Loosing Fry

[cj786]

I am new to the world of fishkeeping and have recently had a dilema. I have a 55 gal tropical freshwater tank. My fish are 5 bala sharks (2-3 inches),1 small clown loach,1 black swordtail(2 inch female).About 2 weeks after getting the swordtail I noticed some fry on the bottom of the tank. First i removed them to a 5 gal quarentine tank that i have. But wanting to add 1 or 2 plecos and also wanting to quarentine them for a few weeks before adding them to my current community. I decided to get a net breeder and move the fry into it in my main tank.(Long post I Know but bare with me). I had found 4 fry to start. After about a week I noticed 1 missing in the morning and was down to 3.The next day the same thing happened and was down to 2. There was no sign of even a peice or corps of either. I talked to my LPS and they said they probably jumped out into the main tank and wre eaten. Wich I thought made sense. I then covered the net breeder so this would not happen again and It did, I am now down to 1. My thought is that the loach is sucking them through the netting while they sleep at night. Does Anyone have any other ideas or past experience with this problem?

 

[Mamaschild]

Hi there. Your thought is very possible. I have both watched fish suck fry out of the breeders, and found just the head stuck inside with the tail missing

I guess i should ask.....is this a "NET" breeder or one of the plastic ones with slots in the side? The plastic is what I am refering to. If it's a net, I really don't know what to tell ya??? I don't think they could suck them through the netting without leaving a hole that you would notice.......or is there a hole in it that maybe you DIDN'T notice

Just grasping and throwing out ideas, here.

HTH

 

[Inchworm]

Hi cj786 and welcome to the forum.

Whenever I've lost fry from a breeding net it has always turned out that there was a hole in there somewhere. It can be a very tiny hole or even a space where the mesh was just spread apart.

If the net sits low in the water, it's possible that they washed out. While you want to have the maximum amount of swimming space for them, make sure that when a larger fish jumps or splashes about while eating, a wave will not cause the water to go over the top of the net.

If the front of the net sits lower than the back, putting a small piece of new sponge or something similar between the glass and the back of the net will help push it up.

I hope you enjoy the forum and will be looking forward to reading your posts.

 

[Nallen]

Back in the days when I had Bala Sharks, they used to keep me awake at night doing a sound by repeatedly chewing my plastic breeding trap... Don't know if they had any success in doing it. But I guess they succeeded once and then kept doing it. This might be what's happening to you.

The other solution, except holes in the net, could be that they're eating each other. I think that's possible.

 

[cj786]

Thanks for your ideas and thoughts on this problem. I think what I will try for now, Since I can't find any holes, is to buy a second net breeder kit and put the net over my existing net. Thus making it twice as thick and also covering any holes if there are some. Thanks Again.