A full fry drop is usually best described in terms of a few hours, not days. If you have a female dropping fry, expect her to finish in a very few hours. If the drop has been going on for a few hours, it may well be finished.
Pregnant, Bloated, Or Just Fat?
- Thread starter mtv8dmarine
- Start date
mtv8dmarine
Fish Crazy
She is swimming around frantically. Is this a good indicator that she's finished?
I am totally unable to determine from activity whether a female is done with a drop. Instead I will watch her for maybe 30 minutes or a bit more. If she produces no new fry in that time, she is probably finished.
mtv8dmarine
Fish Crazy
I left for about 2 hours and came back. She had a total of 9 live fry. I have the breeder box cleaned out for them but will this be sufficient for their 2-3 month wait until they can join the community? Will there be enough room in the 4 X 6 box? Do I really need to invest in a second tank or can I get by with what I have?
I figured out a turkey baster is a wonderful tool.
I'm a daddy! lol =)
A breeder will be fine for a week or two. You do not need a tank to raise fry. There are all kinds of containers that could be used. One of my favorite emergency fish containers is a plastic box like you might use to store sweaters over the summer. They will often hold quite a bit of water and are far cheaper than an aquarium. You will need to at least circulate the water in it with a filter or an air stone but can get away with doing lots of water changes if you don't have a filter for it.
mtv8dmarine
Fish Crazy
I think a simple filter is probably the most convenient choice. Is there anything I should be concerned with regarding raising them in water? Should I strictly use the water from the community thank they are stored in or can I use a little of that and conditioned tap water mixture? Also, If I did a filter I'm probably looking at something cheap. How would you prevent the fry from being sucked into the intake tube since I'm sure they are both too small and too weak to prevent it themselves?
If you get a simple filter with an intake tube on it, you can use a bit of sponge to keep the fry safe. I cut a slit in the end of a filter sponge made as a replacement for a power filter and then just slip it over the inlet tube. The filter sponge starts looking like this.
Once in place for a month or two it looks like this.
The sponge in the filter is on the inlet of the filter in my Heterandria formosa tank. Their fry are quite small. Even the adults are about 2 cm for a male and 3 cm for a female.
As a simple comparison, this is the sponge with an adult Heterandria swimming near it.
Once in place for a month or two it looks like this.
The sponge in the filter is on the inlet of the filter in my Heterandria formosa tank. Their fry are quite small. Even the adults are about 2 cm for a male and 3 cm for a female.
As a simple comparison, this is the sponge with an adult Heterandria swimming near it.
mtv8dmarine
Fish Crazy
If you get a simple filter with an intake tube on it, you can use a bit of sponge to keep the fry safe. I cut a slit in the end of a filter sponge made as a replacement for a power filter and then just slip it over the inlet tube. The filter sponge starts looking like this.
Once in place for a month or two it looks like this.
The sponge in the filter is on the inlet of the filter in my Heterandria formosa tank. Their fry are quite small. Even the adults are about 2 cm for a male and 3 cm for a female.
As a simple comparison, this is the sponge with an adult Heterandria swimming near it.
Thank you for the pics. It certainly helps visualize the options available. You definitely answered some questions regarding smaller fish and filtration. I had always wondered how it was done safely. After I thought about how little waste these fry are going to create...at least initially, I decided to just do the plastic container like you mentioned and stick an airstone in it with a stone, pump, and tubing I already had. In fact, I already had all the items so it made sense to at least try the cheaper option first.
Your sponge pics I'm sure will come in handy sooner or later as I explore and learn about this hobby. The other thing I realized with your help is that a simple quarentine tank...like my fry setup, is all that's really needed before introducing new fish into my community tank. Previously, I thought I had to have a smaller duplicate setup. Now I realize I can quarantine for a week or two very reasonably.
If you go forward without a filter, don't forget that you must stay on top of water changes. Even fry produce some ammonia at their gills and the intense feedings we give fry are often a source of lots of decaying and ammonia producing surplus food. That means that a container's water can go downhill fast if you don't stay on top of things.
mtv8dmarine
Fish Crazy
Just an update:
I took your advice and purchased a small filter for the holding container and wrapped it in sponge material from the same isle at the store. I'm keeping the airstone in there too because I figure it can't hurt moving the water around and with aeration.
I did lose one fry. Found him yesterday morning dead and grey at the bottom. I figure some fry loss is normal as some may be weak or whatever. Mother nature always has a way of taking care of these things. The other 8 are doing well as far as I can tell. They are active and swimming around...or they just like to float until that gets boring. They are about twice the size now...roughly 4 mm. Some have not developed any color yet while some of the others have a darker color (almost orange-ish). I can distinguish the silver outer lining and their black pupils in their eyes now since they are bigger.
Kellz
New Member
Well Done daddy!
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