Regarding Birth.

[Kurosakii]

Hey,
Yesterday, my guppy finally gave birth after having her for 3 months XD. She had 20 fry, I wanted to know if a filter (sponge preferbably) is necessary? Because I wouldn't want to go spend money on something for only a few dollars that only used for fry. And, is BBS compulsory? Would they do fine with crushed up flakes? How do I force feed them - they roam the tank like its a jungle ==" the only thing I could think of was sprinkle it all over the tank What other foods are also used? Any veggies? for fry that is.
Help appreciated

 

[confusion]

I feed my fry the hikari (sp?) first bites almost exclusively. My trick is getting my finger a little bit damp, sticking it into the food to get a bit on the end of my finger and putting it under the water. It'll slowly fall off my finger and the fry swim up to eat it. They'll also eat off the bottom of the tank.

I do give them bbs maybe once per month, but that's about it.

 

[Kurosakii]

Oh, and is it alright if the sponge filter is turned off at night? The air pump is noisy even though it's called a silent air pump ==" I was thinking maybe, different from hang on filters, the bacteria maybe wont die off since the sponge filter is in the water, where as a hang on when turned off the water flows out leaving it without water flowing through. Point of view; discuss.

 

[confusion]

depending on the size of the tank, I would be concerned about the lack of agitation causing an oxygen deficiency, but probably no a problem in the time frame you're talking about. Lack of movement in the water could conceivably starve the bacteria built up in the sponge fitler, but again, the time that it's going to be off is not likely going to be a problem. I do believe that HOB filters that dry out will kill the bacteria.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh, and is it alright if the sponge filter is turned off at night? The air pump is noisy even though it's called a silent air pump ==" I was thinking maybe, different from hang on filters, the bacteria maybe wont die off since the sponge filter is in the water, where as a hang on when turned off the water flows out leaving it without water flowing through. Point of view; discuss.

Yes i would strongly recommend filtering the tank, you need to keep the filter in the tank turned on 24/7. Do you know about cycling tanks?

 

[Kurosakii]

Yes I know about cycling. So I should have the air pump on 24/7? ? Because the aquarium is half a metre from my bed. Is there a way to make it silent? (the airpump) i know you can't do anything about the bubbles popping. Would it be alright if the filter was turned off for let's say, from when I sleep which is 10:30 pm till' say, 7am. That's 8 hours and 30 minutes. Would the bacteria dead by then? How long can bacteria withstand for?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yes I know about cycling. So I should have the air pump on 24/7? ? Because the aquarium is half a metre from my bed. Is there a way to make it silent? (the airpump) i know you can't do anything about the bubbles popping. Would it be alright if the filter was turned off for let's say, from when I sleep which is 10:30 pm till' say, 7am. That's 8 hours and 30 minutes. Would the bacteria dead by then? How long can bacteria withstand for?

The bacteria pretty much starts to die minutes after the filter is turned off, but a good mature filter may be able to withstand 30mins to 1hr or so (i've never tried this so i cannot back this up) of being turned off.
The bacteria needs two things to survive;
a. a source of ammonia.
b. a source of oxygen flowing over it.

If you turn it off for the night, the tank will have to cycle all over again causing much stress to teh fish unfortunately.

 

[Morquinn]

Yeah, the air pumps can be a pain... it could probably be quiter if you put it on some sort of soft mat, or foam... for instance the underside of your mouse pad... basically yours is probably just vibrating off a hard surface causing it to be loud... either that or put a shirt underneath it.