Please Help Me Save My Fry!

[HippoHen]

Hey Guys.

This post would probably make more sense if people read this topic first......
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/362540-kribensis-unwilling-to-breed/page__p__3021601#entry3021601


Anyway now that youve read that. Heres a quick video, please click on the image to make it play.



As you can see the parents have spawned again, and the female especially has got very aggresive towards her old fry. I believe that she may have even killed a few. But its hard to tell as most have gone in to hiding and rarely venture out as the female just goes crazy at them and tries to eat them! (during the first spawning she killed a brave Neon tetra!) Anyway guys i need help!

Please advice as to what I should do! PS im sorry for unbelively annoying voice on the video!

 

[HippoHen]

Please help!

 

[Athena]

Hiya! Oh dear, you do sound quite frantic.

This is quite normal behaviour, unfortunately. The female will see any other fish in the tank as a potential threat to her eggs and will chase them away - and as these fry are so small there is a chance she may even eat them. I see the same behaviour with my SB convicts. They usually spawn every couple of weeks, which means there will sometimes be fry in the tank when new eggs are laid. I try not to interfere too much with what goes on in there and most fry get eaten during the first week or two. Any that go on to survive several weeks are very lucky and those are the ones (very few) that I rescue. Otherwise I would be over-run with hundreds of convicts every few weeks.

You could use a tank divider, yes, as it would ease up on the stress within the tank (use plants along the divider so the fish cannot see each other too clearly). If you're able to also set up a smaller tank just for transferring fry into, that would be better. But a divider would do for now, until you get another tank up and running (if you do this, you can use some mature media from your current filter to seed the fry tank filter and as they are so small you could pretty much transfer them over straight away). This is what I did. I have a 28litre tank with just 5 fry in there.

Another thing you can try, if you don't like the idea of a divider wall, is building a natural barricade around her nesting cave - use lots of tall plants around it so that she can feel shielded from the other fish in the tank and give her a sense of security. Be gentle and work quickly when doing this as you don't want to alarm the female and make her think you are attacking her eggs.

Obviously, you need to have in mind what you are going to do with all the fry once they are bigger - is your LFS going to take some off your hands (check with them beforehand) or can you rehome them elsewhere? Or do you have the capacity to keep some yourself? I wouldn't recommend rearing every batch of fry unless you can be certain of placements when they are grown.

Let us know how you get on!

Regards, Athena

ps - just to give you an idea of what I mean by hiding the nesting cave a bit, take a look at this portion of my tank - see where that huge cluster of plants is...amongst that is a nesting area for one of the pairs of convicts, and because it is well-shielded, there are nesting caves either side of the plants (one is a slate cave I built, the other a coconut shell) and they all have privacy during spawning.

 

[TATTIESCONE]

Do you have any way you can seperate the fry from the adults,if you want to keep the fry you will need to get a small tank,sponge filter etc but you may loose them when trying to seperate the parents. You really need to be set up allready if you want to keep your fry in future spawning. Good luck

 

[HippoHen]

Cheers for all the help guys especially Athena! Have decided that instead of using dividers that id set up another tank. Dont worry all the fry (when more mature) will be given to my friend whos dad is a fish breeder. Anyway last night I decided to set up this.....

It will be the exsisting fry's temporary home for about a month or so before they are rehomed. I set it up last night and this morning i squeezed the filter media from my mature tank into it. Is this the best way to mature a tank??

Will test the water for amonia etc etc later today when i get back from work.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Good idea in getting a seperate tank..i wish i could get away with that!

You say you have 'squeezed the mature media from your mature tank into it'.. for best results it is advised to move as much of the mature media itself (be it sponge, biomax balls/noodles, etc) into you new filter, without causing any inbalance to your original filter.

I see you have an AquaOne internal filter there, i use one of those within my larger tank... a fair amount of space in one of those, so try and get as much across as you can, even mixing it with brand new material.

Regards.
Terry.

 

[Louiseness]

It will be the exsisting fry's temporary home for about a month or so before they are rehomed. I set it up last night and this morning i squeezed the filter media from my mature tank into it. Is this the best way to mature a tank??

If you could cut off a piece of the old media and put it into the filter that would work much better - if your old filter is mature you can probably safely take up to 1/3 but I doubt you'll need that much. The fry will needs lots of water changes anyway. Good luck!

 

[HippoHen]

Back from work now.
Well yep it looks like i am definatley gonna need to cut some of the media of the mature filter, as squeezing it doesnt seem to have had quite the results id hoped for......


Nitrate

Ammonia

Nitrite

So tomorrow i will put some of my mature media into the filter of the new (well i say new, its been in a garage for the last 2 years and has so many scratches) tank. How long should it be before i can put the fry in? As i think their being eaten by theie mama at an alarming pace

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Put as much of the old media sponge across as you can... fill with warm, dechlorinated water and add some household ammonia. If the bacteria instantly consume the Ammonia AND NitrIte, then you're ready to go..!If not, continue to add the ammonia daily until they do.

Terry.

 

[HippoHen]

Sorry to tuen this thread into a journal. Well early this morning i added a few cermic chips from my mature filter to the filter in the new tank. Tested the water just now and here are the results

Nitrite

Ammonia

Both seem to be pretty low, but not perfect. Dont know alot about all this household ammonia stuff. Any suggestions?