Platy/Molly/Guppy fry growing slowly...

twocents

Maybe check the filters
I had two Swordtail babies end up in a Rena filstar.

Austin

I have netting all over the intake. But I've had this happen in other tanks so I know what you mean.

Also, hopefully I haven't permanently stunted them! Dx I don't want them to become food.... feeding them more I think will solve most of the problem. I think 2 times a day was not enough and I don't think I was feeding enough at a time. The ones I keep in a breeder box in my 29g tank (experimenting if they grow faster or not) and I feed them lots, and they are plump and look to be growing more, so I'm going to try more food. :)

herbwin

There is an item you can get that speeds up water changing, it is a plastic "T" shaped connector that goes on a kitchen sink or faucet. You hook your siphon hose to it, in one position it uses the faucet water pressure to siphon the tank, in the other it fills the tank with water from the faucet. You might find it at petstores, but also at hardware stores or Walmart, it is sold mainly for waterbeds.

As far as sucking up the fry, netting over the end will help. For very small fry you might try cheesecloth. If you don't have a gravel cleanng siphon, attach a cut plastic soda bottle to the end and net that. The wider opening will decrease the intake strength and will be less likely to disturb the fry.

Fish can recover from stunting, but it often takes a long time. Much better to avoid it the first time around :)
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Austin

i did that before but the fry got stuck to the netting. Dx and I think it killed a few before. I use a gravel siphon end and it usually works, but more complicated than id like.

How do you treat the water coming out of the faucet like that? :S

herbwin

If there is a large difference between the PH/chemistry of the tap water and desired tank water, this may not be an ideal method. Otherwise, you would just add your dechlor/conditioner as you fill. If there is a large temp diff, fill slowly (but keep an eye on it to avoid overflow).

If the netting over the gravel cleaning siphon still sucks fry, increase the diameter by using soda bottles, keep going larger until you find a size that works for you. You will not be able to clean gravel using this method, that would have to be done seperately.
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biokid101

sry if this doesnt help but my fry r gonna be 4 months on the 16th of may and the males r 1/2 inch and the female is just slightly bigger

thegrayrace

Just thought I'd share my admittedly brief experience, as I've raised about 50 livebearer fry (mollies, platies, and guppies) and have yet to have a death with my current setup.

I have a 26 gallon main tank that is almost exclusively livebearers (aside from some snails and otocinclus) and a 5.5 gallon tank I've set up for the fry. The 5.5 gallon has its own 100GPH HOB filter (with a prefilter sponge on the intake to keep the fry from being sucked up), 6 inch bubble wall, fairly thin layer of sand substrate, some rocks for decoration/shelter and a lot of Anacharis plants left free floating (they started out as a single batch and have grown considerably).

I feed 2 to 3 times per day, usually Hikari First Bites but I supplement that with crushed flake food, crushed freeze dried blood worms, and freeze dried brine shrimp. I've started feeding frozen blood worms recently, and they seem to like that as well. The latter foods seem more important as the fry grow larger, the younger fry generally don't go for it. I heavily overfeed relative to the size/number of fry. There is pretty much always some food in the tank. But I think the amount is still low enough that my filter (which at 100GPH is somewhat overkill for a 5.5 gallon tank) has no trouble cleaning up the ammonia from the excess food.

I change about 40% of the water every 5 days to 1 week. With water changes I use Prime for my water conditioner, add aquarium salt, and add Tetra FloraPride for the plants. I've also used API's StressZyme, but I really don't know how much difference, if any, that has made. My water is fairly alkaline out of the tap, the PH at 8. With my first batch of fry I was worried about the PH being too high and I mixed that with some bottled spring water, but I've since switched entirely to tap water and the fry seem fine either way. My ammonia and nitrite levels are nonexistent and the nitrate seems almost nonexistent too (maybe thanks to the Anacharis), though I don't monitor these regularly as long as everything seems healthy. I also have a single snail in the tank. I'm not sure where he came from, but he helps with the algae.

thegrayrace

Oh, and when I do my water changes, I use air tubing to suction out the water. Takes forever, but the fry don't have any trouble with it.

TexasTanker

A trick for siphoning out water and not babies.... use the net breeder box. Hang it inside the tank. place the siphon hose in that. It will pull only water out, no debris, but it will keep babies outta the house.

crittercrazy

hehe... I have a home made u tube that hooks over edge of tank... this I hook onto a hose and feed straight out the door to the garden:) very easy. filling up is slower if you want to declorinate as you go though. Any ideas on how to speed that up would be appreciated:)