Preventing fish fry from getting into overflows weir?

[roadster3043]

Greetings.

Is there a way to prevent fish fry from getting sucked into the overflow's weir and up and down the tubes?


Thank you.

 

[Allivymar]

See if you can find a filter sponge and fit it over the intake. It'll let the water thru, but keep the lil guys from going for a ride. If not, try some stocking over the intake. If the pull is strong tho, they maybe get stuck on it (the sponge generally doesn't have that prob).

 

[madasafish]

Also, you can buy a breeder net or compartment for your tank. Pretty simple solution, and no worries involved. They can be bought at the LFS, usually, or online at bigalsonline.com or drfostersmith.com.

But maybe you knew that...

 

[roadster3043]

Greetings.

Thank you both for your prompt replies.

Allivymar, the intake has a coarse filter pad http://www.mops.on.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/products/OFMA-PFTPSK.htm?E+scstore. This is the overflow that I have.

madasafish, the very difficult part will be to catch the pregnant female or the fry, but it is doable.

I was also thinking of doing the tank like my father used to, the tank, the light, the decor(sand, plastic plants, etc.), the water, the fish and the food. No mechanical filtration whatsoever.

Anyway, I will try both of your suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[Allivymar]

Nice filter!

Anyway, I'm not sure if I was clear. The sponge I'm talking about looks more like this: http://www.angelsplus.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?db=angelsplus.dat . It would fit over the end of the intake tube itself, and keep the lil guys out.

What type of fry btw?

 

[SoCal]

try this link http://www.orca888.com/FILTER.HTM

 

[Jack]

I don't think a sponge will work as it won't keep fish from entering the overflow box. It's easier to fish them out of the sump than the overflow box (in my experience).

I use gutter-guard that you can buy from Home Depot or other hardware stores. It isn't perfect as very small fry can still fit through, however, the gutter guard is rigid and pretty easy to form around the inside of the overflow box. My only fear with the netting is that it would likely clog, which could result in a flooded tank. There is definitely a trade-off between the smaller openings (better for keeping fish out) vs. larger openings (better for less clogging).

 

[roadster3043]

Greetings.

Allivymar, the type of fry would be mostly of livebearers(guppy, swordtail and such). I'm not worried about the riser tube istself since I could put some mosquito netting over the intanke to prevent them from going down to the wet/dry. What I am more worried about is the skimmer/weir and U tube, that the fry might get hurt or killed in that part of the overflow.


TIA

 

[TankGirl]

I don't see really how you could keep the fry out of there, which is the drawback to this type of filtration. The only suggestion I would have is to install a tank divider that might keep the majority of the fry on one side of the tank until they grow out. Otherwise, I would use a HOB type filter or a canister filter, or keep only larger non-breeding fish in this tank.