Rachel0001
Aquarium Advice Regular
After jealously reading about everyone else's fry for what felt like forever, I finally have some of my own!
The first fry, a tiny little red zebra, appeared at feeding time one night, trying to make it up for a morsel (good luck, buddy). My son saw him being chased around the tank by the tank boss. Apparently there is one thing that's more important than being the fish with the most pellets in his mouth. We put him in a breeder box so I could finally use my NLS fry food and decided to gather the courage to strip my holding yellow lab. I did, and got 9 adorable babies!
Another red zebra, I'm pretty sure the first fry's momma, had a mouthful - I thought she still had some of the fry's brothers and sisters left, but when I stripped her she had eggs. If she was the mom of the first fry, the poor thing had no downtime. I guess I need some more female zebras. So I've got the eggs in a tumbler now and mom is power eating.
So I've got 9 yellow labs, 1 red zebra and about 10-ish eggs in a tumbler, all in a Fluval Edge in my kitchen. I think the tank is between 7-9 gallons, I forget. Painfully small, I know that. One good thing about it is that it's got a large footprint for a small tank. Because of it's design it's shallow and wide so it's footprint is about the same as a ten gallon. It's pretty, but a pain to work with.
So on to my questions -
Once the eggs are free swimming there will be a couple of weeks (I assume) between the batches of fry. I am worried the older fry will eat the new ones when they're released from the tumbler. I do not have another tank for them & I fear I will be on the streets if I even ask...I was pushing it by breaking this tank out of the garage. Luckily for them they're adorable, but that only goes so far. Does anyone have experience with this? I do not want the new babies eaten by the first batch.
Any advice on the eggs? Just let them free once they're free swimming and that's that?
I'm planning on keeping the fry in the grow out tank for as long as I can then moving them to the big tank. Suggestions on the timeline? That may be dictated more by the size of their tank. I figure I'll keep them in the little tank until they start misbehaving and then move them over all at once. Hopefully they're around an inch + although I have no idea how long that might take. My other fish are between 2.5"-4.5". Since I'll be getting rid of some male red zebras, I'll try to coordinate that to happen the same day.
I'm feeding NLS fry food, a few times a day. Recommendations? Any advice on how long is too long between feelings? I work, sometimes long hours. I realize because of this morning's readings I fed too much last night.
Finally, are they extra sensitive in terms of water quality? Not like I'm looking for an excuse to never change their water, but they must have a pretty low bioload. Is a once a week PWC enough once the cycle is complete? I don't want to stress them. This morning I got to do a 5:30am water change because the parameters read: Am: 0.5, No2: 0, No3: 10. I will continue to let changes be dictated by the test results, just wondering if you guys find them to be more sensitive than their parents.
I tried to match their water parameters to the big tank's. I seeded with sand from the big tank and used some of the water just to be sure the pH was close (I have crushed coral in the big tank's filters- and in a bag now in theirs). The Edge has an AC filter which is nice.
Any other tips are much appreciated!
Pics are coming!
The first fry, a tiny little red zebra, appeared at feeding time one night, trying to make it up for a morsel (good luck, buddy). My son saw him being chased around the tank by the tank boss. Apparently there is one thing that's more important than being the fish with the most pellets in his mouth. We put him in a breeder box so I could finally use my NLS fry food and decided to gather the courage to strip my holding yellow lab. I did, and got 9 adorable babies!
Another red zebra, I'm pretty sure the first fry's momma, had a mouthful - I thought she still had some of the fry's brothers and sisters left, but when I stripped her she had eggs. If she was the mom of the first fry, the poor thing had no downtime. I guess I need some more female zebras. So I've got the eggs in a tumbler now and mom is power eating.
So I've got 9 yellow labs, 1 red zebra and about 10-ish eggs in a tumbler, all in a Fluval Edge in my kitchen. I think the tank is between 7-9 gallons, I forget. Painfully small, I know that. One good thing about it is that it's got a large footprint for a small tank. Because of it's design it's shallow and wide so it's footprint is about the same as a ten gallon. It's pretty, but a pain to work with.
So on to my questions -
Once the eggs are free swimming there will be a couple of weeks (I assume) between the batches of fry. I am worried the older fry will eat the new ones when they're released from the tumbler. I do not have another tank for them & I fear I will be on the streets if I even ask...I was pushing it by breaking this tank out of the garage. Luckily for them they're adorable, but that only goes so far. Does anyone have experience with this? I do not want the new babies eaten by the first batch.
Any advice on the eggs? Just let them free once they're free swimming and that's that?
I'm planning on keeping the fry in the grow out tank for as long as I can then moving them to the big tank. Suggestions on the timeline? That may be dictated more by the size of their tank. I figure I'll keep them in the little tank until they start misbehaving and then move them over all at once. Hopefully they're around an inch + although I have no idea how long that might take. My other fish are between 2.5"-4.5". Since I'll be getting rid of some male red zebras, I'll try to coordinate that to happen the same day.
I'm feeding NLS fry food, a few times a day. Recommendations? Any advice on how long is too long between feelings? I work, sometimes long hours. I realize because of this morning's readings I fed too much last night.
Finally, are they extra sensitive in terms of water quality? Not like I'm looking for an excuse to never change their water, but they must have a pretty low bioload. Is a once a week PWC enough once the cycle is complete? I don't want to stress them. This morning I got to do a 5:30am water change because the parameters read: Am: 0.5, No2: 0, No3: 10. I will continue to let changes be dictated by the test results, just wondering if you guys find them to be more sensitive than their parents.
I tried to match their water parameters to the big tank's. I seeded with sand from the big tank and used some of the water just to be sure the pH was close (I have crushed coral in the big tank's filters- and in a bag now in theirs). The Edge has an AC filter which is nice.
Any other tips are much appreciated!
Pics are coming!
