Water changes with fry!

[trev1]

I have 10 young taeniatus moliwe fry and was wondering the best way of changing the water. not so much sucking the fry up, that is obvious, but how much to change at one time?
Dont want to upset the parents..maybe eat some of them...

thanks
Trev

 

[tjudy]

I do big water changes with P. taeniatus fry. They are pretty tough and grow faster with cleaner water. 50% is my norm when they are small and still with the parents. Once I move them to growout tanks or bins I will do even larger changes. I do use aged water that is close to the same temperature as the tanks. If you are concerned about upsetting the parents (the fry will not care), do a slow water change rather than rapidly dumping a lot of water in at one time. The parents will usually take the fry back into a cave at night, so you could also do the water change after 'lights out' and avoid disturbing the brood with a rush of water knocking them about.