Then, using a toothpick or something equally small, put a tiny bit in the tank. You can feed fry 3 times a day.

what i was going to do was put him in a 10 liter bucket and put a lot of gravel in the bottum and put it beside the radiator to keep it warmer than room temp, would this be a better idea?

So long as the radiator didn't get too warm, sure. If you really like the idea of keeping and raising fry and have a way to "dispose" of them once they are of age (not dipose as in throw away, but to sell or use as feeders) then I suggest a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter as an inexpensive means to do so. Very simple set up, really, a 10 gallon tank, cheap hood and light, some fake plants, gravel, an air pump, some airline, a check valve and an inexpensive air pump for the sponge filter. Just keep the sponge in your main tank when not in use for fry to keep it cycled.

I hope that helps some, and good luck with the fry.

 

[jonny p]

thanks for the reply,
ive found 2 more so far, and the mother still has some inside her. i only put the sponge in there for security, for them to hide under,
i'll put some filter media in there like you told me
thanks again

 

[Harlock]

Oh, you're most welcome and good luck. By the by, more fry means you have greater chances of raising some healthy ones.

 

[aquanewb]

I am trying to raise some unexpected mollie or swordtail fry myself. My daughter noticed that there where some in my overflow swimming around. I have a sponge as my prefilter and the "big" fish cant get to them so I plan on just leaving them in there till they get bigger. They seem to eat the stuff that flows into the overflow and Ive seen them "pick" at some of the stuff on the sponge.

Good luck to you.

 

[Harlock]

I am trying to raise some unexpected mollie or swordtail fry myself. My daughter noticed that there where some in my overflow swimming around. I have a sponge as my prefilter and the "big" fish cant get to them so I plan on just leaving them in there till they get bigger. They seem to eat the stuff that flows into the overflow and Ive seen them "pick" at some of the stuff on the sponge.

Good luck to you.

Heh, it's amazing sometimes. I knew one of my mollies was expecting when I bought her, but I was not interested in raising fry, so I was content to let the fry be food for the main tank. Amazingly enough there were two that got sucked into my Penguin 125's intake and somehow avoided being whacked by the impeller. I found them when I dumped the water from the filters into a bucket during maintenance. They lived quite a while in my tank but I think eventually the ghost shrimp got them while they were resting and too slow to dart away or the head and tail light tetras just went pirahna on them.

 

[Holly9937]

This may be cruel, but I never even realized my molly was having babies until I saw one in the tank like wow where did this come from?!?! anyhow, I have never bothered with them figured they would become food, and the mother has since died, but I do have 3 that have survived and are a good size, I just figured survival of the fittest! I could really never tell if they were going to have any or not, so I didn't know what else to do!!
Congratulations

 

[jonny p]

update

i made it to the pet store yesturday. i got a breeding net, and i put the two fry that were in the tubaware into it, there are still 3 more fry in the low bright green fake grass directly below the net in this picture,

but i cant get to them with a net, the just burrow into the gravel, then come back out later. i see them every couple of minutes. any ideas on how to get them out, or could they live in the grass till there big,

but what would they be eating down there?

how long will i be able to keep the fry in the net for? the LFS said indefinatly once there is water flowing through it, and what size will they have to be before i can put them into the tank


i just got a dwarf gourami yesturday too, u can see him in the photo, he's dying to get into the net at the fry. will this be stressing the fry out, they dont seem to care there just staying away from the sides.

p.s. is this picture taking up bandwith on this site or mine the pic is on my web space? if it is i'll change it to a link instead

 

[Harlock]

The gourami may freak them out a bit, but this is a decent enough solution. In order for them to not end up as food for your other fish, the fry need to be large enough not to fit in another fishes mouth. 3/4 to an inch long is usually sufficient. If you intend to keep fry in the future, you may still want to look at buying a little ten gallon to use as a growout tank. As you can surmise, trying to raise a bi brood of fry (say 20-40) in that net would just be hard. As for the three that hide in the grass and gravel, well that's their natural instinct. That's how tropical fish have been doing it well before people like us started to put them in glass boxes inside our homes. Sometimes the fry are quick enough to survive this way. Obviously, weaker, unhealthy or diseased fry don't have the moves to shake off a hungry gourami and will end up as a snack. I have had fry in the past survive free swimming in my tank. I can't be arsed to fiddle with any foolish enough to want to remain in the tank, myself, but you could always try the gravel vac to capture them again. Again, they still have a fighting chance because their instincts are good. They hide amongst gravel and grass, just like they're supposed to. That one is your call. Good luck!

 

[jonny p]

thanks harlock,
at the moment i cant get another set up, i still live at home, and as it is my parents think im crazy when they see me carrying buckets up and down from my bedroom, plus aqaurium suplies over here in Ireland aint cheap,

i'll have to give it a good think anyway,