fry tanks

[sas]

I'm in the process of setting up fry tanks for the first time, am I correct in assuming these tanks should be cycled as well before putting fry in? What I've done so far is water changes on a separate tank and using that for the new tank along with a very grungy sponge. The next question I have is how do you keep all these good bacteria from dying until I introduce fry? It will only be a few days but? The other questions is can I put an apple snail in the fry tank? Oh forgot it is a bare bottomtank, no plants. Thanks

[groan]

i'll be watching this thread too!
Can I add a question?
Can you just wrap filter floss around the intake to keep fry from being sucked up?

[beowulf]

Easiest ways of protecting the fry is either an inter sponge filter or wrap a nylon around the intake if you use a HOB.  As for keeping the good bacteria you either have to manually add ammonia or keep a few critters in there to keep the bacteria fed.

[Melody]

Yes, the tank should be cycled, but the filter sponge should seed the aquarium enough to support the fry as long as you don't overfeed.  There is very little benefical bacteria in the water column so that isn't necessary unless you have acclimation issues to consider.  You can just put a pinch of food in there to produce ammonia.

You should test for the first six weeks anyway, just in case.  The frequent water changes recommended for fry tanks will also help to keep things balanced for you.

Another option for the filter is to cut an 'X' way down deep into the center of an Aquaclear sponge and slip it up over the uptake.

An Applesnail will help in several ways:
 
- It can keep your tank cycled when there's no fry in it.
- It 'produces' some infusorians for fry to feed on.
- It will clean up leftover food and even dead fry.

In fact, the whole reason I got into snails was because someone said they'd be good for my fry tanks.   You can usually find them in local stores or I can recommend a local breeder to you.

I would also recommend live plants to further provide a healthy, clean environment and facilitate an infusorian colony.  Java Moss serves this purpose wonderfully and doesn't require substrate.  You can also float hornwort and/or tie Java Fern to rocks/driftwood.  Good ol' Duckweed is very good at cleaning the water for you too.

Good luck with the babies!

[Laura]

I would second everything Melody said. 

Regarding the aquaclear sponge,  I keep them on all of my intakes as a prefilter.  I tried finer sponges and nylon, and found they got gummed up too quickly and affected the water flow.

Watersprite plantlets and frogbit would also be good floating plants.  (pm me for both if you like)

You may know this already, but some species of applesnail will eat plants, so a brig (non plant eating snail - so don't forget to feed it) would be good in a fry tank which has plants.

[sas]

Thankyou for all the great info , I do the sponge cut with an X in my breeder tank and it works great, no need to tie or mess with attachment issues when it come to cleaning. Just slip them off and rinse. That's great that a snail can go in the tank to keep it going, now I just have to steal a snail from my sons room,(sorry from his tank in his room) without him knowing . Thanks Laura for the offer of plants, I may just take you up on that offer some time . For now I'm going to go just with good water, lots of changes and a snail .

[PoisonJello]

maybe this is a bad idea but to cycle a new small tank fast can't you just use water from a larger tank to fill the small one and use some media from another tank also or maybe i am just crazy (everyone i know around here with tanks just put in water and go  )

[groan]

from what i've been told you can not do that. you need to use a piece of bedia or a few pieces of rock (something very pourous) to introduce the bacteria.

Best thing to do (and what I did) was to grab some filter flsos from an established tank and put it in your filter.

My mommy fish (holding) is now in the 30 gal along with 2 BN plecos and an apple snail.

Aparently the water itslef does not hold any of the bacteria, it is on the surfaces of the tank.

[succinctfish]

We use a sponge filter that we start off in an established tank to get it going, but we also use water from the parent's tank, that way it's just plug and play as it were, and the water parameters are the same in both tanks to reduce initial stress on the fry.  Breeding is sometimes a surprise in a planted tank, especially with smaller fish, poof suddenly babies from some illicit romance behind the java moss In terms of snails, apple snails are fine in a fry tank with plants like watersprite, the plants will get eaten, but watersprite reproduces so quickly that it's actually a good thing   You do need to keep a supply going, or they will demolish the java moss too.

[cory]

I use the water from my large tank to fill up the small fry tanks! worked wonders for me! Never lost any fry. (Since doing this)