Can Fry Eat Fry?

[amylw1]

hi,

yesterday i had 37 guppy fry in a tank, went to bed etc, got up this morning, turned light on, fed them and i only have 16!!! i have moved the plants etc and they are not there, i have none dead at the bottom or floating at the top. they fry are all from the same batch so same size, can fry eat fry? or are they likely to have gone through filter?

if its the 2nd i'm very supprised as they have been in the tank with filter for a week and are much bigger now than when i put them in it.

 

[angelfishguy]

im guessing it was the filter...dont think the other fry could of eaten them

 

[the biffster]

there's a lot to be said for sponge air powered filters that way you dont lose fry

 

[amylw1]

well i went through the filter and have got 10 live fry out of it - how long they will live i dont know, this takes me up to 26, so i have lost 11 in filter (and yes there were "half fish" in it!)


i have now wrapped a piece of "cloth bandgae" round it held in place with elastic band top n bottom so dirt can go through but not fry.

 

[the biffster]

well i went through the filter and have got 10 live fry out of it - how long they will live i dont know, this takes me up to 26, so i have lost 11 in filter (and yes there were "half fish" in it!)


i have now wrapped a piece of "cloth bandgae" round it held in place with elastic band top n bottom so dirt can go through but not fry.

i still prefer sponge filters in fry tanks there a lot more
gentle a flow and you some time get the fry feeding of the sponge filter

 

[OldMan47]

Another solution to having a fry eating filter is to cover the filter inlet with a piece of sponge filter. This is a piece of sponge, intended to be used as a replacement for a major filter maker's filter, that I have cut a slit into and used to cover my filter inlet tube. The filter sponge on my desktop.

The same piece of filter medium a month later on my filter inlet tube.

I find that using the sponge replacement element on a real world filter lets me treat the new sponge as a part of the biological filter. I clean it using my gravel vac during water changes and seldom need to actually clean the filter it is protecting from fry.