New Zebra Danio Fry- Help!

[aquajay]

Hi,

I have a 20 gal with 5 zebra danio and 3 fantail guppies. I was doing my weekly 20% water change when I noticed movement in the bucket I was siphoning to. I looked closer and there were a number of teeny tiny fish! I spent over an hour scooping them all out into a small 0.5 gal transfer tank and completed the water change. I now have about 15 fry since apparently I have both female & male zebrafish. My question is, now what? I've raised guppy fry before but that was 10 years ago and these fry seem even smaller.

I have a breeder net but the fry are soooo small that they won't be contained by it and would be eaten by the adults. I have a 2 gallon goldfish bowl I could set up as a nursery but I don't know if the fry need filtration. In fact, I don't really know what the fry need at all. I would guess they want lots of floating cover and rocks in order to hide. I can feed them ground up flakes for food. Anything else?

I'm sure there are other fry in the 20 gal tank but I have no way of capturing them or getting them to safety. Anything I can/should do for them?

Thanks a ton for help!

 

[librarygirl]

I don't think they'll eat the fish flakes, they're too small. And I would think they need a mature, cycled tank to stay in, putting them in an uncycled bowl will probably kill them, I would think. Here's some info I found: http/breedtropicalfish.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-breed-and-raise-zebrafish.html Maybe someone on here with more experience can chime in. Good luck and congrats on the fry!

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes; fry need surprisingly large tanks considering their size. I wouldn't try to grow fry in anything les than 10 gallons and, like all fish, they do need a properly cycled filter.

I think your best bet is to add a massive great clump of fine leaved plant; elodea or cabomba are good, and that'll also harbour mico-organisms for the fry to eat.