Day 6 Of Tank Cycle - Ammonia 5ppm ..and Just Spotted Fry In The Tank

[simonmac2]

while doing the ammonia test on the tank today, my better half and daughter spotted wriggling things in the cycling tank...

it is a leaf!! was poo poo'd and once i focussed on them, i could see they are in fact fry.

i am assuming the filter will have sucked up some as there are only 5 that can be counted in 180l

am i best just to leave them in there, or make some kind of daring SAS style rescue and put them in a fry basket in the "holiday" tank.

I would leave them as food, but the daughter knows there are there. The only fish that have been in there are zebra danios...unless they were eggs from the plants i put in...in which case they could be anything.

they are small and colourless )

 

[Miss Wiggle]

they're highly unlikley to survive in the tank while they go through the fishless cycle. If you can catch them and transfer them to the other tank that would be better.

 

[waterdrop]

I forget, what got brought over from the main tank that could have held fry?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[simonmac2]

the Zebra Danios were in the tank for 2 days...but the plants have been in there since the beginning. in the lfs the plants were in with tanks with fish.

The "rescue count" is up to 17, and (to my VERY untrained eyes) look like 2 different species.

some of the fry have "dark googly eyes and brainy bits, and the tails are seethrough" to quote the 5yr old fish momma, while some seem to be dark from googly eyes to tail tip.

Daughter managed to swim without armbands or float this morning so i bought her a breeding net on the way back from the pool.

fry safe and we suspect still hatching somewhere in the tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Lots of fun hearing of your fry simon.

Since you have lots of young swimming things in mind of late I'll risk going off-topic with a comment about the larger of your swimmers: It can help early swimmers to be told to behave more like a floating stick rather than bending joints too much. She wants to be long and straight and on top of the water. Also, for the basic crawl stroke, it is good to explain that it is not all about pulling, but to think of it as "skating" your hands out over the water and letting yourself glide before the pull part of the stroke. Good crawl is all about this gliding and being on top of the water, rather than anything muscular or "busy." (apologies if you are a swim coach or something, lol!)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[simonmac2]

np WD, i lacked subtlety with swimming at school - mainly swam butterfly and so my crawl developed that, almost sine wave, movement - never able to get myself out of the habit of it.

the wee one is doggy paddling rather than maintaining a stroke - i'll let pool lessons take over soon

on the fry subject -

moved them into an ice cream box (1 litre) with [cycling] tank water. Had the intention to move them into the holiday tank in the breeding net - but the breeding net is too big for the holiday tank - didn't leave the danios much room.

ammonia tested and sitting at 4ppm with tank water topped up with holiday tank water (0ppm). Changed 75% of the holiday tank water - ammonia 0ppm. gradually changed the water in the ice cream fry box, got down to 0ppm

phew! took 3 hours.

the water is cold - no heater in tub. first day of summer, so it is raining and 14'C - typical.

I'll put the tub on top of the tank to give it some gentle warmth.

On the assumption that the fry ARE zebra danios, the crushed up fish flakes should do i believe. BUT, if they are something else (a) any recomendations on food, and (b) is it possible to identify species as fry?

this is turning into a nightmare!

management [aka wife] is now insisting i go for eye test - will never live it down

 

[waterdrop]

thnk gd we've retained you for our morning humor

 

[simonmac2]

just ordered some fry food - as opposed to fried food

hopefully they will survive until it arrives.

am trying the crushed flakes until that happens.

fry now in 2 distinct groups. "happy swimming top of tubbers", and "not swimming but lying on the bottom of tubbers"

am assuming that the bottom lyers are going to "check out" of the fry tank once nipper goes to school tomorrow...

short of prodding the fry with a chopstick or something, is there a non stressful (to the fish) way of ascertaining how alive they are?

as they are so small, I am guessing that they don't float to the surface upside down?

Regards

Simon