I would like to setup my 10gal tank for my fry, this is what i had in mind.

Half fill the tank with water
Place heater

I don't think they need a full tank of water, they are so small! is a filter necessary when they are at this size?

fry can be sensative to water quality so i filter would be good...although lots of people dont, try using a sponge filter

i do use a water conditioner, maybe it isn't enough.

sorry what? i didnt say anything about a water conditioner....i just said sponge filters work well for fry tanks lol

yes sponge filters do the job and you may aswel fill the tank they will grow quicker eventhough they are tiny now within 8 weeks they should be spot on if you give them generous feedings and they are in a decent sized tank.
good luck

my problem is tha ti want to treat my main tank for ich, and the fry are in there (tank divider), will they be fine in the 10gal with just a heater untill the treatment is complete?? maybe 1-2 weeks.

If the fry have been in a tank that has an ich issue, they need treatment too. You may not have seen the parasites on them yet but if they don't get the treatment you will. After you have dealt with the ich, a tank with a mature sponge filter would be a good idea.

This post has been edited by OldMan47: May 25 2008, 02:42 AM

is it safe if the fry get the ich treatement?? they are the size of a grain of rice some smaller. i believe there is ich because i've seen some of the platy flick off objects as to scratch, however there are no spot signs as of yet. i'm hoping to avoid that.

They should survive it, i treated fry once for ich treatment and they were fine, if you don't treat them and the whole tank for ich they could risk getting the parasite themselves and transferring it to the new fry tank.

A 10gallon sounds fine for a fry tank, but i would advise filling it all the way to the top instead of only half-full; fry are very sensitive to water quality and water quality can be difficult to keep good in fry tanks, the more water you have in the tank the less the water quality will fluctuate.
Filtration is definately important in fry tanks, just get a sponge filter for the tank (UGF's are not that great)- you should transfer some muck from your old filter/s to the new one though and run the new filter in your current established tank for a few days to help transfer the beneficial bacteria to it though, because otherwise if you just put it straight in the new fry tank and then add fry, the tank will start to cycle and the water quality will become very unstable and this will have a negative effect on the frys health.

Sand is the best substrate for fry tanks since small fry can get trapped in gravel if they are spooked, and gravel traps a lot of waste in it (and uneaten decomposing food in the substrate can harbor the lethal fish disease Columnaris)- sand is a lot easier to keep clean so is better (either that you can opt for a bare bottom tank). Having some planting in the tank will be beneficial for the fry too, it'll reduce their stress levels and the plants will help absorb nitrates in the tank (which can become a problem in fry tanks with their high stocking densities and regular feeding regimes etc).

You will need to keep the tank very clean since fry are so sensitive to so many things and you don't want them to get diseased and have to medicate them loads, you should aim to do 1-2 30-40% water changes with dechlorinator (also making sure the new water put into the tank is as close to the temp of the water in the tank as possible) once a week and make sure the substrate is kept clean at all times.
If you can, feeding the fry 3-4times a day is the best- small but regular meals are the best for fry, since they have very small guts so can only handle small feedings but also get hungry quickly.

And thats about it when it comes to raising livebearer fry . As long as you maintain the tank properly keeping it clean, and feed the fry regularly in the right amounts and keep an eye on the health of the fry, you should have very high fry survival rates and have very strong healthy fry with good growth rates . I would still advise treating them all for ich though either way just to make sure they aren't carrying the parasite (since the parasite does not always make the fish show external physical symptoms at its certain stages in its cycle), more info on understand ich/whitespot and treating it successfully;

http://www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...2/What-is-ICH-/

http://www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...-Your-Aquarium/

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wow lots of info there, ty for responding, i will be using a hangover filter that is for 10-15gallons or so i just need to place a piece of spondge so they do not get sucked in lol.

i won't be adding anything at the bottum of the tank gravil etc. and i hope this will help eliminate their poo that will rest there, and i won't be using the vaccuum to clean the tank cus they might get sucked in haha.

thx again!

what temp should the tank be set at, i was thining of raising the temp to around 85.. is this too hot for the fry will they develope quicker with heat?

85 is too hot for a normal fry tank but if you are doing an ich treatment I believe its the recommended temperature. When the treatment is done get the temp back down to around 78 for mollies and platies.

okay ty.