Best Set Up For Fry Tank?

[melknee]

My JD's have been breeding like crazy and every month brings a new brood of wrigglers. I try to get the fry out while they are hatching and I do so with a turkey baster. I know cichilds are supposed to be good parents and the mom is, she charges anything that comes near her babies including the father and the only other fish in the tank a pleco, but within a week she desserts them in favor of breeding again and when that happens she begins to look at them as a food source and the dad is all to happy to indulge.
 
I set up a fry tank with a spare 3 gallon tank I had lying around and filled it with water from the large established tank, I added an air stone, no substrate, and set up a regular filter meant for a larger tank and secured panty hose around the suction tube so no fry would get sucked up. 
 
The set up worked okay, I had to clean the panty hose every day because fry did get stuck and I worried that even with this precaution the frozen baby brine shrimp that I feed them will get sucked up into the filter. Because of this I stopped using the filter and removed it, but now things do appear to be growing in the tank. I can see the fry eating the debris but its growing much faster than they can remove it. I test the water quality daily and it reads fine, but I feel like the amount of debris in the tank and matter growing on the glass may be causing fry death. Still every time I do a water change to get rid of the debirs it seems like a lot of them die. On another note, I also heard that having a little bit of substrate for them to hide in allows them to regain energy and stop swimming, and that maybe a sponge filter may be the way to go (does this mean i can just put a sponge at the end of the suction tube to the filter?). I also have another spare 20 gal tank I could use rather than the 3 gallon. I just don't know which direction to go in to optimize their survival.
 
Any advice would be awesome, I've come to love watching the little boogers grow!

 

[bullit]

yeah get a sponge filter, get a proper one aswell. you then need an airpump to run it.

 

[snowflake311]

I have bred a few kinds of fish and have learn a lot buy trial and error. My first spawns did not end well. Now I am breeding betta fish.
For breeding just about any freshwater fish you will need. 
 
20-50Gal grow out tank depending on the kind of fish. you will need a 50 gal. 
Heater
light
sponge filter- but only for when they are bigger the first 2 weeks they don't need a filter if you are good about WC. The filter can cause more problems then good for young fry. 
Air pump- you might need 2 one to hatch your bbs and the other for the sponge filter. 
live plants- are very helpful they can supply food for fry,shelter , and keep ammonia down. Floating plants are best moss is great too because tiny bugs love to grow in it. 
BBS -aka baby brine shrimp or other type of live food. The store bought stuff is JUNK fry starve.  Live food is KEY ime ! 
Turkey baster- This will save lots of fry and your time. use the Turkey baster to do WC on few week old fry. Its easy to check if you caught any fry before they land in the bucket. 
 
The tank should be bare nothing on the bottom at all. Throw some floating plants I use Guppy grass and duckweed. Put the heater in the middle bottom of the tank. 
 
What are you going to do with all the babies?  How do you plan to find them homes?