apisto fry

[jaeger222002]

Greetings,

First, I want to thank everyone here for sharing all of their valuable knowledge about these amazing fish. Now for my problem. I have a 20 gallon community tank that has 4 cardinal tetra's, 4 harleqiuin rasboras, a pair of a. cacatuoides, and a Leopard Frog Pleco. It is a heavily planted tank that was for entertainment only (at least originally). My pair of cac's have tried spawning a few times over the last few months. I never saw any fry or wigglers anywhere so i figured they were eating the eggs, or maybe infertile or something. Last week I looked in the tank and had about 20 fry swimming around the java moss by the coconut. Mom and dad appeared to be great parents (at least at first). I kept the light on and slowly noticed fry numbers getting smaller everyday. After about a week, mom seemed completely disinterested and I started watching fry venture further into the tank. The next day I had none! I realize the simple solution would be to remove all the potential predators, but that is not an option right now. My question is, would it be possible to remove the swimming fry and raise them separatley in a small tank with java moss and a sponge filter. If so, does anyone have any tips on how to catch them and small tank set-ups/options to hold the fry until they are big enough not to be eaten. I am in process of setting up another 20 g due to space constraints to raise them in. Thank you for everything in advance

Brad

 

[Cathy G]

Hi Brad,

Yes you can move fry once they are free swimming, or while they are still wrigglers. Use a turkey baster, or your gravel vac/siphon. Drain off some water from the main tank and squirt the fry into it. Move them into a grow out tank and gradually fill the tank with clean water of the same make-up as the main tank's water. Make sure the temperature is the same as well as the gh/kh, and pH, etc.

Some people have had luck placing the fry in one of those floating fry nets that hang in the main tank. I've never had success with this approach.

Cathy

 

[Zack Wilson]

fastest/safest way I've found to remove wigglers or fry is to take a length of airline and use it as a syphon. Get it going into a small collection bucket and then vacuum up the fry. Wigglers won't run, so...

If you want you can also attach a small section of rigid airline to the end going in the tank to give yourself more accuracy and ease of handling.