I Have Fry but Also a Huge Dilemma - Need Advice!

[LindaC]

Well my Kribs have finally spawned and I now have a ton of fry swimming around the tank with both the parents, however; I also had 3 Rams in this tank (1 male and 2 females in 29 gallon). I had to remove the Rams last night and put them in my 10 gallon tank because they were really being picked on by the Kribs.

Now the pair of orange flash Apistos in the 10 gallon are chasing the Rams all over the place and I'm not sure what to do about. Giving up the Rams is not an option, they are my favorite fish, I think I'd rather give up the Apistos first. Adding another tank is also not an option, I have no room.

In the meantime, I am looking for suggestions on which tank they would be better off in, the 29 gallon with the Kribs, which is a lot bigger and heavily planted or the 10 gallon with the apistos and also planted.

Has anyone ever used a divider? I was thinking about adding a divider to my 29 gallon. I plan on letting nature take it's course as far as the fry go.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[bs6749]

The fry may cross the divider...not recommended. You have too many fish in the 10 gallon tank. 2 Rams alone would be fine but not with that many other fish. They would be fine for a short time, just keep up with the water params. Maybe try dividing the 10 in half for 2 weeks until the krib fry get larger. Then divide the 29 with the fry on one side and all others including the parents on the other. The fry should be too large to cross the divider by then for sure, maybe even earlier.

 

[LindaC]

Thank you, I just hope the Rams are okay in the 10 gallon for two week, believe me, I did not want to pull them and put them in that small tank, but I want them to be okay and they wouldn't have been if I left them in the 29 gallon.

 

[bs6749]

They probably would have been okay but they may have gotten to some of the fry. If you are not worried about some of the fry getting eaten you could just divide the 29 gallon tank now and keep the fry and parents on done side and the rams on the other. Rams can be aggressive too and would most likely hold their own against the kribs but parents are usually very fierce when guarding their young.

 

[LindaC]

Is it okay to do water changes with fry in the tank? I dose ferts EI so I need to change 50% of my water this coming Saturday and I also need to clean my tank, will this be okay?

I know my Kribs trust me because I've had my hands in the tank removing dead leaves and such, although I try not to get too close to them or the fry when doing so. I'm just worried about the vacum, I do not want to suction up any of the fry.

 

[bs6749]

I would think that it would be beneficial to change out the water but just make sure that the water is close to the same temp as what the tank water is. If you are worried about sucking up fry you could try to use four 5 foot lenghts of airline tubing and place them in the tank, suck on the ends and when you have water about 2/3 the way up the hose you could place the end in a 5 gallon bucket. No fry should be sucked up but this way may take a little longer to drain the water.