Floating Fish Hatchery

[amylw1]

hi,

how many fry can i keep in a floating fish hatchery?

i dont have a spare tank (nor the money to buy one). i bought 2 female guppies at the weekend, 1 has dropped fry and the other looks pregnant. at present there are 32 fry in it, but they are going to get bigger and have no room.

 

[james_fish]

It obviously depends on the size. Having a lot of fry in there is not the real issue here.
Its when they are grown a bit more, but still not big enough to go in the main tank. I recommend buying like a 15Litre kids tank from your LFS. I understand you don't have the money but they are really cheap to be honest, try to get one which comes with a filter, and use existing media in their.

Thats my advice.

James.

 

[amylw1]

thanks.

i have 33 guppies in there at the moment. (found another 1!)


the cheapest tank at LFS is £59.99. i can get a small plastix 1 from wilkinsons for £6 and £6 for a small pump, its still going to them cost me £40 for a heater.

 

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

if you are getting a small tank from wilkos u can get a small heater for about £13, i've got one in my fry tank and it works fine.

shop around you will find a bargain

 

[Harlequins]

When i had overflow of lots of guppies & platy fry i set up a cheap tank using a storage box with a lid,if you shop around for a cheap heater & filter you could do this for around £20

Within a few weeks your fry will need more room other than the trap.

 

[amylw1]

thanks everyone.

found a tank 5miles from me on ebay cheap. hopefully i can get it. i will keep it until fry are big enough to be re-homed - i have then got to decide IF i am keeping the 2 females we bought that gave us babies and some female babies or keeping male babies and getting rid of females.

 

[julsifer]

that storage box idea is excellent!

 

[Harlequins]

that storage box idea is excellent!

Thanks,it worked for me when i ended up with hundreds of fry

 

[otakufishy]

what's everyone's opinions on having a pregnant fish give birth in breeding traps and such? experiences? i need help deciding on whether or not I should use one....

 

[Harlequins]

what's everyone's opinions on having a pregnant fish give birth in breeding traps and such? experiences? i need help deciding on whether or not I should use one....

I have used them when i had livebearers,my own personal experience i find platys handle traps better than guppies,all females can get stressed out if left in them too long,so really 48hrs is the max.
Traps are more handy for putting fry after the female has dropped in the tank,just catch them using a turkey baster

 

[amylw1]

as i didnt know my fish was pregant until i found the babies i didnt use the trap for her. i just caught as many babies as i could in a small net the day after (as it was 6pm on a sunday - shops closed when we saw them) and put into floating hatchery.

and the fact the other female is pregnant i think i will leave her in the main tank and just catch the babies again - if some get eaten b4 i get to rescue them then they do! its bad enough i have got to find homes or whatever for this lot as aquarium wont take them as they only sell the fish they have bred because of their return/guarantee policy.

 

[julsifer]

Using a storage box as a hatchery IN a tank : )

Just found this

 

[otakufishy]

as i didnt know my fish was pregant until i found the babies i didnt use the trap for her. i just caught as many babies as i could in a small net the day after (as it was 6pm on a sunday - shops closed when we saw them) and put into floating hatchery.

and the fact the other female is pregnant i think i will leave her in the main tank and just catch the babies again - if some get eaten b4 i get to rescue them then they do! its bad enough i have got to find homes or whatever for this lot as aquarium wont take them as they only sell the fish they have bred because of their return/guarantee policy.

When I was looking at my tank, I saw a little black tadpole-looking thing and knew that my molly had given birth. Too late for the traps now! Because I wasn't home to catch the birth, most of them died.... *sobs* I have a lot of big fishies with big mouths... :'( On a positive note, I caught 4 of them (3 mollies and 1 platy), with a turkey baster like suggested lol, and put them in a breeding trap so they're safe. Now I can mark my calender so I know when to expect my next babies! Let's hope that these little guys make it... Thanks everyone for your responses!

p.s. it was really funny, because I found the babies right after I saw the move "Babies", a movie about 4 babies all around the world, in theaters. Ironically, there are 4 babies starred in the movie, and I caught 4 babies. I named them after the movie babies; Ponijao, Bayar, Mari, and Hattie. (REALLY GOOD MOVIE!!!!! see link)

http/www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/babies/


EDIT: Lately, more and more babies have been popping up in the plants! I have 11 total! Yay!

 

[amylw1]

at present i have 34* babies in the hatchery - however i won a tank with heater n filter etc on ebay yesterday. i have cleaned it and put water in it from existing tank and some out of tap with tpa safe. going to leave it a few days to settle, once i know water is ok i intend to transfer the babies to it.


*was 33 but found another 1 that has been swimming around for a week!

 

[OldMan47]

There is no reason to "allow the water to settle". It does nothing at all for the fish. Until you have a cycled filter, that new tank will require close attention and lots of water changes. Leaving the fry in a small container is doing nothing for the fish.