Water changing tiny fry tanks

[Mattyd123]

Hey all, i just wanted to share how i do my water changes on my tiny fry tanks (currently 1 week old ricefish) 

as you can see in the pictures its just a piece of airline with two biggish air stones on the end, i then simply syphon the water out through that hose with the old suck method haha

it does take a while but i tend to go and do other bits whilst its draining, i then just fill it back up with a small jug as these are only 2 gal tanks 

any thoughts on this process and how you do it? 
i used to try and do it by just avoiding the fry with the end of the hose but i did kill and deform a few zebra danio fry which obviously is gutting when your doing your best for them.

Edited August 18 by Mattyd123

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Mine is similar, except I use airline with a small piece of coarse sponge filter twisted and shoved in the end. Same methodology; water can travel through the tiny tiny holes, but fry cannot. 
 

I use airline without the sponge to put water back in. 

[Mattyd123]

On 8/18/2024 at 3:56 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Mine is similar, except I use airline with a small piece of coarse sponge filter twisted and shoved in the end. Same methodology; water can travel through the tiny tiny holes, but fry cannot. 
 

I use airline without the sponge to put water back in. 

Nice one mate yeah very similar

[HelplessNewbie]

oh! sounds like the key is to use a narrow hose like airline tubing? I was using a regular mini-gravel vacuum hose but with coarse sponge shoved in the vacuum end. Would this still be too much suction for a shrimp tank?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 8/18/2024 at 11:24 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

Would this still be too much suction for a shrimp tank?

Probably not. I would at least try it. Keep a watchful eye for any shrimplets that made it through the sponge. Let us know how it goes!

[Woowala]

This is a pretty good idea.  I'd be tempted to just leave whole rig in place with water in the line so you didn't have to start the siphon each time.

I usually just use airline with some fine mesh filter bag zip tied around the end, or with some rigid airline if I'm removing detritus.  But it's tedious and I hate it.

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:09 AM, Mattyd123 said:

it does take a while

How long does it normally take?  I’m curious because the way I did it (which was not the best way I could have done it) took around 3 hours. Though I will eventually need to do it again so I don’t cause problems in my moina culture.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 8/18/2024 at 7:07 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

How long does it normally take?

I’ll let OP post and talk about their rig, but mine definitely doesn’t take 3 hours. Keep in mind that mine is a 2.5 gallon tank with ~2 gallons of water, and I siphon 1 gallon out (50% water change) and then put a gallon back in. I’d say with the airline and the sponge shoved in the end it’s maybe 20 minutes? I’ve never sat there and timed it. I normally start the siphon and then go feed the fish and by the time I’m done it’s nearly done. 
 

Some other tips and tricks:

-My setup is right next to the kitchen sink, so I just let it siphon straight down the drain. 
-The foam “lid” on my fry tanks is used to hold the siphon in place. I have the tank marked at the 1 and 2 gallon points, so I just stick the airline in to the 1 gallon mark, “seal” it in with the foam lid, start the siphon, and walk away 

-If I want to drain faster, I just use 2 pieces of airline, both with sponge shoved in the end. Twice as efficient without sucking fry down the kitchen sink. 
-Refilling is also hands free thanks to the piece of PVC, a clamp, and again the foam lid to hold the airline in place. Refilling without the sponge is done in just a couple of minutes. 
 

@Mattyd123 You down under, my dude? I love that you called me “mate”! Reminds me of when I was in high school and we had a foreign exchange student from Australia. That dude was awesome. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[Guppysnail]

These are some great ideas.  I just want to throw out and hopefully take a bit of fear out of fry rearing m, fry are incredibly resilient and adaptable.  
I use my normal 3/4 inch inner diameter hose with a fine sponge prefilter from Amazon on the tip. I drain and pour water over my hand to do 50% water changes if no filter several times a day.  
I do this on many species from the time they are new hatch. It only takes 5 minutes. 
My experience is fry are designed to withstand adversity and still thrive. 
Though I do like all the systems mentioned if you don’t have time/ ability it won’t hurt fry to do a regular water change. 
 

edit to add I do use airline with a plastic tube from a ugf that the airstone attaches to.  I cut a second tiny piece of airline at an angle to make a vacuum to remove detritus.  I siphon into a white dish so I can net and return any fry though it rarely happens that fry do get sucked up. 

[TOtrees]

I've used/still use a couple different options.

One is the small-diameter python (like ~1" on the rigid tube, and the tubing is a size up from airline, so 3/8" I think?), with a piece of filter floss stuffed in the tank end. I cut the suction part shorter so it sits lower in the small tanks I'm cleaning. 

The other method -- that I prefer for really tiny fry -- uses a ~12" piece of rigid tubing (again, 3/8") that I got from the LFS. The tank end of the rigid tube fits exactly into the hole at the top of the reusable k-cup filters like below, and the top of the rigid tub fits into 3/8" soft python tube from a re-purposed siphon (again, the skinny size). So the reusable filter acts like a pre-filter.  

EDIT: I can't help myself, I have to add a drawing, in case my words aren't enough to describe LOL

For refilling, generally, when I'm changing water on fry tanks they're small and bare bottom, so I don't really worry about it. As long as the new water is temp matched, I'll pour it in over my hand, or over a spoon that I have bent at 90 degrees that hangs off the rim of the tank. 

CAVEAT I can't confirm the diameters of soft or rigid tubing above, I'm going from memory and not writing from home. The rigid tubing for the kcup option might be smaller that 3/8. It's definitely larger than airline, and it definitely fits into the small-size python tube. Maybe 5/16"? 

Edited August 19 by TOtrees

[Mattyd123]

Hahaa English not Australian mate! 

mine takes usually about 20 minutes to drain and then the refill is maybe 2 minute as i just fill it with a jug 

Whilst thats happening i can do the changes on my larger tanks with more “robust” fishies in 

for me its just so easy, only thing i forgot to mention thats important is to not put the airstone part on the bottom of the tank, so if you forget about it which is suuuuper easy to do then it wont drain to the bottom