How to stop fry from being sucked up filter?

[MegTheFish]

I have 3 guppy fry in a 3 gallon kritter keeper with a sponge filter, and they are FINALLY big enough not to be eaten or harrased by the guppy in the 5.5 gallon now (its been almost a year! They sure grow slowly...)So I'm planning on moving them over, so there will be 4 guppies in the 5 gallon (including the adult guppy). Two of the gups are bigger then the other because they are older. The largest gup (who is the male, the other 2 are female) is just over 1/2 inch.
Now, the filter in the 5.5 gallon is pretty powerful, so I've already done the filter current killer with the water bottle thingy, but they can still get sucked up the intake tube because the slots are pretty big. I've tried wrapping a thin layer of panty hose around the intake tube, but after a few hours it doesn't let much water through so the current is reduced to a slow trickle. Any ideas?

 

[laurasmithuk]

can you keep them seperate longer til big enough?

 

[snowyangel]

You can apply netting or wrap string around the intake to make the gaps smaller so the fry don't get sucked up and there's still circulation.

 

[MegTheFish]

I don't really want to wait any longer, I find that it takes atleast 2 years before they grow to full size when I raise them. I actually haven't had any get to full size yet. I guess I'll just try a different type of netting. I've tried cheese cloth but it fell apart in a few days.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

arent guppies life spans 2 years?

 

[Annastasia]

Try using a breeder net. The holes are usually bigger, so they allow more water through. They do need to be cleaned off pretty often though, because debris can sometimes accumulate. Or a sponge filter, though that might not cut it for that size tank....

I find it strange your Guppies take 2 years to reach full size...mine are usually done growing at 6-8 months. It may be the fact you are raising them in a very small tank though...usually the minimum is about 7-10 gallons, because they need room to grow. Also, slightly higher temperatures help them grow, as does feeding at least 3 times a day. They need high-protein foods too, so any Live, Frozen, Or freeze-dried food is great.

 

[IMCL85]

You use sponge filter in any fry tank. It prevent the fry being suck to filter due to too strong current.

 

[Snailguy101]

Try a sponge filter

 

[LifeBear]

There is a sponge filter in the FRY tank, she (or he) wants to move them to the adult tank now that they are bigger.

 

[Tolak]

Poke a hole in a piece of sponge, slide it over the intake. Acts as a pre-filter, increases the bio filtration of any filter, and diffuses the intake, keeping fish from being sucked up.

Tolak

 

[IMCL85]

that mean there size is still too small let them stay inside that sponge tank a little longer until they grow more .

 

[Tolak]

Ideally a larger tank with just sponge filters would be the way to go. Sometimes you have to work with the equipment that you have. If the larger tank doesn't have enough filtration with just sponges, you have to modify things a little.

Tolak

 

[MegTheFish]

Thanks for the replies everybody!
I won't be saving any more guppy fry from being eaten, because obvousily my tank isn't a big enough grow-out tank for them! I tried raising them in a breeder net but they grew even slower...its frusterating! Last time, just before I was going to put them in the larger tank, all 5 of them got ick and died. That was a bummer. There is no heater in the tank so that probably has something to do with it (both the slow growth and the ick). I'll just keep a betta in there from now on.

I guess I'll use the sponge filter from the 3 gallon and use it in the 5.5 gallon, its suppost to be able to filter a 10 gallon tank so it should work.

Poke a hole in a piece of sponge, slide it over the intake. Acts as a pre-filter, increases the bio filtration of any filter, and diffuses the intake, keeping fish from being sucked up.

Hmm...I think I tried that a while back and it didn't work for some reason? The sponge I used was probably too big. I'll just stick with putting the sponge filter in there, though. Thanks for the suggestion everybody.

Oh, and BTW, I only feed the gups every 1-2 days, if I feed them more I find that their bellies get too big. They still can't fit the frozen foods in their mouths, so they just eat crused flakes and freeze-dried bloodworms for now. I'll try feeding smaller meals more often, see if that helps. I'll see if I can chop up the frozen bloodworms small enough to fit in their mouths, too.