moving fry

[Silver1]

How big do betta fry have to be before you can move them into smaller tanks? It'd be a lot easier to take care of these babies if the tanks were smaller.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Aren't they like a week old? I would advise that you leave them be until their labyrinth organ develops at around four weeks. They should be moving up in tank size, not down and water changes in small tanks are anything but easy. By keeping them together you just do water changes on the one tank and you're done.

 

[Silver1]

Hmm, looking at my post I can see what a horrible n00b you must think I am. That didn't come out right at all. here is what I was trying to get across a bit more clearly:

Yes the babies are a week old. They just turned exactly a week old today in fact. The water is currently at about 7 1/2 gallons for a 10 gallon tank and I intend to fill it the rest of the way to the top today to keep the ammonia diluted. I've also been doing 50% water changes every day.

My plan is to move them into a 25 gallon from the 10 gallon, but the 25 gallon is in a different room, and I can't just net them, walk over there and dump them in, think what a shock it would be. I am really concerned about this because my filter for the 10 gallon is apparently too strong, as when I turned it on despite the babies best efforts to swim away they were being sucked towards the filter. (I turned it off before any babies got sucked in.)

The ammonia readings are pretty much stabilized thanks to the water changes, but even with the temperature and aged treated tap water, dumping it in is stll a shock to the babies and I have to do it so slow that its almost all day to do a water change. Thus I want to move them out of the 10 gallon as soon as possible.

I have a bunch of large plastic containers, the biggest about the size of a small tank, that should be safe for them to move in, and get adjusted to the water, but obviously right now they are far too small for any kind of movement at all.

So, with all that said, how long till I can put them in the smaller tanks, so I can move them to the bigger tank with the filter?

I am very sorry I didn't explain that properly, I blame the heat. Its been so hot here I can't even think straight.

 

[Bettaman]

buy a small pump and a sponge filter and set that running it will soon start to get the ammonia down will still have to do water changes but less hassle than moving at this stage....or you could end up with NO fry...... ...also it will help keep the tank clean......

 

[Silver1]

thank you, I do have a small pump and a sponge filter, thats what I'm using. It still seems to be too strong.

 

[Bettaman]

a sponge filter will not suck fry in you gan get a clamp to reduce the airflow if you feel its to strong on split it and put two sponge filters in..........

 

[Silver1]

Hehe, it'd be a bit difficult to suck them in yes, its the current that seems too strong. A clamp is a great idea, I will try that