Can I Move The Krib Fry Now?

[shelaghfishface]

the tank has suffered a little on the maintence side as i have been scared to do a grvel vac etc incase i suck up the babies,so have just been doing 20% wc every other day, the babies are thriving,and as much as i would love to leave them in there i really do need to give this tank a good clean ( the gravel is minging),plants are rotting,others need cutting back, but i thought maybe if i started to disturb the tank the mum and dad my take offence and start eating the babies,another problem is, the tank i have ready to put them in is an aqua 320 ( 28L?) there are about 40 babies and im not sure this tank will allow them to thrive as they have been ( in reality i havent done anything, i fed liquifry 3 times, then back to just feeding the adults)
the water stats are fine"for now" but i cant imagine its going to stay like this with the mess thats going on in there!
so what do i do?? leave them and carry on the way i am or risk them by moving them?
maybe start doing slightly larger water changes? and leave them in,
although the fry are all over the tank now, mum and dad are still taking care of them,if i moved them, would that cause aggression?

im sure you have the picture now lol, ill shut up!
thanks in advance,
shelagh xxxx

 

[bricko]

Hi Shelag,

What gravel vac do you use?

I have always maintained vacing my gravel throughout the presence of fry in my tanks. I have had and still do have bristlenose fry in my main tank along with krib fry. In the past I have had guppy fry and swordtail fry and don't believe I ever sucked a baby fish up once. I always do my maintenance with the light on so I can see into the tank better, but I guess this is just common sense, the Python hose is about 3 inch wide and will suck up little more than dust and poo, at the top it even has a grate to prevent large debris from entering the narrow pipe, this would not prevent small fry from entering though. Little fish would not be dragged up as there is not that much pressure due to the diameter of the python at the bottom. My personal experience with my krib parents was that they never once got agressive with the fry during maintenance, if anything they tryed to herd them up together.

What size are the fry now and how old? I think they should be fine to move if thats your prefered option but be prepared to do lots of water changes in a 28l tank, to help grow them on and avoid stunting you would probably need to do daily 25% water changes in a small tank like that with so many fry.

Hope this is of some reassurance for you.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[shelaghfishface]

cheers Mark,
its just a bog standard syhon vac thingy,and i have hoovered up platy fry in the past, even a small clown loach once ( thats`ll be our secret ok!!) i`ll see if i can get a smaller one than i have, maybe that will be easier for me.or a python
glad to hear about maintence not encouraging agression the fry are about 3 weeks now,(and just over apprx a CM) and are growing like mad
ill give it a good clean and see how it goes,if i spot anymore eggs soon then i`ll rethink moving them out, thankyou so much for your help.
shelagh xxx

 

[kribensis12]

The kribs wont eat the fry when doing a water change. All the fry will gather together and the parents will defend them. Dont worry about a w/c

 

[bricko]

cheers Mark,
its just a bog standard syhon vac thingy,and i have hoovered up platy fry in the past, even a small clown loach once ( thats`ll be our secret ok!!) i`ll see if i can get a smaller one than i have, maybe that will be easier for me.or a python
glad to hear about maintence not encouraging agression the fry are about 3 weeks now,(and just over apprx a CM) and are growing like mad
ill give it a good clean and see how it goes,if i spot anymore eggs soon then i`ll rethink moving them out, thankyou so much for your help.
shelagh xxx

Your secrets safe with me

A python is essentially a wide plastic tube attached at the top with a narrow hose, therefore there is no great intake pressure at the vacuum end. Thus this will enable you to suck up debris (uneaten food, fish poop etc) without the force necessary to suck up an unsuspecting fish :0

You would still need to keep an eye on them as my fish have a fascination in trying to eat anyhting floating up the tube, especially small snails, basically attacking the side of it

Have fun with your kribs, they are a very cool fish Once they start breeding you will soon be overwhelmed with babies so don't worry too much if you suck the odd one up

Cheers,

Bricko