Fry tank cleaning 2

[Cinnebuns]

I keep going back and forth on how much I should be cleaning the fry tank because I hear different things. Initially I was cleaning as beat as possible every day. Then I realized it's good to have some buildup so they can eat micro organisms so I stopped cleaning every day and didn't clean perfectly each time. Now, this is the first cory cat fry death I've had at this large of a size. I know that it's not unusual to have fry deaths. It's part of the game. But the timing makes me wonder. 

Now what I'm thinking is tanks with cories should be cleaning than tanks with guppies since they hang out on the bottom along with all the waste. I just wanna run this past people to see if it makes sense. Ideas?

[Fish Folk]

Well, during the night, even fish that often are up out of bottom waste end up down there anyway all night.

I'm working on German Blue Rams, and (knock on wood) I've not cleaned up a thing from the bottom. Snails eat waste and leave behind molm, which I suspect is less problematic for fish fry than decomposing food.

But my container is a DIY flow-through, so ammonia / nitrite / nitrate is sorted out by the overall aquarium filtration.

 

[modified lung]

Could be a coincidence. Fry of bottom dwellers do have a hard time in tanks with a lot of decaying matter on the bottom. But usually not until there's a whole lot more than you have pictured.

At my old job we found that having snails in the tank eating up settled food cut fry mortality rates in half.

But of course if your personal experience tells you something other than what everyone else tells you, listen to your experience.

[Cinnebuns]

On 4/5/2022 at 5:12 PM, modified lung said:

At my old job we found that having snails in the tank eating up settled food cut fry mortality rates in half.

This is probably one of my issues tbh. I do have ramshorn snails in the tank but it's population needs to grow more. I have 2 adults and 2 maybe 3 visible babies. I feel like once that population grows I may have fewer problem. I wonder if it's worth buying 5-10 more?

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:53 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Now, this is the first cory cat fry death I've had at this large of a size. I know that it's not unusual to have fry deaths. It's part of the game. But the timing makes me wonder. 

 

How is your oxygenation on the fry setup?

[Cinnebuns]

Its a split 10 gallon with a sponge filter on each side. 

[lefty o]

ideally, clean is great, but it does not need to be surgically clean.

[sumplkrum]

If the water looks cloudy, I'll clean it. But otherwise, I don't like disturbing the tanks.

Cleaning a tank kicks up all the mulm, and a water change means you have to aclimate or risk a shock.

I feel like it's more of a risk sturring things up than not.

I also have lots of ramshorn snails. Most likely anything there that's harmful, they've already eaten it.

[tolstoy21]

I try not to clean mine much when the fry are small enough to get sucked up because I find they are always overly interested in the siphon, and everything flowing up into it, and inevitably I lose some, especially for species of fish where the fry like to congregate towards the bottom of the tank.

So, I let my fry tanks get kind of gunky and concentrate on making sure the water is very clean and fresh via water changes.

I do hate looking at all the gunk (make me feel like a bad parent), but unless your build up is a lot of uneaten food, you should be fine with water changes until the time is right ti start cleaning. If the build up is mostly mulm form decaying leaves, algae, etc. I'd just let it be as fry like to forage in that.

Sometimes, to clean a tank, I'll temporarily use a HOB filer running gently with a sponge on the intake to circulate some of the gunk into the water column and remove it that way. (I'll also add to this a gently bubbling air stone on the opposite end of the tank to create a gentle circular flow). This gets some stuff out. I only put floss in the filters, no media. A box filter can also help in the same way.

 

[rjv23]

very dependent on what type of fry. I breed paradise fish, bettas and other labyrinths. it is hard keeping a balance between keeping the food constantly iin front of the fry for good growth and having wasted food sitting on the bottom causing problems. I have managed to find a few solutions. I keep alot of japanese trapdoor snails and bladder snails in my newborn fry tanks. also a few almond leaves to give the fry something to pick at and a surface where the food can land so they can eat later. for larger fry i have rigged feeders that float at around middle level with a float feeding ring at the top so most food sinks onto a floating mid-column surface. I also use aquaculture probiotics to help digest waste and stabilize the water. I also make a rapashy type food with black soldier fly, egg and other ingredients bound with a agar so I can feed this to larger fry and they an pick all day. I rarely vacuum tanks, but do water changes 30% couple times a week to keep get rid of stunting hormones and keep them growing. if the tank is cycled and balanced, fry will do much better in what looks to be a dirty tank (within reason).