Fry/egg Tank

[hanny93]

As some of you may know, I've been blessed with a batch of Cory eggs, and as we speak more are spawning.

I didn't intend to breed my cories, but I'm guessing my water is just right because half my back wall was covered in eggs (over exaggeration, but there were a lot!) and now thyey've decided to spawn behind the thermometer, clever cories, right next to the filter intake in a small space where the gouramis can't swim to

My questions are:

Is a sponge filter sufficient, and how do you set it up? Mine isn't clearing the water at all!
What temperature should it be at and is a 50W okay for an 8 litre tank (gonna upgrade to a bigger Clear Seal one on payday!) or is it too powerful?
And is it okay to put two different batches of eggs in one fry tank (1 batch spawned yesterday evening, one today).
Shall I put substrate in or just leave it bare bottomed, and should i put plants in?
Also, do they need a light? They are in the hallway so there is normal room light, but are on a shelf type thing under my main tank, so there isn't a lot of light getting to them.

Thankyou in advance for any help, its much appreciated!

 

[Monty-2010]

not sure about the set up of the sponge filter
Keep the temperature at the right level for the type of cories you have
50w should be fine if it has a thermostat and shuts of when the water gets warm enough
2 batches of eggs are fine to put in together
leave it bare bottomed that way it'l be easier to clean
they don't need a great deal of light just enough so you can see what is going on in there

 

[hanny93]

Yeah, neither am I, just don't want to be running it if it's not doing anything.

And I've got it at 26C, it's got 'a reliable thermostat' and a 2 year warranty, so I'm guessing it's pretty reliable.
Got it for £11 at a backstreet shop, fish were in excellent health and there was a huge variety, definately choosing that over my local!
Although they did have a huge sailfin plec and a 7" oscar in what cant have been more than 20 gallons

But yeah I've left it barebottomed so its easier to clean, just didnt want to do something wrong!
And I can see in fine, its on a white towel aswell which makes it easier to see.

How do I know if any have 'gone bad', do they go noticeably white?

 

[Baccus]

If the eggs are fertile they should fairly quickly start to turn darker unfertilized eggs will stay white and grow fungus pretty quickly, these must be removed otherwise the fungus can spread to all the good eggs as well, resulting in destroying the whole lot. Its fun to actually see the fry unfurl from there eggs and they will survive for a day or so on the yolk. Problems can arise if you still have unhatched eggs with fry that are starting to feed and other fry not yet feeding, if any uneaten food is left in the tank/tub or what ever you are raising them in. Some weed in the tank wouldn't hurt the fry because firstly it gives them a feeling of security and it would most likely have minute food stuffs (perfect for tiny mouths and quite possibly thier first meal) on it if taken directly from the adults tank. I always raise my fry in a suspended breeding net in the parents tank positioned where it gets good water movement through it via the filter outlet/ return. I always put some weed in the net as well simply because its easier to gently brush the sticky eggs off the razor blade onto the weed than to try and get them off any other way. If you do have eggs on weed just make sure the eggs stay below the surface as I suspect being too close to the top of the water and possibley ending up partially exposed will kill the eggs. I often see my fry grazing the sides of the net so I am pretty sure they are getting other foods, algea, microscopic organisms along with the food I give them. The bonus I see with having the fry suspended in the parents tank is that the water temp and stats stay the same to what they were laid in and the adults (along with my Bristle noses and cherry shrimp) clean the outside of the net ensuring the eggs are still getting good water movement around them. The down side is having a bit of an eye sore net held in place with a heavy duty clamp, ruining the otherwise natural look of the tank. A small price to pay in my opinion for getting to raise cory babies which truly are cute

.
Congrats on the unexpected eggs

 

[Tizer]

be warned, your nitrate level and ammonia level will spike very quickly even with just small fry in the tank, you might do better to get a net in your main tank and allow them to grow in that until you can cycle the sponge filter properly. every time i've moved my fry to an 8 litre clearseal tank they have died and ghosted up within hours. My sponge filters are now cycling in my main tank for a month before i even bother moving them again. my origional plan was to do a 50% daily water change or even twice daily to keep the water fresh but its just not good enough without a cycled sponge

 

[hanny93]

Got free swimming fry now! So tiny!

They're in a makeshift breeder I found in the cellar, pretty much a breeder trap that you buy in the shops!

Now what I want to know is, what can I feed them other than baby brine shrimp/liquifry as I dont have any at the moment and my lfs is closed.

 

[vickers]

If the eggs are fertile they should fairly quickly start to turn darker unfertilized eggs will stay white and grow fungus pretty quickly, these must be removed otherwise the fungus can spread to all the good eggs as well, resulting in destroying the whole lot. Its fun to actually see the fry unfurl from there eggs and they will survive for a day or so on the yolk. Problems can arise if you still have unhatched eggs with fry that are starting to feed and other fry not yet feeding, if any uneaten food is left in the tank/tub or what ever you are raising them in. Some weed in the tank wouldn't hurt the fry because firstly it gives them a feeling of security and it would most likely have minute food stuffs (perfect for tiny mouths and quite possibly thier first meal) on it if taken directly from the adults tank. I always raise my fry in a suspended breeding net in the parents tank positioned where it gets good water movement through it via the filter outlet/ return. I always put some weed in the net as well simply because its easier to gently brush the sticky eggs off the razor blade onto the weed than to try and get them off any other way. If you do have eggs on weed just make sure the eggs stay below the surface as I suspect being too close to the top of the water and possibley ending up partially exposed will kill the eggs. I often see my fry grazing the sides of the net so I am pretty sure they are getting other foods, algea, microscopic organisms along with the food I give them. The bonus I see with having the fry suspended in the parents tank is that the water temp and stats stay the same to what they were laid in and the adults (along with my Bristle noses and cherry shrimp) clean the outside of the net ensuring the eggs are still getting good water movement around them. The down side is having a bit of an eye sore net held in place with a heavy duty clamp, ruining the otherwise natural look of the tank. A small price to pay in my opinion for getting to raise cory babies which truly are cute

.
Congrats on the unexpected eggs

Excellent Post couldnt of put it any better myself

 

[Baccus]

Try some really finely crushed flake food and make sure it sinks to the bottom where the babies can get it. Only feed if the babies are mobile and you can't see the remains of their little egg yolks still attached, otherwise the food will just turn to yuk and probably cause fungus to develop on any unhatched eggs. I also give my fry sinking algea wafers (as long as they get soft quickly) and sinking shrimp pellets again because these get soft quickly, but only probably 1 small disc and 2 pellets (depending on age of fry and their size) and don't give them any extra until its all gone. I also have snails that end up in the babies net (hitch a ride in with the weed as tiny bubs), and they help clean up any left over food from the fry. Snails however with eggs will generally eat the eggs but with fry I haven't ahd a problem. Plus my fry always have access to live plants in their net home which they will have a snuffle over.

 

[Tizer]

Hikari First bites is what i feed mine for the first 3 weeks, its a super fine powder even the smallest of fry will be able to eat. liquifry 3 is slightly larger and perfect after 3 weeks when i start to mix a pinch in. The bonus of them being in a net is that the fish in the tank help to clean up the excess food by sucking at it through the bottom Liquifry number 1, the liquid feed will pullute your water if they are in a container with no flow, i would avoid it really.

I also use a little decapsulated brine shrimp eggs in the first few weeks, perfect for them when they are so small, although a lot falls through the net

 

[hanny93]

Hikari First bites is what i feed mine for the first 3 weeks, its a super fine powder even the smallest of fry will be able to eat. liquifry 3 is slightly larger and perfect after 3 weeks when i start to mix a pinch in. The bonus of them being in a net is that the fish in the tank help to clean up the excess food by sucking at it through the bottom Liquifry number 1, the liquid feed will pullute your water if they are in a container with no flow, i would avoid it really.

I also use a little decapsulated brine shrimp eggs in the first few weeks, perfect for them when they are so small, although a lot falls through the net

Hikari first bites - thought they would be too big. I use hikari at the moment, tetras couldn't eat the bigger pellet type food I used for mollies! So I should feed hikari first bites not liquifry?

How should I clean the separate container? My gravel cleaner is pretty big and clumsy and I don't have a small one.
Thankyou for all the help

 

[Tizer]

well this is the problem i had when doing what you are, its hard and near on impossible to keep a fry tank clean without sucking the buggers up

I use a small pippete to suck up old food, search on ebay for "Graduated Disposable Pasteur Pipettes" and you will see them. Pretty cheap and very useful. Also useful for sucking up the fry to transfer them to a different container/net/tank.

Hikari First Bites are super super fine powder, perfect for day old fry as soon as they finish eating their egg sack.

 

[hanny93]

well this is the problem i had when doing what you are, its hard and near on impossible to keep a fry tank clean without sucking the buggers up

I use a small pippete to suck up old food, search on ebay for "Graduated Disposable Pasteur Pipettes" and you will see them. Pretty cheap and very useful. Also useful for sucking up the fry to transfer them to a different container/net/tank.

Hikari First Bites are super super fine powder, perfect for day old fry as soon as they finish eating their egg sack.

Oh right, that sounds like a good idea I was using an old test kit pipette, washed thoroughly don't worry!, but I couldn't pick anything up without accidentally squirting and sending egg cases flyinh round the breeder!

Ill try that, and my lfs always has first bites on offer so I'll go after college.

Pretty pleased with myself at my setup, had to sticky tape the breeder to the side of the tank. My gouramis can't understand why they can't eat the fry!