ryan
Aquarium Advice Freak
uld my fry be more safe if they were in a breeding net or in the main tank?its a 10 g with a cave 7 plants and the other fish are 12 different types of tetras and 1 platy(the mom).
saftey of fry
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Zagz
Aquarium Advice Addict
The fry will be safer in a breeder net but if you have a cave and some plant cover they will most likely be ok.
ryan
Aquarium Advice Freak
i am only worrying about getting the mom out in time. will alot of them survive still?
bman
Aquarium Advice Freak
I would definately opt for the breeding net. My platy eats them up faster than anyone would believe. I have yet to catch even one to keep in the net. I havetried keeping her in the net to have them, and it made her just eat them faster as they had nowhere to hide!
daydreamer4186
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2006
- Messages
- 49
Breeding net! I had the hardest time catching them in the tank before the mom would eat them up! Yes they say having plants and hiding places for them is good but if you don't want to risk it (and fry aren't always going to stay hidden) then I'd opt for the net...or another tank if you don't want something hanging in your main tank or if there are lots of fry.
bman
Aquarium Advice Freak
I heard of trying to catch the fry with a turkey baster works. Sounds weird, but I am going to try that next time. I do agree that using the net is darn near impossible without destroying your tank.
ryan
Aquarium Advice Freak
but it would be hard to get the fry out before the mom eats them in the breeding tank. i had fry before alot and they were just born in the tank it still had the cave 3 plants and java moss then.so they might be ok.(the next part is a edit)i just got a big bush of wisteria and put it with my other plants its great cover i put the mom back in the tank out of the breeding tank she is more happy and active once i let her out she is almost ready to pop thought.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'm personally a fan of the plastic breeding boxes. The V-shaped channel encourages the fry to swim down, away from Mom, into another chamber where they will be safe. when Mom is done, it's easy to scoop her out and remove the V. Then you have all the babies in a box where you can keep an eye on them and feed thier cusom diet.
I have two styles.
Simple floater.
The floating box is nice as it will move up and down during water changes, instead of leaving the babies dry. The slits are small enough that very little current enters the box. This is good for fry, but annoying for the mess buildup. I put snails in with the fry to break down the messy food remenants.
Suction cupped, dual chambered, air powered
I havn't figured out how to tune this correctly, but it's supposed to circulate the water internally. I still have to put snails in for cleanup. It does have the dual chambered effect, so I can either have two mothers present, or be able to access the babies while the mother is still in her chamber.
I have two styles.
Simple floater.
The floating box is nice as it will move up and down during water changes, instead of leaving the babies dry. The slits are small enough that very little current enters the box. This is good for fry, but annoying for the mess buildup. I put snails in with the fry to break down the messy food remenants.
Suction cupped, dual chambered, air powered
I havn't figured out how to tune this correctly, but it's supposed to circulate the water internally. I still have to put snails in for cleanup. It does have the dual chambered effect, so I can either have two mothers present, or be able to access the babies while the mother is still in her chamber.
studmaster
Aquarium Advice Activist
dskidmore
When do you put the mother in the breeding box? You don't find they get too stressed over it?
About how big are the boxes? The ones I have seen are very small and the fish can't help but get stressed in them. I tried once and it worked, then next time I tried the mother aborted them (different fish each time though).
When do you put the mother in the breeding box? You don't find they get too stressed over it?
About how big are the boxes? The ones I have seen are very small and the fish can't help but get stressed in them. I tried once and it worked, then next time I tried the mother aborted them (different fish each time though).
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
I used to have guppies when I tried this. Out of 20 mothers, I'd pick the one furthest along, and put her in. Sometimes I'd mis-guess and she'd spend a week in there before dropping. Have to put the cover on, and have to have high quality water. Swish the box up and down once a day to freshen the water in the box. (Gently, don't want to hurt mommy.)
Sometimes stress will cause a mother to give birth a little early, but the fry can still make it. Just have to pick mothers that are far enough along.
Some people really into breeding set up a 10 gallon, with a screen running horizontally across. (Big enough fry can get through, but too small for mother.) The babies instinctively swim down after birth and are safe behind the screen. You can manage better filtration in a setup like that.
Sometimes stress will cause a mother to give birth a little early, but the fry can still make it. Just have to pick mothers that are far enough along.
Some people really into breeding set up a 10 gallon, with a screen running horizontally across. (Big enough fry can get through, but too small for mother.) The babies instinctively swim down after birth and are safe behind the screen. You can manage better filtration in a setup like that.
studmaster
Aquarium Advice Activist
The horizontal screen sounds like a good idea, ever see one of those online? I have seen the seperator ones that split the aquarium in two that I was thinking of getting.
About what size is/was your breeding box?
Thanks
About what size is/was your breeding box?
Thanks
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
My breeding box is about 3x3x5?
I think this is the one:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/breeder2way.html
I think this is the one:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/breeder2way.html
JMO but I think that nets and boxes are merely a short term solution that carry a very real risk. If the intent is to raise the fry a grow out tank will be needed. Why not make the grow out tank the birthing tank.
I use copius amounts of java moss in a bare bottom tank. The fry have a place to escape to and the mother feels safe and secure. I even leave several mothers in the tank for several months. A simple sponge filter not only is fry safe, but is ideally suited to the increasing bioload as the fry grow.
I've grown out hundreds of guppies in this manner.
I use copius amounts of java moss in a bare bottom tank. The fry have a place to escape to and the mother feels safe and secure. I even leave several mothers in the tank for several months. A simple sponge filter not only is fry safe, but is ideally suited to the increasing bioload as the fry grow.
I've grown out hundreds of guppies in this manner.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
For large scale breeding this is true. You will have a much higher survival rate doing that. For the person just dabbling in breeding though, the boxes work fine for small breeds of fish. I usually released the fry when they were just barely too big for mom's mouth, and left penty of planted cover in the aquarium. Losses did occur, but I did get a net increase in my guppie population this way.BrianNY said:
studmaster
Aquarium Advice Activist
BrianNY,
I pretty much have the exact setup that you described except I have a lot of plastic plants and some rocks in a 10g birth/growout tank. Do you just have gava moss in the bottom and no gravel or anything else? Does the java moss grow that well? I just picked some up last week with the intention of it growing and giving the fry a really good place to hide.
I have 3 mollies in the birth/growout tank that had spent about a month in my main tank with a male molly, but I don't think any of them are prego/gravid. I'm beginning to think my male molly is sterile. From what I hear, give them a day together and they will all be pregant.
I pretty much have the exact setup that you described except I have a lot of plastic plants and some rocks in a 10g birth/growout tank. Do you just have gava moss in the bottom and no gravel or anything else? Does the java moss grow that well? I just picked some up last week with the intention of it growing and giving the fry a really good place to hide.
I have 3 mollies in the birth/growout tank that had spent about a month in my main tank with a male molly, but I don't think any of them are prego/gravid. I'm beginning to think my male molly is sterile. From what I hear, give them a day together and they will all be pregant.
BrianNY said:
Mollies seldom (if ever), eat their fry studmaster. Java moss does well in very low light conditions. In fact, you'll be pruning it out. I keep my spawning and grow out tanks bare bottom because it's so much easier to clean. Java moss is one of those plants which do not have roots. Therefore it does not require a gravel bed, or any substrate. It's the ideal spawning medium for live bearers as well as egg scatterers.
HTH
HTH
studmaster
Aquarium Advice Activist
I have also read that Mollies don't eat their young, but mine must be of an aggressive variety because I have seen them eat their fry myself. One of my fully grown mollies had babies when I was at work and when I got home I saw her chase after and chomp on one that slipped into her breeding/birth box. Also there were only 8 left that I could find and no other fish in the tank. I can only assume she ate most of them and that was probably a lot because of the size of her.
And I overfeed my mollies because they always seem hungry. That does mean I do a 50% water change once a week.
I'm going to let the java moss grow to it's hearts content to give them more places to hide and hope that works better. Besides that I think they might be better this time around of not eating their fry because they are used to small fish living with them because a few of the old fry (of the 8) didn't grow much and are very small. I would say 3 week size.
And I overfeed my mollies because they always seem hungry. That does mean I do a 50% water change once a week.
I'm going to let the java moss grow to it's hearts content to give them more places to hide and hope that works better. Besides that I think they might be better this time around of not eating their fry because they are used to small fish living with them because a few of the old fry (of the 8) didn't grow much and are very small. I would say 3 week size.
yep when i tried guppies i bought thats stuff even tho at the time i herd that java fern was better and i have a semi off topic q if java moss has been driid out if i put it back in water will it start growin' again because when i maoved i didnt bother to take it out of the plastic plants that we had (ofcourse if u tried to see them u couldnt because of how fast that stuff spreads ) i already have it in the water so if no one knows i guess il be the guinnie pig
