Best Advice For Fry Folks

[keenonfish]

Hi folks ok for 3 weeks I have had 7 platy fry swimming round in a nursery net which in turn is in my 30 litre hex tank with mature air pump driven UGF. The Hex has two female red wags, two neons and one peppered Cory. The births gave me a good excuse to get the misses to agree to a bigger tank and sooo...
Last week I finally got sorted with a new tank setup from a member here basically a Juwel Vision 180 and second hex tank
This second hex has a UGF with a 400 l/h power head (measure at about 308 l/h unloaded) but also I have a fluval 1 & 2 plus filter as an alternative choice.
What I want to do is eventually move my current mature hex setup to the vision (need to remove a scratch first) but before this I want to move the fry to the second hex..

1. Am I ok using the powerhead with the fry as I am worried that the currents produced might be too strong? I have inverted the output to direct the flow straight up.

2. Maybe I could use the Fluval 1 plus (output measured more than quoted l/h but unloaded) but I would rather save this for any emergencies that might crop up and despite bad rap UGF's receive I quite like them tbh! It would also take up a lot of space in a small tank and may present a risk to the fry?

3. If powerhead too powerful maybe I could move it to the mature tank and air pump from mature to new but I would rather not upset my old tank as everyone is happy and maybe in there until Christmas or even later atm.

4. Then there is the issue of nitrification. Assuming I treat the water and introduce some gravel and water from the mature tank, coupled with the small amounts of waste my fry will currently be developing then how do I treat the setup? Should I treat it as a fish in cycle or can I be a little bit more relaxed? I do have an API kit now so have the ability to test so maybe test daily or every other day?

Cheers,

Olly.

 

[keenonfish]

Anyone? (sorry for seeming impatient I need to get this done today really!

 

[keenonfish]

My last bump then I promise I will forget about it

 

[minxfishy]

Im unfamiliar with UGF and powerheads, but providing the intake isnt too powerful, you can always put some netting over it to stop the fry being sucked up and yes angle the outlet so it doesnt create too much current, then I see no reason why you couldnt use that, plenty of gravel from the established tank to seed the UGF and you should be ok, as you say the fry dont create much waste, but I would treat as a fish in cycle all the same, test daily and any traces of ammonia or nitrIte and do some water changes to get it down, temp match the water, treat it as normal and you should be fine.

 

[keenonfish]

Im unfamiliar with UGF and powerheads, but providing the intake isnt too powerful, you can always put some netting over it to stop the fry being sucked up and yes angle the outlet so it doesnt create too much current, then I see no reason why you couldnt use that, plenty of gravel from the established tank to seed the UGF and you should be ok, as you say the fry dont create much waste, but I would treat as a fish in cycle all the same, test daily and any traces of ammonia or nitrIte and do some water changes to get it down, temp match the water, treat it as normal and you should be fine.

Thanks minxfish I think the 'intake' is where an under gravel filter has the advantage, as the intake is over the (or most of the) tank bed so intake currents tend to be quite weak. It was mostly the outlet I was worried about but I guess they will get used to it!

Olly.

 

[minxfishy]

As long as the outlet is turned either upwards so only create a strong current at the surface, which you want really for aeration, or angled towards the side of the tank, they should be fine, platies are pretty strong swimmers (even when small)

 

[keenonfish]

 

[keenonfish]

Well I decided to go with a spare air pump in the end which I forgot I had! Anyway I am glad I didnt go with the powerhead. I moved 3 of the fish over and they are having to swim in water currents for the first time - little tails going mad I hope they don't tire out too much!