Baby Frys Stuck In Filter - Please Advise

[Lorraine1983]

Hi

I decided to put my molly in the bio tank after seeing one die of destress from being placed in the fry catcher. She gave birth last night!! yey its my first live birth!!

Anyway the filter on the bottom of the tank i relised some were swimming in and around the filter! I have had to turn it off the filteer to take the babbies out. Thankfully there all OK. But i'm terrified to turn it back on.

What can i do? How long can i leave it off for?? Any Advice? I'd really appreciate as much advice as possible. Thanx x

 

[Gouken]

put the babies in a net breeder.

 

[Lorraine1983]

put the babies in a net breeder.

I've used a net and found the fish got caught up in there and destressed.. Or am i not doing something right?

 

[shelaghfishface]

you could cover the sucky bit of the filter ( sorry for that naff description,but not sure if its an internal or external filter) with ladies tights, cut to size and secured with cotton.ive done this several times and saved umpteen fry this way.

congratulations too

 

[Lorraine1983]

you could cover the sucky bit of the filter ( sorry for that naff description,but not sure if its an internal or external filter) with ladies tights, cut to size and secured with cotton.ive done this several times and saved umpteen fry this way.

congratulations too

That sounds like my descriptions lol Its an internal filter... Thats an excellent idea.. I will start chopping my tights up now - not like i'm going to need them in this weather anyway. Thanx

 

[Dogson]

Did you mean Bio tank or Biorb tank? I had a guppy in a biorb and she gave birth and yes they all got sucked in the filter and i had to keep releasing them...........eventually I lost them all!
The reason for this I have now found is that My tank was not planted enough to provide somewhere for the fry to natural hide so of course they hid in and around the large biorb media down by the filter. I have since put a 4 or five plants in my biorb and the more that you can get to float or grow right at the top of your tank then that is where they will stay as my new clutch of guppy fry are doing at the moment I have about 15 fry as of friday just gone and they always stay up top now I wonder how many I will return to as mt biorb is at work???

 

[saltynay]

Frogbit or duckweed will help as they will hide at the top.

 

[OldMan47]

Guppy fry tend to hide at the top like swordtail fry. Inn my own experience, I don't see molly fry hiding at the top. I find that mine hide, when they bother to hide, closer to the bottom of the tank. This means that any filter that pulls water from close to the bottom can be a hazard to them if they don't stay away from the filter. The cut up tights are a much better solution than leaving the filter turned off. The filter needs to be left on as much as possible to help control the ammonia production of the adult fish, and now the fry as well. You should be aware that the tights will quickly plug up and may need to be cleaned off as often as every couple of days.