foxgirl158
Fishaholic
I just posted around an hour ago in the livebearers column about what to feed my two day old platy fry. Since then, I have powdered up flake food and given a little to them. While I was watching them, I noticed that quite a few are swimming around and nipping others tails and fins. They are doing it to the ones who are not currently swimming, but are laying on the floor of the fry trap. There are around 35 fry in the trap, from two different moms. One mom gave birth to preemie babies, 8 of which I found and caught and 5 of which are still alive. The preemies are not the one's doing the nipping, but they are up and swimming. Some of the babies look like they have less/slightly shredded tails then they did when I caught them.
I think the trap is too crowded for 35 fry. I have an empty half gallon tank that I can put them in, I can get a heater for it, and I can do a water change every day to make sure the ammonia doesn't build up. Alternately, I have an empty 3.5 gallon bucket that I can buy a heater for and put a filter that is not being used in. I'll take part of the media out from one of my running filters so there will be bacteria that will eat the ammonia in the new filter. However, the filter output might be too strong for the babies. If moving them to a bigger area is not the best option, what can I do to make sure they don't eat each other? They don't seem hugely interested in the flake food. TIA!
I think the trap is too crowded for 35 fry. I have an empty half gallon tank that I can put them in, I can get a heater for it, and I can do a water change every day to make sure the ammonia doesn't build up. Alternately, I have an empty 3.5 gallon bucket that I can buy a heater for and put a filter that is not being used in. I'll take part of the media out from one of my running filters so there will be bacteria that will eat the ammonia in the new filter. However, the filter output might be too strong for the babies. If moving them to a bigger area is not the best option, what can I do to make sure they don't eat each other? They don't seem hugely interested in the flake food. TIA!