Chinese Bottom Feeders

[Byron]

 

 
 
Second issue is that I would not recommend any fish to eat algae in a fry tank.  For one thing, they add to the bioload and this is something you do not want if you are raising fry to be healthy fish.  And even a group of otos in a 15g is increasing the bioload a fair bit.
 
Byron.

Is this a bad thing? Unless you have a lot of fry or are overfeeding them, the bacteria in the filters could die of without a reasonable bio load?
 

 
No, the bacteria will not die off.  Recent scientific studies have proven that the "myth" of bacteria dying for lack of ammonia is just that, a myth.  The nitrifying bacteria (or archaea in some cases) can slow down and even go into a suspended state, so to speak, sort of like a hibernation.  We discussed this in a thread a few weeks back, if you can find it.
 
There is certainly relevance to how many fry are being raised, but taking things in general terms, the fry will develop more quickly and stronger the fewer fish there are in the tank, the more frequent the water changes, and the higher the quality of food.
 
Byron.

 

[Munroco]

Thats interesting, I have about 20 cory Sterbai fry just hatched that I'm planning on raising in a plastic storage container. I can just move my filter from spare tank to that one then. I would use the spare tank but its all rocks and plants and I'd never see them.

 

[Byron]

Thats interesting, I have about 20 cory Sterbai fry just hatched that I'm planning on raising in a plastic storage container. I can just move my filter from spare tank to that one then. I would use the spare tank but its all rocks and plants and I'd never see them.

 
Filter sounds good.  I would do this in a proper tank, which can be biologically more secure, and provide shelter for calming the fry.  A sand substrate is important, some chunks of wood, and floating plants for shade--probably much like your spare tank.  I have pygmy corys spawning and growing out in my 10g.

 

[Munroco]

I'm planning on raising them for 2-3 weeks in the container. Its fairly big, about 18"*12" once they get a little bigger they can go into the spare till they are big enough to go in with their parents or in my CPD tank.
 
Feeding them in the spare tank (3ft) is the big problem. I could end up feeding brine shrimp that just die if they dont find them quickly enough or dropping in food that doesn't get eaten.

 

[Byron]

I'm planning on raising them for 2-3 weeks in the container. Its fairly big, about 18"*12" once they get a little bigger they can go into the spare till they are big enough to go in with their parents or in my CPD tank.
 
Feeding them in the spare tank (3ft) is the big problem. I could end up feeding brine shrimp that just die if they dont find them quickly enough or dropping in food that doesn't get eaten.

 
Good point.  A tip on feeding fry...dried leaves, such as oak, maple, beech (any "safe" tree) are excellent as they provide infusoria.  Studies have shown that fry provided with dried leaves always grow faster than without leaves, so clearly the infusoria is an high protein first food.  My pygmys only have this, then they move to the prepared sinking foods.  If I were serious in raising fry, I would have brine shrimp and/or microworms but I am letting nature do its thing.  A bit late for collecting leaves now, but keep it in mind.  You can buy dried leaves like almond in some fish stores, and I assume these would provide infusoria as they breakdown, but not certain.  I don't wash the leaves I collect in my back garden, so they probably carry all sorts of edible goodies.

 

[Munroco]

I wonder if you could dry leaves yourself, There certainly wouldn't be any "goodies left after microwaving them, but they could still provide infusoria.  Ive got sycamore trees in my back garden, I used some of the leaves last year, but didn't think to keep any, they would have been ideal.
 
I was planning on liquifry and brine shrimp for the first week or so. An added complication is that I'm going on holiday in 2 weeks, got someone lined up to feed my fish, but the fry aren't as easily fed.

 

[Akasha72]

Munroco - I always used a sponge filter run off an air pump for cory fry. I tried running a small internal filter but I found they just died. In the end I worked out that the flow was just too strong for them no matter how much I turned it down or tried to restrict it with things tied over the end. The sponge filter is also a good feeding station as it also grows some infusoria.
 
I also found a bare bottomed tank, stood on white paper or a white towel worked too. It meant that I could see the fry against the white background and I could also see uneaten food. I used a piece of airline to clean up and then stood a bucket higher than the tank and used the air line to drip back clean water. Again this was all they could cope with flow wise for the first few weeks. Once mine got to about a cm and started to look like cories I added some sand to the tank then. I know Byron disagrees but this was the method I used to good effect several times

 

[Munroco]

I've just moved my sponge filter from my 36" tank into the plastic container (its quite a big filter and takes up loads of room). I chucked in some dying java fern leaves and I'm acclimatising fry as I write this. I have filter on lowest air setting I could manage. Hopefully this will suit them. Some seem to have lost their egg sacs and the rest are still in the process of losing them. Hoping for a good result from this. Counted them as I put them in, more than I thought. I reckon there are 28

 

[Akasha72]

good luck. How about a thread to track their progress. I know a lot of people would be interested - myself included

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So what is a good "safe" algae eater? I also need one for my fry tank too that won't eat my fry's what would be suggested?

 
Cherry shrimp.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I've heard some pretty murderous, nasty fishlore about CAE. People say this is exactly what happens.
They're like the guy in American Psychopath.

 

[franny7261]

CAE has his own little 10 gallon tank of his own and I could not find anywhere any of the suggested algae eaters suggested by this group.  

   So I bought another Pleocostomus. I know he too will grow to be enormous. I just found a buy of a lifetime though a 75 gallon tank with its own stand and all kinds of décor` and equipment to go with for $175. The lady has 4 kids under 11 and one on the way, needs the money and no room for it anymore. Score for me and it is in really nice condition. One question can Pleocostomus live together in the same tank for like when the other one gets big too? I did find one of the Zebra Nirite Snails but when I finally got it into my tank it went bubble, bubble so I picked it up and no snail only shell. Now I have to travel over 100 miles to get another snail. I pray they get more in stock. The CS guy I spoke to said their deliveries come in on Wednesdays and that is when I am going up on. I want two as they are a little bigger than a pencil eraser and my tank is 15 gallon and I think that would be good? My big Pleocostomus is going to be so happy in my 75 gallon tank. It's for my birthday to me.