three very healthy platy fry

[missdiane]

Hi - I posted the birth on the blog page but hoping for some advice. The fry are one week today & growing like crazy. I have only 3. They are in the floating breeding box in their future 20 gal. home. The 20 gallon houses many who love to eat fry. This is the first time I've been able to save any even though the tank is heavily planted. Anyway, fry eating 3 times per day - variety, omega one veg. flake, spirulina flake, egg yolk. I stuck air tubing through the hole in the top of the breeding box so I could add an airstone to provide extra circulation. I clean it several times per day with a turkey baster. I lift the box nightly to change about 90% of the water. There is catappa leaf, anacharis, java fern in the little box. CAN THE FRY LIVE IN THIS BOX FOR 2 MONTHS OR TILL BIG ENOUGH TO SWIM FREELY IN THE 20 GALLON? I ALSO HAVE A 1 GALLON CONTAINER THAT I USE FOR QUARANTINE, BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN FILLED FOR MONTHS. I DO HAVE A SMALL FILTER FOR A 1 GL. TANK. SO I COULD PLACE THE FRY THERE AS THEY GROW. DO I NEED TO CYCLE THIS TANK AS I WOULD IF SETTING UP A NEW TANK? I HAVE EXTRA FILTER MEDIA IN THE 20 GL.. CAN I SIMPLY PUT THAT IN THE LITTLE 1 GAL. FILTER, ALONG WITH WATER FROM THE MAIN TANK & PUT THE FRY IN IT THAT WAY?. I understand that of course more space would be better but it seems like it might be less stressful to the fry to stay in the small breeder box - there are only 3 of them after all And by the time I completely cycle the 1 gl., they will be big enough for their forever home?

[Carl]

I posted an answer here:
everythingaquatic.proboards.com/thread/3529/fry

While a cycled 1 gallon will be OK short term, I honestly would recommend at least a filtered 2.5 gallon aquarium for 3 Platties long term

Carl

[missdiane]

They will live in the 20 gallon long term. So they CAN'T stay in the breeder box for 2 months?

[devonjohnsgard]

Jun 20, 2014 11:42:09 GMT -5 missdiane said:

They will live in the 20 gallon long term. So they CAN'T stay in the breeder box for 2 months?

I think 2 months in the breeder box would be ok.

Another way to think about it... The water you are replacing in the breeder box, the 90%. If it new uncycled water? It would be better to start to cycle the one gallon then doing a 90% water change each day. This can end up being more stressful than doing the 1 gallon.

I'd say start to cycle the 1 gallon and get them in there when you can. You can even use something like SeaChem Stability with aged media to get it going quickly. Really though, 2 months in either place will be fine. I've been keeping some tetras in a small holding tank just to get them a little bigger to be in my tank. I'm afraid some bigger ones will pick on them. It's the long term health you need to be worried about...

[missdiane]

Oh... the breeder box floats in the 20 gl. tank - it has small slits in the bottom so when I gently lift it, the water level goes down. When I lower it back into the 20 gl. tank, fresh water flows in from that tank - so it's kind of like the fry are living in the 20 gl (where they will spend their future) but they are protected from the other inhabitants. The daily replacement water is straight from the 20 gl. and that water is changed weekly. I've tried to raise fry by letting them be born & live in the main tank. It is well planted & has about 80% covering with live floating plants at the surface. For example, when I rescued these 3, I know there were at least 3 more in the bushes. After the first day, I've never seen them again. There are Dojo loaches in the tank & they are quite good at finding live food. The male guppies in there also prowl around at the top

[devonjohnsgard]

Jun 20, 2014 18:00:26 GMT -5 missdiane said:

Oh... the breeder box floats in the 20 gl. tank - it has small slits in the bottom so when I gently lift it, the water level goes down. When I lower it back into the 20 gl. tank, fresh water flows in from that tank - so it's kind of like the fry are living in the 20 gl (where they will spend their future) but they are protected from the other inhabitants. The daily replacement water is straight from the 20 gl. and that water is changed weekly. I've tried to raise fry by letting them be born & live in the main tank. It is well planted & has about 80% covering with live floating plants at the surface. For example, when I rescued these 3, I know there were at least 3 more in the bushes. After the first day, I've never seen them again. There are Dojo loaches in the tank & they are quite good at finding live food. The male guppies in there also prowl around at the top

ah, I see. I would think that would be fine. It's not for too long. Yeah if there small enough, they'll be food.