Fry In Tank That Was About To Be Stripped Down

[cs091]

Back on about the 15th August I moved my danios, white clould mountain minnows and an oto (there were three originally) from my 10g tank to my new 180 litre one.

I moved the filter out and put the media in the new filter, leaving the old tank half full of water with no heater, no filter, and no light. Just a gazillion snails and some cyanobacteria. Meaning to clean it all out to be a quarantine/hospital tank.

It seems to have turned into a nursery!

I just went to start the task of stripping it down when I realised that there are upward of a dozen small fish in there about 5mm long.

What should I do? I haven't fed them or changed the water or anything in the last two weeks. If I change the water I'm afraid I'll suck them up and the filter media is in the new tank. Would the filter suck them up anyway?

I've got some livebearer 'fry food', should I put some of that in? - No I haven't must have thrown it.

So I'm in desperate need of some advice.

Any help from someone who's raised fry will be appreciated.

BTW
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Temp 73F

 

[WILDER]

Gradually fill the tank back up don't want to shock them too much, put heater back.
Baby brime strimp, and crushed flakes, do you no what type of fish the fry are.
Put a pair of women tights around the filter and secure it with a rubber band that will stop the fry getting sucked into the filter.

 

[cs091]

Thanks Wilder.
I've already filled the tank up so I could put the heater back on.

Crushed a flake and put that in. I don't have any brine shrimp but I do have some brine shrimp delica sachets, can I mash some of that up and put it in?

I've also put in an airstone to create a bit of circulation in the water. Is this okay?

Can I take the media out of the large tank, now that it's been cloning for 2 weeks? I don't want to risk the rest of the fish.

Or would the gravel hold enough bacteria for this bioload?

The fry could be zebra danios, gold WCCM or (less likely) otos. I've a feeling they are danios. They look more blue than gold at the moment.

 

[WILDER]

Just test the fry tank to make sure water stats are ok.
No i doubt the sponges will be mature yet.

 

[cs091]

Just test the fry tank to make sure water stats are ok.
No i doubt the sponges will be mature yet.

They're okay at the moment. I'll keep testing.

Thanks for your help.