Cockatoo Has 100s Of Fry... Now What?

[LolaLouie]

About 2 weeks ago I was cleaning out my tank when i realised i'd sucked up my cockatoos eggs, I figured that was it, but this morning i've just seen 100s of babies. They have no egg sack attached to them and they are around 1-2mm. What do i do with them? Can i just leave them and continue to feed my tank as normal (I feed live and frozen worms, daphnia, brine shrimp etc. etc). I haven't got much time to invest in these fry at the moment. Wil they all die if i leave the mum to care for them on her own? They're living in a huge pile of java moss at the moment and seem to be doing really well.

Also my angelfish have laid eggs, they have laid before but the male has never fertilised them but this time he has. I haven't cleaned the tank out for 2 weeks, with angelfish eggs and cockatoo fry should i leave the cleaning out for another week?

Any tips on angel and cockatoo fry much appreciated.

 

[ox5477]

Well if you want the wigglers to survive, the best would prob to move them either into a breeders net or a seperate tank. In both you can feed them crushed flake or baby brine shrimp and they should grow fine without the worry of becoming food or being sucked up.

You said you don't have much time so if you really arnt too interested in having 100 fledgling fish... then just go ahead and clean the tank as normal. The mother and father will protect the eggs, but some may get sucked up and other will prob become food. but a few will survive

 

[CamaroGurl]

Well if you want the wigglers to survive, the best would prob to move them either into a breeders net or a seperate tank. In both you can feed them crushed flake or baby brine shrimp and they should grow fine without the worry of becoming food or being sucked up.

You said you don't have much time so if you really arnt too interested in having 100 fledgling fish... then just go ahead and clean the tank as normal. The mother and father will protect the eggs, but some may get sucked up and other will prob become food. but a few will survive

I also have some Cockatoo fry, mine still have the egg sack. I moved mine into a tank all their own. And when cleaning I've kept the sucking part of the drain hose thingy (not sure of the real name for this, sorry) at the top of the water and I put it in a net that's meant for catching fry and/or baby brine shrimp, that way I don't suck the babies up. Also, they don't have mom with them. I clean the tank out once a day, usually 15-30 minutes after feeding.

 

[LolaLouie]

As i said i dont want to invest much time into the fry but at the same time i'd really like them to survive as it would be nice to watch them grow and also to get a little financial reward from all the hard work i've put into my tank.

I'm worried about moving the fry as the mother is doing such a good job at protecting them and i don't know how they'll do being taken away from her. And also my tank is set up as a south american biotope (i put a lot of effort into getting the ph right, hardness right, black water etc.) and it seems a shame to move them from an environment that is as close to nature as possible into a little 30 litre unmaintained hospital tank with frogs in it. Also it seems an unnecessary stress catching and netting them.

Wont the fry just eat leftover food?

Thanks for the replies btw