Baby corycatfish & how to FAST cycle a grow out tank.

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o h culp

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OH DEAR IM OVER MY HEAD! Several of my Cory catfish eggs which I gently removed when they were to a breeder net and kept it in the same aquarium as the adults have actually hatched and now I don't know what to do! HELP. They r amazingly TINY & seem so helpless. I want to do the best thing for them so they'll reach adulthood and maybe I can give them to one of our better Aquatics stores. I think they just hatched last night or early this morning. I've already bought them Hikari first bites but all the literature says to just let them be for two days and they'll eat the yolk sacs. Problem is I'm going to have to move them into a grow out tank which I have, but it's not ready. It's a 5 gallon Fluval I just don't have any water or anything in it and I don't know how to cycle rapidly. Can anyone give me suggestions as to how I can get this 5 gallon Fluval ready, when I should transfer the teeny weeny babies into that tank, how to do partial water changes when they're just going to get sucked up in anything I use to remove the old water, & why does the tank water smell AWFUL? I just did a 35 to 40% water change 2 days ago.
Thx. For ANY help. I really wasn't trying to get any kind of babies. I bought the cc to help clean up the infestation of worms in pest snails in that 5 gallon Fluval and they did a nice job but I still had snails so I had to tear the whole tank down and sanitize it. I was hoping to get a second betta fish to put in that 5 gallon Fluval but now I guess it has to be a grow out tank for the baby Cory's.
 
If you have another tank, you can take some media from that and put it in the Fluval.

When I've had tiny fry, I used airline tubing to clean the tank. Because the tubing is so narrow, water flows up it slowly so there is much less danger of sucking up tiny fry.
Live food such as microworms and baby brine shrimp are also good foods for fry.


why does the tank water smell AWFUL?

Which tank smells awful? What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrite readings on that tank?





Cories won't eat snails. Cories do need to fed sinking pellets with animal protein (eg fish, shrimp) in them. Also, snails are a useful part of a tank ecosystem. Provided they are not allowed to get out of control, snails are not a problem. The usual cause of too many snails is over feeding the fish. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, nerite snails and the snails often referred to as pest snails - tiny ramshorns and physids - in both my tanks and they are not a problem.
 
removed when they were to a breeder net and kept it in the same aquarium as the adults have actually hatched and now I don't know what to do! HELP. They r amazingly TINY & seem so helpless. I want to do the best thing for them so they'll reach adulthood and maybe I can give them to one of our better Aquatics stores. I think they just hatched last night or early this morning. I've already bought them Hikari first bites but all the literature says to just let them be for two days and they'll eat the yolk sacs. Problem is I'm going to have to move them into a grow out tank which I have, but it's not ready. It's a 5 gallon Fluval I just don't have any water or anything in it and I don't know how to cycle rapidly. Can anyone give me suggestions as to how I can get this 5 gallon Fluval ready, when I should transfer the teeny weeny babies into that tank, how to do partial water changes when they're just going to get sucked up in anything I use to remove the old water, & why does the tank water smell AWFUL? I just did a 35 to 40% water change 2 days ago.
Thx. For ANY help. I really wasn't trying to get any kind of babies. I bought the cc to help clean up the infestation of worms in pest snails in that 5 gallon Fluval and they did a nice job but I still had snails so I had to tear the whole tank down and sanitize it. I was hoping to get a second betta fish to put in that 5 gallon Fluval but now I guess it has to be a grow out tank for the

When I've had tiny fry, I used airline tubing to clean the tank. Because the tubing is so narrow, water flows up it slowly so there is much less danger of sucking up tiny fry.
Live food such as microworms and baby brine shrimp are also good foods for fry.




Which tank smells awful? What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrite readings on that tank?





Cories won't eat snails. Cories do need to fed sinking pellets with animal protein (eg fish, shrimp) in them. Also, snails are a useful part of a tank ecosystem. Provided they are not allowed to get out of control, snails are not a problem. The usual cause of too many snails is over feeding the fish. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, nerite snails and the snails often referred to as pest snails - tiny ramshorns and physids - in both my tanks and they are not a problem.[/QUOTE]

If you have another tank, you can take some media from that and put it in the Fluval.

When I've had tiny fry, I used airline tubing to clean the tank. Because the tubing is so narrow, water flows up it slowly so there is much less danger of sucking up tiny fry.
Live food such as microworms and baby brine shrimp are also good foods for fry.




Which tank smells awful? What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrite readings on that tank?





Cories won't eat snails. Cories do need to fed sinking pellets with animal protein (eg fish, shrimp) in them. Also, snails are a useful part of a tank ecosystem. Provided they are not allowed to get out of control, snails are not a problem. The usual cause of too many snails is over feeding the fish. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, nerite snails and the snails often referred to as pest snails - tiny ramshorns and physids - in both my tanks and they are not a problem.
 
removed when they were to a breeder net and kept it in the same aquarium as the adults have actually hatched and now I don't know what to do! HELP. They r amazingly TINY & seem so helpless. I want to do the best thing for them so they'll reach adulthood and maybe I can give them to one of our better Aquatics stores. I think they just hatched last night or early this morning. I've already bought them Hikari first bites but all the literature says to just let them be for two days and they'll eat the yolk sacs. Problem is I'm going to have to move them into a grow out tank which I have, but it's not ready. It's a 5 gallon Fluval I just don't have any water or anything in it and I don't know how to cycle rapidly. Can anyone give me suggestions as to how I can get this 5 gallon Fluval ready, when I should transfer the teeny weeny babies into that tank, how to do partial water changes when they're just going to get sucked up in anything I use to remove the old water, & why does the tank water smell AWFUL? I just did a 35 to 40% water change 2 days ago.
Thx. For ANY help. I really wasn't trying to get any kind of babies. I bought the cc to help clean up the infestation of worms in pest snails in that 5 gallon Fluval and they did a nice job but I still had snails so I had to tear the whole tank down and sanitize it. I was hoping to get a second betta fish to put in that 5 gallon Fluval but now I guess it has to be a grow out tank for the

When I've had tiny fry, I used airline tubing to clean the tank. Because the tubing is so narrow, water flows up it slowly so there is much less danger of sucking up tiny fry.
Live food such as microworms and baby brine shrimp are also good foods for fry.




Which tank smells awful? What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrite readings on that tank?





Cories won't eat snails. Cories do need to fed sinking pellets with animal protein (eg fish, shrimp) in them. Also, snails are a useful part of a tank ecosystem. Provided they are not allowed to get out of control, snails are not a problem. The usual cause of too many snails is over feeding the fish. I have Malaysian trumpet snails, nerite snails and the snails often referred to as pest snails - tiny ramshorns and physids - in both my tanks and they are not a problem.
[/QUOTE]




I have 3 tanks. 2 completely cycled one w/just a betta all alone, one w/ the 3 cory catfish one female & 2 males, & the 3rd an empty, sanitized 5g Fluval. The 10g w/the cc & now the breeder net container & babies is the one that smells TERRIBLE. I feed the adults once a day alternating fish flakes, algae wafers, frozen blood worms & brine shrimp and cory waters.
Oh my stars! 40+ more eggs just showed up! I moved some to the breeder box. For the few that hatched last night or this morning when do I start feeding them "real" food like baby brine shrimp & the worms you mentioned?
If & when I can get the grow out tank ready & cycled when should I move the babies over to it?
Oh good heavens this is STRESSFUL!
 
There is no realistic way to save the fry from 40 eggs, particularly as you don't have a tank ready for them yet. I would leave the new eggs where they are and the chances are that they'll be eaten. In the meantime, set up the 5 gallon and only when that is ready start saving more eggs.

As for the tank with the smell, what are the water conditions - ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How often do you clean the tank? How much water do you change each time? How much do you feed the cories.


You also have the problem that cories need to be in a group of at least 6, though if your fry survive that will solve this problem.





Once the fry have absorbed the egg sac, you need to start feeding them. They need very tiny food at first. How big are the Hikari First Bites? If it is bigger than dust, the simple answer it to get a food grade pestle and mortar and grind it up smaller.
Microworms need to be cultured, you buy a starter kit and grow the worms. It does take several days, and the worms should not be fed exclusively. Baby brine shrimps are available in frozen cubes at some LFS or you can grow your own. If you get the frozen cubes, cut a tiny piece off a block and thaw that in some tank water as a whole cube is way too much.
 
Thank you essjay I really don't think I can do the growing out cultures of my own worms or baby brine shrimp. I have a very busy life style. I AM taking the 3 adult cory catfish to a very good reputable Aquatic Store tomorrow though to let them be re-homed. They're healthy good fish I just can't keep up w/them & like before mentioned really only wanted another betta for that tank & Mystery snails. If the fry make it on what I CAN feed them I will also re-home them when they are of age. I doubt they will make it though. If it's meant to be they'll make it. I certainly could not get a larger group as they should be in so I think re-homing is a good option. Southern Aquatics seemed very happy to take them.
Thanks again. Next time if I think I want or need a different of aquatic pet other than a Betta or snail I'll do better research & not LISTEN TO THE LFS employee.
 
Hikari First Bites is a finely crushed powder and will work fine. I use a turkey Bastet to clean the bottom up f my fry tank. I leave it bare bottom. Calm down, it will be fine. Only fill your fry tank about 6” for now.
 
If you have a tank that is fully cycled (and is not the one that smells bad - I couldn't figure out from your comments which tank that is) than why not remove about 4 gallons of water from the cycled tank as well as some pieces of it's media mixed with new media. That should be sufficient to result in a cycled tank in about the fastest way you can do it. Someone also suggested using the plastic tubing to do water changes in the tank where the fry are (or will be) - excellent suggestion - it will take longer to remove the water but you're less likely to suck up the fry.

As far as smelling bad - is this the tank where the fry hatched? it could be that caused the smell in the tank. A water change - or water changes a couple of days in a row should reduce the smell, then just watch that you don't over feed - another source of smell (I experience on that one since I have a tendency to overfeed - I just hate the thought of somebody not getting enough food LOL - but I'm learning and the smell of the tanks has decreased significantly)
 
All of your comments and suggestions have been wonderful and I thank all of you. Here's the latest update on my entire situation of fish keeping.
First of all the horrible news which just once again devastated me. My beautiful "Blue" ( betta fish ) passed away. He was & has been in his own tank all by himself and his gorgeous finage got sucked into the intake Slots of his Aqueon hang on the back filter. I was at work when it happened and by the time I found him and got him freed his fins ha streaks of blood all through them. He was so stressed he could barely breathe, he could not get to the top of the tank even though I drop the water level tremendously and 2 days later he passed away. He was my second betta in less than a year that I have lost so I am now done with that particular pet.
I rehomed my 3 adult Cory catfish to a wonderful Aquatic Store they were so happy to get them. The 8-9 fry are still in the main 10g aquarium that they started in except I have them in a breeder net. I still have not been able to get the five gallon Fluval grow out tank prepared for them because I'm missing a very important part to the filter. I don't know what age they have to be to move them into a larger area because they're so tiny right now I would never be able to see them or find them in the 10 gallon tank. They would certainly be sucked up in the gravel vac when I did water changes even with Airline tubing. I'm just feeding them the powdered Hikari first bites.
I feel some people are meant to take care of certain animals and some people are not fit to take care of the animals. I do very well taking care of horses cats and dogs but these delicate, little tiny fish I'm just about done with. I feel like I've done all of them a great Injustice by obtaining them and then they just died or I've had to rehome them. Even my snails seem to die soon after I get them no matter how hard I try to keep them fed and no matter how well I keep my water parameters.
I admire all of you successful fish keepers but I suspect I don't need to be one of the group and should just stick to mammals.
 
I’m so sorry for your loss. I do hope you reconsider with the fish. Perhaps start with something a little handier like goldfish and work with just that breed for awhile. That’s how I started and then branched out as my confidence grew. Either way, I wish you the best.
 
Thank you Deanasue, I have tried goldfish they died too. I'd only keep one @ a time -- horrible luck
Currently I have 3 brand new snails that haven't moved in 2 days I'm sure they're sick or dying & now about 10 cory fry. Would u mind advising me on how often to do pwc's in there very tiny breeder net & how often to feed them.
Thanks for your help I just want to get the babies big enough to rehome to the very reputable aquatic store that I frequent here in Atlanta.
 

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