Best way to change water for a fry tank

[Fishbros]

I just had my tiger barbs lay eggs and for some reason forgot that I would have still do water changes on that tank. I have seen videos on where people would talk a filter bag and put over the gravel vac or use air tubing.  I am just wondering if anyone else has ideas or input on how they change the water without hurting fry? 

[Guppysnail]

I buy fine prefilter sponges on Amazon and put them over a piece of tube from the hardware store or zip tie them around the hose portion of my manual python. 

[BradfordAquatics]

In my bare bottom fry tanks, I use an airline tubing as a substitute for a gravel vac. It is definitely slower, but you don't have to worry as much about sucking up fry when you are cleaning the mulm off of the bottom. When I got the gunk cleaned out, I would then cover my regular vacuum in a fine mesh to finish the water change.

[tolstoy21]

I use a filter sock over a standard python/gravel vac.

Nothing gets through. I use this method to change water on Odessa Barb fry tanks, and they are so small you can barely see them in the initial days. I also pump the change water back in, through the sock, to buffer its impact and prevent accidental fry death. 

I like the filter sock cause I can just clamp it to the side of the tank and it does not restrict the water flow through the siphon. I find that media bags tend to want to suck up into the siphon and restrict the flow, and if any floating plants or debris get pulled in, they stop the flow and you have to clear the obstruction. 

Honestly, I cannot emphasize how much easier the filter sock is than any other method I have tried. And I tried more than a few.

The only downside to this is that it's only for water changes, not cleaning detritus off the bottom. For that I siphon very gently and slowly into a white bucket, let that settle for a bit, then transfer any fry I accidentally siphoned up back into the tank. 

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Fishbros]

On 7/7/2022 at 10:00 PM, BradfordAquatics said:

In my bare bottom fry tanks, I use an airline tubing as a substitute for a gravel vac. It is definitely slower, but you don't have to worry as much about sucking up fry when you are cleaning the mulm off of the bottom. When I got the gunk cleaned out, I would then cover my regular vacuum in a fine mesh to finish the water change.

How do you start the syphon with airline tubing? I was thinking a syringe my work. 

[Cinnebuns]

Depending on the size of the tank and how dirty the gravel is, you can do what I've done. When I do this it's in a 10 gallon bare bottom tank so it might not work in all situations. Instead of using a siphon, I will scoop the water out and check each scoop for fry. In a smaller tank it works well but I could see it being harder in larger tanks or if you need to gravel vac. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/7/2022 at 3:54 PM, Fishbros said:

I just had my tiger barbs lay eggs and for some reason forgot that I would have still do water changes on that tank. I have seen videos on where people would talk a filter bag and put over the gravel vac or use air tubing.  I am just wondering if anyone else has ideas or input on how they change the water without hurting fry? 

I think it really depends on the tank itself, the setup.

Here is a pretty awesome, recent video of a barb breeder, and it was my first exposure to how they breed and how setups like this can be used.  Pretty interesting little tour.
 

I think one of the easiest ways, is one you mentioned, using an airline tube as a siphon.  If you have a tank near it, or a bucket you can place higher than the tank, you can gently refill the tank with this method.  You can even take a 5G bucket and drill a ball valve into it and then use that as your gravity pump so to speak.  Here is a video on the airline method, pretty awesome little trick. It should be queued up to the airline part specifically.
 

Another easy option is to just have the fry baskets floating, you lift them out of the water and then place them back into the tank, that essentially gives you the water change. this is a method Dean showed off by using a paint strainer as his fry basket.

If you simply have a smaller size tank, I'd honestly just recommend using a potting pitcher like you would for the garden.  The flow should be pretty easy to control and you can be gentle about it with water changes.  You can take something like your hand, a towel, a plate, something that stands up to water (tupperware lid) and then pour the water onto that surface and ease the flow even more for the fry.

Depending on setup, that seems to be a good way to handle things.

Edited July 8, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:06 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Depending on the size of the tank and how dirty the gravel is, you can do what I've done. When I do this it's in a 10 gallon bare bottom tank so it might not work in all situations. Instead of using a siphon, I will scoop the water out and check each scoop for fry. In a smaller tank it works well but I could see it being harder in larger tanks or if you need to gravel vac.

I do the same thing with a specimen container.

[BradfordAquatics]

On 7/8/2022 at 7:50 AM, Fishbros said:

How do you start the syphon with airline tubing? I was thinking a syringe my work. 

I just suck on the end. Just be quick or else you'll have a mouthful of tank water! 🤣

[Minanora]

Depending on the tank size I do two different things. I either don't gravel vac until the fry are large enough to not get through my co-op net. OR. I go business as usual route and vac them into a 5 gallon bucket if they get caught. Then I dump water off into a clear tote and gather all of the living critters in a specimen container and dump them and a bit of mulm back in the tank. I do this a lot with my shrimp's.

[Patrick_G]

I slip a net over the end of my siphon, but I’m going to try using @Guppysnail’s idea of using a pre-filter sponge. 

[Its Hutch]

On 7/9/2022 at 11:28 PM, Patrick_G said:

I slip a net over the end of my siphon, but I’m going to try using @Guppysnail’s idea of using a pre-filter sponge. 

Same here. I bought a cheap net and bent the handle to late flat against the gravel vac. I also wrap a rubber band around the net to secure it to the tube. It still allows for easy gravel cleaning.