Due to a sudden death in my family I had to return home for 3 weeks, unfortunately leaving my tank (20 gallon, initially 4 corys, 7 neons, 4 guppies, several shrimp, heavily planted, 2.5wpg).
I set up an auto feeder and lighting timer and gave a 50% water change and half filter change before leaving. Basically I was hoping I did everything I could do in an emergency to keep my fish alive. A friend was looking after the apartment while I was gone but he has no experience with fish so I just asked him to take any dead fish out of the tank if he spotted any.
He didn't spot any.
I just got back last night to quite a murky looking tank that is absolutely bursting to the seams with life. The guppies see to have had upwards of 30 fry (it would seem going by the sizes 2 spawns, some are tiny some are about 9mm) and there is literally an army of baby shrimps (again, probably upwards of 30).
What do I do?? I have checked everything and there is zero ammonia in the tank and all other levels are normal. I really don't have the heart to euthenise any of the fry or guppies but from what I've heard the spawning will be a monthly thing that will increase in size. I live in Hong Kong so none of the LFS will take any of these fish off of my hands. I know this is seriously breaking all of the rules but would I be okay taking daily ammonia tests to ensure it doesn't spike and then dealing with it if it does? Is it possible that the shrimps are eating all of the waste and thus reducing ammonia levels in the tank?
Would it be advisable to buy a somewhat predatory fish to eat any newer fry? I'm surprised the guppy parents didn't eat any of them but can anyone suggest a suitable fish to reduce my levels?
If the worst comes to worst what is the best method of euthanising? It will break my heart but if it has to be done
I have heard that freezing is the most humane but my freezer isn't really very powerful and would probably just heavily chill the water rather than totally freeze it.
Is there a chemical additive I can add to the water to discourage further breeding?
It's amazing to see my tank full of life but I'm so worried
I set up an auto feeder and lighting timer and gave a 50% water change and half filter change before leaving. Basically I was hoping I did everything I could do in an emergency to keep my fish alive. A friend was looking after the apartment while I was gone but he has no experience with fish so I just asked him to take any dead fish out of the tank if he spotted any.
He didn't spot any.
I just got back last night to quite a murky looking tank that is absolutely bursting to the seams with life. The guppies see to have had upwards of 30 fry (it would seem going by the sizes 2 spawns, some are tiny some are about 9mm) and there is literally an army of baby shrimps (again, probably upwards of 30).
What do I do?? I have checked everything and there is zero ammonia in the tank and all other levels are normal. I really don't have the heart to euthenise any of the fry or guppies but from what I've heard the spawning will be a monthly thing that will increase in size. I live in Hong Kong so none of the LFS will take any of these fish off of my hands. I know this is seriously breaking all of the rules but would I be okay taking daily ammonia tests to ensure it doesn't spike and then dealing with it if it does? Is it possible that the shrimps are eating all of the waste and thus reducing ammonia levels in the tank?
Would it be advisable to buy a somewhat predatory fish to eat any newer fry? I'm surprised the guppy parents didn't eat any of them but can anyone suggest a suitable fish to reduce my levels?
If the worst comes to worst what is the best method of euthanising? It will break my heart but if it has to be done
I have heard that freezing is the most humane but my freezer isn't really very powerful and would probably just heavily chill the water rather than totally freeze it.Is there a chemical additive I can add to the water to discourage further breeding?
It's amazing to see my tank full of life but I'm so worried
