Guppy breeding filter - Aquarium Advice

ducas005 · 10-27-2003, 12:52 PM

Hi, I have a 10g tank (cycled and all) which will now be used for guppy breeding. It used to be my older aquarium, but now all the stuff has been moved to a bigger 45g display tank, so I wanted to see if I could get guppies to breed. The 10g tank has some gravel, plastic plants, 1 male and 3 female guppies. The temperature is around 82 degrees.

My question is this, the filter with the 10g was an Aqua Clear Mini by hagen (like this: http://www.petdiscounters.com/aquari...a_ac_mini.html) so it has a pump sucking in the water. My question is this, is it too strong for the fry? Will they get sucked in? Also, is the temp right?

ducas005 · 10-27-2003, 12:54 PM

The link seems to be down now, but I hope you guys(and gals) understand the filter. It sucks in water through a syphon, the filter media and stuff is hang-on on the back of the tank, and then it throws the water back into the aquarium.

platylover · 10-27-2003, 01:07 PM

I have a penguin 125 on a 20gal tank which I think is a little bigger filter than the AC mini filter that you have. I guess that if you are concerned that the intake is going to be too strong for the fry that you can take some sponge filter and attach it to the inlet of the filter. It is going to slow the flow to your filter a little, but the fry should be strong enough to get away from it.

Good luck of the guppy breeding.
Jim

grimlock3000 · 10-27-2003, 01:22 PM

"so it has a pump sucking in the water. My question is this, is it too strong for the fry? Will they get sucked in? Also, is the temp right?"

I have somewhere between four and eight fry in my 10g tank, with my AC Mini on full (100 gph). The fry are about one week old so they are very small small. I have not had an issue with fry getting sucked into the filter. I have a bunch of Java Moss on one side of the tank, and on the opposite side is the AC Mini. From my experience, if you give the fry a place to hide, they should stay in it 99.9% of the time. I have never seen a fry go with two inches of the filter inlet, and they should be quick enough to get away if they did get too close. I also have larger fish in the tank, which probably helps to keep the fry in hiding

If you want the fry in an open tank, I think you would have more issues as the fry get frisky and swim around more before they grow and then it becomes helpful to put something over the filter inlet.

I also have a $3 corner filter in the tank in with the moss. Fish can sit right on the filter and it would not suck them in at all. If you are really worried about the fry, you could use a pair of corner filters.

TankGirl · 10-27-2003, 05:33 PM

They should be fine, but the simplest thing to do is to put a piece of new pantyhose over the intake tube, which will not impede the flow but nothing very large at all can get into the filter. You might have to clean it more often than you would your filter media, but it is insurance and easy enough to do. Sounds like a perfect setup for your guppy factory!

Sati · 10-28-2003, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TankGirl

They should be fine, but the simplest thing to do is to put a piece of new pantyhose over the intake tube, which will not impede the flow but nothing very large at all can get into the filter. You might have to clean it more often than you would your filter media, but it is insurance and easy enough to do. Sounds like a perfect setup for your guppy factory!

Exactly what I was going to say :]

ducas005 · 10-31-2003, 09:11 AM

Thanks all who replied. I switched the filter to low power, and yesterday there were six fry, who seemed to not be bothered by the current. They all seem to hang around the floating plants though, except when I give food. Thanks again for your suggestions.